Stole is the waist coat bit you put on. Usually there is an enormous gap where you put your arm through and to prevent the jacket floating off you have to wear leg straps. There have been numerouse deaths in the UK from people slipping out of inflatable jackets. The inflatable jackets we used to wear as navy aircrew had a waistcoat design where the armpits kept the jacket from floating off an unconscious body. They did not need leg straps. The Spinlock mentioned above has twin leg straps. Without leg straps people suffering hypothermia slip into unconsciousness and become separated from their lifejackets. Even "hard" jackets and buoyancy vests without high armpits have leg straps now, particularly kids ones.
It would probably cost about $2 for manufacturers to sew mesh sides in to fill that gap up to the armpits and make them safe. It's much easier recovering bodies wearing jackets than picking them up separately. We often hear media reports that the people were not wearing jackets. They probably were just not had the leg straps attached. Similar to the stories where the bodies of men have their flies undone! All sorts of things can happen when your floating about in the oggin for a few hours.
The problem with the new legislation in NSW is that there is no mention that they have to be worn properly. Even the ads have a picture of the lovely couple not wearing crutch straps. Dad's army, the local rescue association steam past me in their nice uniforms wearing inflatable jackets with no straps done up!
