<< How many people have actually been saved by wearing pfd's? I don't want any anecdotal stories here, but actual documented accounts of people who are alive today because they were wearing their pfd. There is NO WAY one can determine unequivocally that the pfd saved their lives, or that a paddler might be alive today had they been wearing one! << There was a story in the news a few weeks ago about a drowning in northern Minnesota. A man and a child capsized or fell out of a fishing boat. The man, who was not wearing a PFD, drowned; the child, who WAS wearing a PFD, survived and was rescued. This reminded me of the debate about wearing PFDs on Wavelength before Jackie started Paddlewise. Caveman asked at one point why one should be required to wear a PFD on water warm enough to swim in. At the time, this question stumped me, but later it occurred to me that most people swim near shore or near a boat or raft; few, if any, swim as far out as most kayakers paddle. Depending on circumstances, a kayaker dumping far from shore and separated from his boat, even if a good swimmer, could drown from exhaustion alone before reaching shore or being rescued. And I know from experience that one can get cold even in Hawaiian waters if you are in the water long enough. In fact, there has been a rash of drownings in Minnesota this summer, including four in one weekend, but most of the deaths happened while swimming, not while boating. Chuck Holst *************************************************************************** PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List Submissions: paddlewise_at_lists.intelenet.net Subscriptions: paddlewise-request_at_lists.intelenet.net Website: http://www.paddlewise.net/ ***************************************************************************Received on Fri Aug 06 1999 - 09:29:29 PDT
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