Hmmm, my experience is that once IN the water, opening up a gasket burps the air out, not in!
I have the clunky back-ups as well. But they were at home in a sealed plastic bin, waiting for summertime guests with the beater boats.
You are correct.
But I didnât have any pictures of me set in shallow water, displaying a defecating-like squat.
Cheated the fish police once. Ran into an old friend at the launch beach of our local meandering lake who had forgotten his PFD and was going to abort his launch because the fish cops were doing checks on the boaters. I didnât have a spare with me but then I remembered that the gear bag I had grabbed with my towel and dry clothes in it was one I bought a few years ago from Patagonia who had recycled a rejected lot of Lotus PFD fronts (apparently had failed assembly quality control) by stitching pairs of them together to make mid sized duffels. The yellow and black duffel looks just like a PFD at first glance, including pockets, front zip, shoulder buckles and accessory patches. We shoved it under the seat of his solo canoe and as the fish and game officers cruised by they looked at his launch permit sticker, glanced at the âPFDâ , gave him the thumbs up and continued their pursuit of a pontoon boat full of drunks with a boombox. We figured even if they had decided to pull it out to look at it we could have just shrugged and said âoops, how did we make that mistake?â
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As an âalways PFDâerâ I need to reprimand you and then never talk to you again - consider that done.
Now, stand by for a FB message from me on our fall camping trip on the Connecticut River - need to reach out to the rest of the crew to start tinking about dates. 
Reprimand? Oh, so you wanna run it like that, huh?
Okay then count me out on the Fall Connecticut vous-- I donât always play well with others on class trips anyway!
((Just be sure I know the breakdown ratio of canoes-to-kayaks in the group, so I know what boat to bring and make a good first impressionâŚ)
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The pirate boat always makes a good first impression. This is an old fogey crew, so most of us are paddling tandem in canoes (nice to have two engines in the boat). Kayaks are also welcome. Weâre pretty flexible, so whatever you want - partner up, paddle solo, canoe, kayak, whatever.
Check, sounds good.
My only conflict right now is on September 30th. I have an on-the-water with guests in paddle craft wedding to attend that day, if you can believe it.
Weâll firm everything else up on FB as you mentioned from here on out, so this thread can finally fade away â As Iâm overdue for causing controversy in other places this week.
Donât forget your boat 
You could argue it, but the USCG and most states that follow USCG rules have determined several years ago that SUPs and inflatables are âvesselsâ and are bound by the same rules as any other vessel. You do not have to wear a PFD, in most cases, but all vessels are required to have at least one approved PFD per person, readily available.
The SUP manufacturers fought for years to claim that an SUP could substitute for a PFD.
Iâve taught wet exits and rescues for many years, and itâs not unusual for many paddlers, especially new ones. to lose hold of their boats on a windy day. Even experienced paddlers in rough conditions. If that happens and they are not wearing a PFD, there goes both.
Around Annapolis failure to have a PFD or whistle or other sound producing devise is, last i checked, $125 for each. Strictly enforced.
Youâre a little late to this dance. I did indeed say I "could"make an argumentâNot that I âwould.â But if I were, it would be that if I had to, in a worst case scenario. (Which if you deciphered the above more acutely, would be readily apparent, where I was paddling wasnât anywhere near the case.) With over 45 years experience in canoes, both ww and touring sea kayaks, I am not a ânew paddler.â Nor do I need educating on USCG regs/whether or not an inflatable constitutes a âvesselââŚ
Also, I donât particularly give a damn about any SUP manufacturers making any legal arguments forsaking PFD wear. Nor do I live in AnnapolisâŚI simply made and admitted to, a first time mistake.
Now if youâll excuse me, Iâll take my wet exit from this threadâI didnât manage to get in any rolling bs sessions in the pool this past winter.
I forgot my PFD a couple of weeks ago - after months of taking SO MUCH stuff for EC training paddles, my ânormalâ bag of stuff is so much smaller that I didnât notice that the PFD was missing until I went to put it on. Fortunately was at the rental concession at Weeki Wachee so was able to borrow one from them. It was a rental spec NRS Clearwater so actually pretty comfy but no pockets whatsoever.
Iâve forgotten my paddle once, and my phone once. In both cases I just went home and paddled the next day - paddle was a no-go obviously and the phone wasnât strictly necessary but no pictures and wouldnât have been able to check the weather on a paddle with a 2.5 mile crossing each way.
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Fine here for forgetting a PFD or no knowing is $150. Thatâs for not having a whistle also. I have to wonder if you forget both if that goes up to $300.
I donât think Pirates usually wear a PFD. Although, they might provide some protection against a cutlass. Back in the day I think you just planned on drowning if you went overboard. Most sailors could not swim.
I wear a PFD but have forgotten my skirt and paddled skirtless anyway. Iâm not sure what the fine is for indecent paddling exposure?
Might be fun to twist the summons writing officerâs officious cajones with:
âLook Officer, I forgot the silly whistleâBut see here, I have TWO PFDs on board!â
âOkay, Sir. You have a pointâLet say, seventy-five dollars and call it even.â
Ba-dump-bump!
Skirtless? How 'bout thisâŚ
Some years back, on a secluded part of a local river, winding round a mid-run bend, on the banks lived an elderly gentleman known to us local paddlers as âNaked Ed.â
Ed earned his moniker by becoming a regular nude fixture, wading the water which rolled past his travel-trailer cum porched cabin. One manâs Redneck Riviera. Ed would usually just smile and wave as you rounded the bend near his cove. But if he REALLY wanted to meet you(especially if there were female paddlers in the offing) he would jump on to his little red sit-on-top kayak, paddle over and say, âHello!â
You can imagine the look of surprise of first time paddlers on that stretch. But I should also mention, there were whole family groups of tourists in rented inner tubes whoâd drift by Edâs place and get his "summertime matinee."
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For me the fine is secondary and it is just a way for the authorities to make some money. The fine for not wearing a seatbelt is more logical. It is not a fine for not having a seatbelt in your car it is for not having it on. Same with child seats, having one in the car doesnât make it ok to have the kid on your lap they have to be in the seat.
I think this all boils down to should you always have a PFD on properly when paddling a boat where there is any small chance of going in the water. We can talk about water temp and depth and how far you are from shore and the speed of the water and even how good a swimmer you are as variables but in all cases wearing one is safer than not wearing one. So IMO we ether make the rule you need one or you donât. The rule as it is now says you need one with you but not on you. For me that just seems stupid and as stupid as saying you need a child seat in a car or seatbelts but donât need to use them.
For me with the iffy way adult PFD regulations are for paddle boating you ether feel wearing one or carrying one is your thing as a personal choice. As a forum where people come to learn my thoughts are we should be in 100% support of telling people to wear one with no exceptions. If I forget mine and want to run the combined risk of being fined and possibly increase my risk of drowning, it is my choice to do I guess, but I donât think it is a good idea to come on and tell the world I did it and justify when IMO it is ok.
Iâm new to the forum and a novice paddler so I understand my opinion weighs less than long-term members that are experts. I feel sending any kind of mixed messaging is never good. It is pretty clear to me people have drowned wearing a PFD but your odds are better when wearing one to not drown. So my thoughts are as a collective forum our opinion should be 100% behind always wearing one.
See the sanctimonious sermons you stirred up? Thatâs the reward for posting gorgeous photos and a description of your outing, which just happened to be when you forgot to bring a PFD.
People used to complain that photo trip reports were getting rare. Given that viewers fixate on something to find fault with, itâs no wonder!
I personally found it worse to forget a sprayskirt than a PFD. Water has a way of accumulating in an open SINK, especially if it is not flat water. Those who forego wearing the sprayskirt but cannot roll, cannot do a quick wet exit and re-entry, and have been told of the risk incurred but make the decision to take that risk anyway, are free to make that choice.
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Boy, you said it.
I was done with this thread and was even going to delete itâBut guess thatâs not do-able on here anymore. Thereâs been five straight days of rain out this way, so Iâve kept checking back while indoors and bored. Good thing though, as Saturday looks sunny with optimal ww levels! (So time to decide which boat to splash and have fun in. And I thought about sharing pics again and the report that will come from that, butâŚNah.)
So Iâll once more take my leave and let the sanctimonious here ponder the picture below from 1936 polar Greenland to enjoy. And oh my, look at all the proper PFD wear!
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Around the Chesapeake having no PFD and no whistle or other approved noise making device can indeed get you a ticket for both. In most cases though, if you donât piss of the officer, they will give you a ticket for no PFD and a written warning for no whistle.
In Annapolis there was a tour group where they supplied PFDs but no whistles. After 2 warnings by DNR were ignored they fined the entire group of close to 20 people $125 each and sent them back to the launch. The tour group paid everyoneâs fine and refunded their money.
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The people in 1936 looked quite happy paddling without PFDs. They also smoked the latest safe cigarettes with asbestos filters to clean out that dirty smoke. As a kid my parents nor I had any idea I would be safer riding my bike with a bike helmet on as no one had heard of a bike helmet. We went to grandmas house in our 59 caddy and mom held the baby on her lap and the rest of the kids piled in the back standing on the seat to get a good view on the interstate highway. My dad went to work and slathered carbon tetrachloride on parts to clean them and no one thought about things like respirators, mom even used the stuff at home to get out stains. There were dozens of even worse industrial hazards no one worried about then and no one talks about today.
Iâm sure 75 years from now folks will look at some of the stuff we do thinking we are safe and wonder how stupid we must have been.
Personally again I have no problem with others making an informed choice to do any high-risk activity they want as long as it doesnât endanger others. I had a high school friend that walked across frozen Lake Erie with two PB&J sandwiches and a thermos of coffee thinking it would take about 8 hours and it took more like 20. There was quite the manhunt for him after about 10 hours. He turned up in Canada and wondered what the big deal was all about he just took a long walk. The trouble was once the word got out this was a fun thing it seemed like every weekend someone else gave it a try. The CG was up in birds pulling people off the ice right and left until they shut down the practice finally.
Todayâs standards should not be 1936 standards.
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@bud16415 nice perspective. Like the protective gear NASCAR drivers now wear. Learn and live . . .
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