Re: [Paddlewise] Safety in Recreational Kayaks

----- Original Message -----
From: <KiAyker_at_aol.com>


> > 13. PFD (worn not carried)
> > ----------------------------------------
> > Yes, why not?
>
>    Studies have shown that seat belts in cars save lives. The studies
pointed
> to the fact that more people survived automobile accidents, or were less
> severely injured, while wearing seat belts then did those who were not.
It's
> simply a matter of statistics.
>    Now I am not aware of any like studies having been conducted about
wearing
> pfd's in kayaks. Anecdotal stories about how "I would've died, by golly,
had
> I not been wearing my trusty pfd," simply don't cut it. And while I have
not
> made any formal studies into the matter myself, it would seem to me that
from
> the stories I have read about kayak deaths there seems to be a pretty even
> split between those who have died with their pfd's on, and those who died
> without one. Hardly compelling evidence about the effectiveness of pfd's.

Anecdotal stories are valid and should not be so quickly dismissed if the
person in the story can really point out how wearing the PFD did indeed save
his or her life.  I won't belabor the list once more with my own story of
how wearing a PFD saved me from almost certain death but I would be glad to
recap it to you in private email.  You just have to trust that I am of sound
judgment and discerning enough to know the danger it protected me from and
that without it I would have been in every likelihood dead.

As for the statistics of how many fatalities were with people wearing PFDs
vs. not wearing one, The Coast Guard figures are quite overwhelming
lopsided, i.e. many more deaths with no PFD worn than with one warn.  And,
in any case, most of those deaths involving PFD wearers were due to
something else, for example hypothermia or being hit by a boat.

ralph diaz



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