"Additionally, the outfitter from Friday Harbor instructed the newbies to put the spray skirt over the pfd. I know it was near a full moon but I was very surprised. In a week of traveling around in Southern Alaska and Washington I never saw a wet suit or dry top." While the lack of thermal protection cited in Hal Levine remarks is alarming the spray skirt placement is another issue. I'm an ardent advocate of a crotch strap on my PFD to ensue that its flotation is devoted to lifting me out of the water, note merely floating to the surface as I slowly slide into the depths. Try it. If there is a nice gap over the shoulders when immersed then the PFD is floating itself but not the paddler. This is exacerbated by raising the arms over the head for various rescue motions. In practice a 24 lb. buoyancy PFD can be reduced to 10 or 15 lb. or less with inadequate hold downs. Virtually all children's PFDs are equipped with a crotch strap as are airline inflatables. A crotch strap requires use of the spray skirt over the PFD, not under it. However I suspect the trip Hal cites was not employing this refinement. -- Richard G. Mitchell, Jr. Oregon State University Department of Sociology Corvallis, OR 97331 (541) 752-1323 phone/fax mitchelr_at_ucs.orst.edu *************************************************************************** PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List Submissions: paddlewise_at_lists.intelenet.net Subscriptions: paddlewise-request_at_lists.intelenet.net Website: http://www.paddlewise.net/ ***************************************************************************
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