Please explain to me everybody’s obsession with pockets on a PFD. All they do is add bulk and really add bulk when you stuff things in them and bulk is something you are trying to avoid. Then, you got all that stuff in there, including your darn cell phone and if you take dip in the drink, it is all going to get ruined so it won’t do you any good anyway. So, you are carrying all this stuff in your PFD and if you have to use your PFD for what it is designed for, all of it will be ruined and you can’t use it anyway. That just makes no sense. I want a minimalist, body contouring,streamlined PFD that does what a PFD is supposed to do, that is it. But, that is just me, inexperienced and all. Maybe I am looking at it wrong and don’t realize it.
I am going to take it one at a time, wait for the other Stohlquist to come in (today) if that is a no go, the next step is the Astral EV-8. Unless I get disgusted with the second Stohlquist and go Seat Cushion and wash my hands of this whole thing.
This time next year you are going to be in shape, if you go to the Atchafalaya, there is hope for you yet.
I read the whole thing even though it was long and it was objectively written, a real rarity and why journalism does not interest me. Made me even consider Outdoor Magazine. I agree with his conclusions, it is not sun exposure per se, it is how you get the sun exposure. You receive no sun exposure then you go out and bake yourself you are asking for trouble. Regular moderate sun exposure is the healthiest thing you can do for yourself as he says, even in the case you bring up. Sunscreen has its own health detriments that severely affect health, one ingredient, Oxybenzone, is so powerful and toxic, just it washing off of swimmers is killing the coral reefs. Good article I am glad you linked it, it was refreshing.
These babies have straps, you just use two of them and put one over your back and one over your chest and you are good. The Coast Guard loves them and they carry them on many of their rescue boats because they are easy to get on and also provide a good throw. I straightened @rstevens15 out on this.
ok that’s 100% easy for me. On Sunday I’m paddling a class II stretch of the gauley in wv that features one double ledge rapid with one class III hole. An 82 or 83 year old is one of the crew but he is a very experienced but somewhat cantankerous boater. Some of the guys show up late. So I hang back since they are fairly new to ww (they got lost getting to the put in) and the others go on. This includes the 80+ year old. There is an experienced boater who knows the river well that with the most senior and another strong boater as well (Josh pictured below just finished the everglades challenge and paddled the cherry and top gauley with me the day before) . Long story short, 80+ gets impatient and leaves everyone behind and takes a swim in the class III hole on a class II river. The strong boater, Josh gets him to shore, helps drain boat. The 80 year old is shivering in his worn out immersion wear. He decides to get back in and start paddling to warm up. He is clearly cold when I catch up to him and he is shivering but actively paddling to warm up. I reach into my pfd pocket and give him my balaclava (head covering) which he puts on top of his beanie and says “that helps”. He also asks for some food, so I again reach into my pfd and give him a choice of granola bars. He tells me that helps as well. Eventually we do stop again, on some rocks in the sunshine, and two of us peel down under our dry suits and give him some of our base layers. Hypotherma averted, the senior gentleman is much happier and relates that he shouldn’t have paddled ahead. He enjoys the day now.
Scenario two, this past spring in Louisiana, I use both the phone and the hand held gps to navigate “off trail” from the georgia cut (bayou gravenburg, buffalo cove). It can be very disorienting to look up and realize you have no idea which direction you just came from. Both the gps and phone are stored in my pfd. I also enjoy a snack that is also stored in my pfd (i’m a type II diabetic). I also reapply sunscreen which is in my pfd. It is just really handy to have the stuff on you that you use a lot. Sometimes a map gets taken and folded and put into a pfd. I found I like reading glasses so I can actually see the devices or map and those are also in the pfd. I’ve never once thought, wow I wish this stuff was in a day hatch(which ww boats don’t have) instead of the pfd. A photo from a previous swamp trip where my friend David is checking his gps which naturally is stored in his pfd
Whaaaat? You just proved my point by your own description. You just illustrated how important, even crucial these items are/were to the comfort, convenience and in one case health or survival of your members. If you fell into the drink yourself all of these items would be ruined or soaked and rendered useless and plus even if you stayed upright they add an enormous amount of bulk which detracts from the paddle experience and comfort. Day hatch or Dry Bag, not stuffed into bulging pockets on a PFD that you have to fight on every paddle stroke. There it is.
Type II Diabetes? What more warning signs do you need? Time to get it in shape hoss. I am going to kick you out of the Atchafalaya. Talk to PaddleDog, he has done it.
Now let’s talk about cell phones. Handy device for navigating and taking pictures. I have ruined two. Neither was a result of a swim! One was lost when I left it on my sprayskirt (which is black) and hopped out to drag my boat through the shallows of the wading river in nj. The black waterproof cell phone case just didn’t show up against the black sprayskirt and I had forgotten I had laid it there. Ugh! My last died checking severe weather alerts on a platform in Okefenokee. I had cracked it on a trip Mexico where it took a tumble onto a tile floor. It was in a protective case but not an otterbox and a thin case can only do so much. I now pay for phone insurance. For me, that might be a good expense! Typically I shy away from any add-on insurance coverage or additional warranty service. They make waterproof cases and I use the otterbox and a nylon dry bag, tucked into a zippered pocket of the pfd.
I need to add a float to prevent sinking. I’m on my fourth handheld or wrist held gps. One came off my wrist hiking without me knowing and the other disappeared on a kayaking trip. I think it might have fallen off at or near the put in. The other got left in the side compartment of a rental car in Hawaii.
If I am not paddling around wood then I will tether devices to the pfd. I avoid this if wood is likely to be involved. I have forgotten to turn the ringer of the phone off before and had it go off while paddling a rapid. I found it comical, no harm done but not what I was expecting. I have very few phone skills but just purchased my first far-out app for the sheltowee trace hiking trail in KY. I’m sure more mapping offerings or apps will follow. In the past I have been all about paper maps.
Again, listen to yourself, your cell phone and GPS are important to you, if they are in your PFD pocket and you fall into the drink, they will be ruined. You put them in a dat hatch, no day hatch (get a Delta), put them in a Dry Bag. They will be safer and at the same time you will have less bulk in your vest making paddling more enjoyable and efficient. Ta Dah…Easy Peezy.
Why are all of you falling into his bullshit? He really is a jackass, and just wants controversy on all his posts, yet he sucks you all into his ignorant thinking
Dude, I just took a look at the Astral Blue Jacket, it is $260, are you out of your mind? You know how many sear cushions I could buy with that? What makes this thing so expensive, it is not a rescue vest or anything?
That is expensive, what makes it so expensive, it is not a rescue vest or anything? I thought it was in the class of the EV-8 and then I looked at the price and…whoa?
A balaclava is fleece or neoprene so insulates wet as do neoprene gloves. I like the old style quaker oat bars because the packaging is good and economical. At most the corners of the bars get a little damp. Sunsceen, chapstick, reading glasses no worse the wear from immersion. Money dries out. I did ruin a ten dollar bill once when I forgot about it and it got moldy. Phone is in waterproof case in pfd.
I don’t know where you get the idea that most stuff is ruined if it gets damp. Okay, admittedly I’ve ruined some free cheap paper maps mostly from damp hands or paddle drips. I’m only really serious about electronics needing lots of extra protection to stay dry. My son and I have spent lots of money on pelican cases taking video cameras and other electronics down rivers. I shot video for commercial rafting companies for eight seasons in wv. Personally, losing stuff and dropping stuff is my biggest issue, not water immersion. I’ve got 8 different pelican boxes at the house. That was a major expense but some of it was tax deductable! You asked for advice. I’m giving it. Just because it doesn’t sink in now doesn’t mean it won’t sink in eventually. I used to wear my pfd some of the time and not all the time. There is an entire thread on why that behavior changed for many of us.
Don’t keep your chapstick or sunscreen in your pfd (incidently they make really small tubes of sunscreen now) or don’t take pictures with your phone or use a small camera or use a gps or a phone for navigation. It really is no skin off my back. Buy a pfd without pockets. None of this is all that important. I’d personally be highly impressed if you just wore a pfd. Swimming ability and dressing for immersion (water temp) are also real important. You see that’s all I really want, just to prevent one fatality…on this past saturday one of the kayakers forgot his pfd for the cherry-top gauley run. He said “I know it would be really dumb to boat without it but I think I want to do it anyway.” All I said was, “that would be really dumb” and then we searched vehicles and came up with another pfd, crisis averted.
You do what you want, but at the end of the day just know that as much as I love paddling I carry some pain inside me from when some others thought “a fancy PFD is nonsense”. It is a hurt that doesn’t go away because it is so preventable. How selfish of me to want to spare others that pain. I love paddling but just know you can really drown doing it. That’s really “getting down to the basics” and really understanding what this sport is about. It just hurts a hell of a lot when you are around it. You think a “bulky pfd” cuts into your enjoyment. Try livin’ with that kind of pain. Then you’ve got something real and tangible to say. Then I will really listen to you and we will both heal a bit. I’m just trying to keep you out of a club that nobody wants to belong to. At some point this thread went from offering advice, to being entertaining, to just hurting like hell. I can’t fix stupid behavior but I still try and it still hurts. Welcome to my world! We’ve all done dumb stuff, taken risks, and pushed the envelope. The people I like paddling with the most are the ones that I know truly have my back. I’ve got yours…stay safe, wear a pfd.
.
hope they work well for you.