The cure
A friend cured me of my stubborn desire to go bare. After the usual arguments he pointed out that he needed me to wear one in case I needed to rescue him! That was enough for me and I wouldn’t want to paddle with anyone who could deny that logic
To Quote Another P-Netter
"A non-pfd drowning is a non-event"
Many many
times cotten really is a pretty bad idea. It holds moisture very well and if its even a little cold and you might get wet… well, it can be uncomfortable if nothing else.
In late spring, summer, and early fall around here cooling effect is exactly the reason to wear cotton. Its cool and not overly flamable around a camp fire.
My objection is to folks who are overly critical of another’s clothing choices and use safety as an excuse to control or exclude them from a group or activity. I doubt anyone on this board is like that - I’ve certainly not met any.
There is a “lunatic fringe” that will though, and they elicit exactly the wrong effect for safety. I’ve met some. It feels to me like a variety of “political correctness” based primarily on information and using the termonology heard generally at high end sporting goods stores.
And I’m not saying I think they’re always wrong, either… just unpleasant to be around mostly.
I think most paddlers are pretty independent people and there is a reaction (expressed or not) that tends to want to oppose, by wearing cotton or even not wearing a PFD, if its felt that undue and unnecessary criticism is being leveled at them. It can be the same with PFDs, though I think the occasions where going without a PFD is really safe are rare.
Getting back to the main point of the thread, that’s exactly the reaction you DO NOT want to incite if you’re trying to get members of an informal group to wear PFDs.