I think there are pros and cons to both foam and inflatables, but I choose to paddle a sea kayak with a manual inflatable life jacket pretty much all of the time. My reasons are: First and foremost foam pfd's all impact on your forward stroke - that's why marathon/sprint racers choose not to wear them. Inflatable I find significantly more comfortable to wear. YMMV but I find very little difference wearing an inflatable to not wearing a buoyancy aid at all In Scotland we have to be prepared for cooler temperatures/precipitation more regularly than too much heat or humidity - and I would rather use clothing designed for the purpose than a foam life jacket for thermal insulation. When it is warm the advantage of the inflatable is clear. If you do swim out of a sea kayak sea water is generally buoyant (unlike aerated white water) and there is typically little need for buoyancy during a rescue. I can swim better in an un-inflated life jacket than a foam pfd There is no advantage to wearing a foam pfd for R&R rescue or rolls (greenlanders for example choose to wear neither for rolling competition) The only time I would imagine you would ever want to inflate a life jacket would be if you wet exited and lost your boat and were awaiting a rescue by a third party. This is the worst case scenario that every sea kayaker should strive to avoid at all cost! If you did discharge a cylinder and needed to use the inflatable jacket again on the same trip they can be inflated by breathing into them - only a few breaths required. Inflatable life jackets are however used universally in yachting - with cylinders available worldwide. In the worst case scenario of trying to survive a long swim without a boat an inflatable life jacket holds an unconscious wearer face up out of the water, pfds don't. The disadvantages: You have to be conscious to manually inflate. However unconscious swimmer in foam pfd drowns anyway. In aerated water you would have to inflate for extra buoyancy, its not there all the time. Inflatables require periodic inspection (ie inflate by breathing into them) and a perhaps a replacement cylinder every few years FWIW: Until sufficient experience is gained to make an informed choice I would recommend a foam pfd - always for novices learning to kayak in all circumstances I choose to wear a foam pfd while paddling ww rivers HTH Cheers Colin www.kayakscotland.com *************************************************************************** PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List - Any opinions or suggestions expressed here are solely those of the writer(s). You must assume the entire responsibility for reliance upon them. All postings copyright the author. Submissions: PaddleWise_at_PaddleWise.net Subscriptions: PaddleWise-request_at_PaddleWise.net Website: http://www.paddlewise.net/ ***************************************************************************Received on Thu Apr 28 2005 - 01:14:39 PDT
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