I won’t use a paddle leash just for the
reason of entanglement in the case of a mishap.
I even worry about the long tether on my new undrwater camera.
jack L
pounds of floatation
from:
http://boatsafe.com/kids/buoyancy.htm
How can this PFD with 22 pounds of buoyancy hold up a two hundred pound person in the water?
You have to do the math! Let’s take the example of a 200 pound person. Approximately 80% of the body is water. Water in the body has no weight in water. So now we are down to having to support only 40 pounds.
200 lbs. X 80% = 160 lbs.
200 lbs. - 160 lbs. = 40 lbs.
But the PFD only has a buoyancy rating of 22 lbs. How can it hold up 40 lbs?
On average our bodies also have 15% fat and fat is lighter than water.
200 lbs. X 15% = 30 lbs.
40 lbs. - 30 lbs. = 10 lbs.
Now you can see that the average 200 pound person only weighs about 10 pounds in water. The 22 lbs of buoyancy in your PFD is more than enough to keep the person afloat.
True but…
Aerated water significantly reduces floation. After I swam the Ocoee my first time I notice that in the rapids I was under water most of the time. When I got to calmer water I was fine. Hmmmmm Was it the standing waves that sunk me? I consulted with a swift water rescue team and they explained water aeration to me and even had formulas to determine it’s affect on floatation. So no matter who you are, how big or small you are, or how much body fat you have, etc there are conditions where aerated water will reduce the floatation of your jacket to the point that you will not float. If you have a good roll and stay in your boat, go small. If you are in a duck, a raft or if you swim class IV I would highly recommend a high float jacket. Again, just my opinion and I am not one of those people that is OK holding my breath for a full minute. I prefer to breathe on my terms. A high float jacket allowes me to breathe when I want to.