Royal National Lifeboat Institution marine safety manager Peter Chennell will update hundreds of delegates on research into understanding the groups of people who get into trouble in the water and studying why they do not perceive a risk when they go boating.
Mr Chennell will also deliver his keynote speech ''Useless Life Jackets'' at the inaugural International Water Safety and Aquatic Education Conference this week.
''One part is 'the life jacket that is useless is the one that's not worn' and so, again, I talk a bit about the psychology of boating and why people don't wear life jackets and what those of us involved in trying to change this behaviour need to do in order to get them to realise they ought to do something different,'' Mr Chennell said.
''The second half of that is to do with life jackets that won't work. In the United Kingdom, most boating life jackets are auto-inflate, whereas in New Zealand they're perhaps not quite so common.''
Mr Chennell and a team of volunteers examined more than 10,000 life jackets last year and found 10% would fail if the devices were used.
''Things like missing or loose bottles, discharged bottles, there's a whole raft of things which I conclude is more to do with the public not understanding what they could and should do with the life jackets,'' he said.
Research into boating enthusiasts' attitudes to water and water safety began by profiling ''markets'' of enthusiasts, then finding out how they regarded safety issues, what they felt about public safety awareness, how best to communicate with them and what their reaction was.
The next step was to take those profile understandings and apply to the safety messages to be made.
''There are groups of boaters who tend to need our services more regularly than other groups, but you have to relate that to participation levels and that's the main thrust of what we're doing,'' Mr Chennell said.
''If there is quite a large number of incidents to a market that is very, very large, then the risk factor might be the same as a small number of incidents to a small group, so there isn't a distinctly identifiable 'bad boy' group.''
While men of middle-age and older tended to need rescuing more often than other groups, British sailing was mainly south coastal, in large craft, while New Zealand sailing was usually in lakes in small craft, he said.
''New Zealand is streets ahead in many aspects and some of the research you've done, your understanding of the markets and the campaigning you've done - the 'Don't Be a Clown' campaign is absolutely outstandingly good - so I have a very high opinion of New Zealand and where you are and that's one of the joys of this conference, to share best practice.''
