Several people have recognized that would not be reading this lines had they not worn a PFD in some close call. In all cases the important message is not "wear your PFD all the time", which should be out of the question, but what to do to prevent such close calls from ever happening again. In our present context, from what others tell about the incident, it seems clear that the reason of this person death is not the lack of a PFD, but a series of gross errors --almost all accidents everywhere can be traced by a series of mistakes, not a single cause. This person decided to swim instead of signaling for help. In fact there was a witness who could have summoned help faster than expected. He got himself in a situation far beyond his skills; coming out of the boat is in many instances a very bad idea. Etc, etc. I am not even convinced that this person would have survived with a PFD. When exhaustion hits, even the deepest instinct of survival disappears -- been there. happy paddling, and keep yourself out of trouble, - Julio > > So you just never know when you need your PFD. So better to wear it all > the time even in fairly calm situations. Up until my accident, the > water had been as smooth as glass and shorelines were just 50 feet or so > away at most, the kind of conditions that may tempt one to take off a > PFD in a false sense of security. > > ralph diaz *************************************************************************** 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 - 23:42:37 PDT
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