NYCkayaker Bike Helmets and PFD not important?

[rob buchanan]

David (and Rich),

If this is really, literally what you're saying--that no one should be on
the water without a PFD--then I don't disagree with you. But given the
insistent tone of your posts, it hard not to think that what you two are
actually arguing is that no one should be on the water without WEARING a
pfd. I just can't agree with that at all, and I think there are a lot of
others (besides mike and april) who don't either.

There are many situations in which wearing a PFD is simply not necessary,
and a few in which it may actually run counter to the safety concerns you
trumpet (two I can point to specifically are heatstroke and, as described by
bonnie in an earlier post, forced submersion under a snag, fixed object, or
large vessel, but there are certainly others including the issues of
mobility and distance swimming raised by chalu). I think it's actually a
crucial principle that, like other safety and navigational decisions, the
decision as to whether or not to don a PFD be left to the operator of a
vessel. 

My fear is that by obsessively focusing on PFDs and whether or not they are
worn all the time we are losing sight of what's really important, which is
the judgment and experience of the navigator. If we want the waterways to be
safer, that's what we need to focus on. Do people know how to swim? Do they
have the technique necessary to operate their boats? Do they understand
wind, tide and current, and the navigational requirements of other vessels
and mariners?

Here's another problem. While I appreciate that you both seem to have
stopped short of advocating that full-time PFD use be made mandatory, except
in races, it's a very short step for our legislators and all of the other
would-be rulemakers in this society to go from your 'should' to their
'must.' I understand that from your perspective, down low in those skinny
racing kayaks, it's just dumb not to have a PFD on at all times. But we're
not all in skinny kayaks all of the time, we're not all in the middle of new
york harbor all of the time, and we're not all interested in setting an
example for others all of the time.

I think one of the most poignant things I've ever read on this discussion
group was rich's admission that he made himself put on a PFD on his placid
home river every time he went out, even though he knew he didn't need to. I
don't want to live like that, and I don't want to be made to feel like I
should live like that.

Rob Buchanan

 

On 11/8/08 8:52 AM, "David Gottlieb" <peekamoose at optonline.net> wrote:

> Rich has said it perfectly, and I compliment him... No one should be on the
> water without a PFD.