> > In this particular case, I disagree completely. The waters the guy > was paddling in were over 80F, and literally team with offshore > platforms and boats. If he was wearing a PFD, he'd be alive right > now. Whether alive in the water, or alive on shore no one can know. > I still do not find the article mentioned. It is probably protected by a subscriber's password. However, the PFD's used by kayakers are type III; they will not keep an unconscious person's head out of the water. Even more, a type III PFD does not keep a conscious non-swimmer's head out of the water, which I have learned by experience trying to teach non-swimmers to not be afraid of the liquid medium. The problem with this accident, as with most, is that no one was there to see what actually happened to the victim. Most accident reports just say that a person was found floating, or the boat without the victim with a PFD under the deck. While many assumptions can be made, no one will ever know what really happened. If I am wrong, someone please paste the article in text, and send it to the list for evaluation. Back to PFDs, If you read the label of a new PFD carefully, you will notice that it is indicated for situations in which help is readily available, which means no more than 5 minutes. Here goes a question for all paddlers in this list. Have any of you ever been in a situation where you would have perished without a PFD? Just to clarify my point, I am not saying that PFD's should not be used. PFD's are very valuable to help rescuing victims, and it is a good idea to wear them all the time. But I refuse to believe that the lack of a PFD is the cause of any fatality, specially in regards to type III's. - Julio *************************************************************************** PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List Submissions: paddlewise_at_lists.intelenet.net Subscriptions: paddlewise-request_at_lists.intelenet.net Website: http://www.gasp-seakayak.net/paddlewise/ ***************************************************************************Received on Tue Oct 06 1998 - 14:42:41 PDT
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