Product Information Department wrote: > Scott wrote: > >As a beach lifeguard I obviously didn't have a PFD > >on. The lack of a PFD also increased my diving ability. Has anyone > >tried to dive under a wave with a PFD on? What happens? > > [snip] Anyway, on that day, some weird conjunction of wind and wave > meant that I got caught being endlessly "cycled" a few hundred feet > offshore. The incoming wave would throw me forward a bit, then the ebb > would take me back to where I had been. Even in my wetsuit, the water was > very cold, and the situation was no joke. The solution turned out to be > taking the dive knife off my ankle - one of those Rambo jobs, but with a > pry end rather than a point. I would ride in on the ingoing wave. In the > brief lull I would dive - fighting the buoyancy of the PFD, which was less > in fresh water than it would be in salt - and plant the knife in the sand. > I would hold with both hands as the outflow ran around me, then surface to > begin the cycle again. It only took ten or so such cycles before I was in > water shallow enough that incoming waves no longer knocked me over. > > Anyway, one experience, any others out there? Scott has diagnosed this experience as a rip tide (rip current) situation, and suggested Phil might have avoided the problem by swimming parallel to the beach to get out of the rip. I think Scott's right on, there. As for the buoyancy of the PFD being a problem (can't get down), I'd like Phil's scan on that, also. In *large surf,* I think a PFD contributes to "maytagging." We had a long discussion on Wave~Length (precurser to Paddlewise) about this issue, which I don't think we need to repeat. I suspect one's personal experience, especially whether a person has had experience with *large* surf will shape a person's belief about the PFD in *large* surf issue. If the surf is 4 foot or smaller, the PFD is not a hindrance to me (it is easy to get under 4-footers when a wave passes by). Over 6 feet, I think the PFD *may* be a problem, depending on the skill and experience of the swimmer. An inexperienced swimmer, caught in the impact zone in large stuff, is in for a thrashing, PFD or not! I have not seen this myself, but others say when the Coast Guard rescue swimmers don the humongous "bunny suit" survival suits common to commercial fishing vessels, and allow them selves to get caught in big surf (part of their training), it's funny as hell to watch! -- Dave Kruger Astoria, OR long-ago body surfer *************************************************************************** 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 Fri Nov 13 1998 - 01:42:04 PST
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