Kids Life Jackets, Vests & PFDs

Kids life jackets that pass the standard, then the fit test

Every kids life jacket and swim vest on this page is approved to Australian Standard AS 4758. Most are Level 50S, the jet ski, wake and tube level. The Cause Kids also comes in Red and Yellow Level 50, the high-vis colourways for states that require them once the ski is past smooth water, Queensland included. That approval is the whole point. Plenty of what gets sold for kids in the water is a pool aid with nothing it has to pass, and none of it belongs on a boat. Which level your child needs depends on your state and your water, so read the Australian life jacket regulations guide before the first day out.

Pick by age and by what they do on the water

• Cause Infant — the baby life jacket, size 1–2, with a safety pillow behind the head or without. It lives on the infant and baby life jackets page.
• Cause Kids and The Cause Kids — the recreational vest for boat days, tube runs and riding pillion on the ski. EcoPrene on most sizes, Freelite buoyancy foam, a front zip and quick positive buckles, with The Cause Kids in Red and Yellow Level 50.
• Freeride Boys and Girls — the wake vest for groms who are already riding. Stitch-through construction for a thinner profile, 100% EcoPrene and Freelite bevelled-edge foam, so the vest moves with them instead of boxing them in.
• X1 NASA Boys and X1 Girls — the kids version of the wake vest the team rides, in EcoPrene made with recycled bottles, sized 8 to 14.
• Paddle Pal Splash — an approved swim vest for pool and beach confidence, not a boating jacket.

Sizing kids life jackets

Sizes run 1–2 for babies and toddlers, then 2–6, 3–4, 4–6, 8–10 and 12–14, with numbered 8 to 16 on the wake vests. Buy for the kid you have now, not the one they will be next summer. Do the buckles up on dry land and lift gently at the shoulders: if the jacket slides past the chin it is too big, and a jacket that rides up in the water is not doing its job. The size guide has the chest measurements.

Why the kids wear the same brand as the boat

Because it is the same gear the adults are wearing, in a size that fits. Bright colourways you can pick from the helm, buckles small hands cannot undo by accident, EcoPrene that cops sun, salt and being sat on all day. Once a kid stops fighting the jacket they stop noticing it, and that is when the day gets good.

On the tube

The crew on the tube wear an approved jacket like everyone else on the boat, and the towing rules differ by state. The NSW and Queensland tubing and towing rules spell them out. For the rest of the day, kids wetsuits handle the cold mornings.