Similar to Bud’s experience, I grew up on Lake Champlain and water skied with a foam belly belt. Usually without a spotter because our under powered boats could go faster without one. We never wore a life jacket in the boat. As with other things from my decadent youth, I reserve the right to get smarter.
Now I ALWAYS wear my PFD, file a paddle plan, wear a long sleave sun proof shirt and hat. I paddle almost exclusively solo and think that it makes my wife feel a little better about my adventures knowing that I take those precautions. I also bring plenty of water and some food. A couple of years ago I went into a mangrove tunnel that I had not researched (rookie mistake) and got stuck / lost. I ended up up getting out on my own but I was glad that I had water and food in case I had to wait to be rescued.
I also paddle alone so have made the rule to always wear one no matter how safe or quiet things look. I’ve hiked back to the car more than once to get it. I read that article also and it’s pretty scary. Though it seems encouraging that those two retailers may actually be promoting safety. I didn’t see any reference to Walmart; I wonder what the sales process for kayaks is like at these places.
I know this is going to sound crazy and my parents should have been locked up for child abuse, but we used to drink straight from the garden hose. It was all good as long as we got back home before the street lights came on.
It was a different world back then. I remember bringing a shotgun to school to refinish the stock in high school in the wood shop. No one said a word as what could be wrong with doing that. Maybe my biggest safety issue at least boating related was my friend and I saved the newly invented 1 gallon plastic milk jugs. When we got around 250 we built a raft out of a 4x8 sheet of plywood and some chicken wire and some old carpet. We made paddles from broomsticks and loaded the raft on a red wagon and headed the half mile to Lake Erie. We were maybe 13-14 and were not crazy we brought along PFDs, Two truck tire inner tubes. We didn’t go way out maybe 400 yards. It worked pretty good for a full summer.
You “should” wear a pfd when you’re on the water… that’s my take, I would never tell someone not to. But I’m not in the business of telling people what to do anymore then I would tell someone in a state with no helmet law that they need a helmet on. I educated a local auxiliary guardsman on the law last year when they tried to tell me I needed my pfd on. I said “if you want me to wear it, tell me so and I will but don’t try to strong arm me by lying to me about the law” he backed off
Thank you all for all the amazing replies. Honestly, sincerely, I didn’t know at first, what type of posting I was going to create…
Thinking back to my main topic of the James River here in Virginia:
It flows West → East from the Blue Ridge Mtns and kind of diagonally across VA, past the historic Jamestown settlement, and out into the Chesapeake.
3/4 of the river is only 3’ deep… Thousands of people float on inner tubes (no PFD) out west of here, from the Blue Ridge Mtns, where the river is serene, gentle, overhanging trees, and 2’ deep (avg). After the big power dam in Lynchburg (i.e. where Liberty University is), the river can pick up some speed and depth, to around 3’… 4’… and occasional rapids. Still, nothing to worry about… You then hit a big horseshoe bend in Scottsville, where again, the river is like 2’ deep, and people are again, floating on inner tubes. Heading towards the western suburbs of Richmond, you start to notice massive car sized boulders scattered here and there, and obviously avoid them! The river is still gentle and the same avg depth. Then once you start nearing Chesterfield Co and the 288 expressway (i.e. Watkins Landing), then for some unknown reason, the river takes on a new life. No more sunken boulders. Everything becomes nice muddy/gravely/sandy river bottom, and the river increases in depth. 3’… 4’… 6’… 8’… and up to 10’ deep down towards to Bosher Dam. That entire section from Watkins Landing to the Bosher Dam is very well known, 100% fully navigable for power boats, etc… Believe me, I have been almost swamped right up over the gunnel in my Cayman 124 fishing kayak, from some fool in a Wakeboarding boat, not quite up on plane!
Anyway… After the Bosher Dam, the river is 100% boulder strewn, and an absolute mess. It can be 3’ deep, it can be 1’ deep, strong rapids in between massive boulders, etc… and then it settles down for a bit before the Z-dam (named, because it looks like a “Z” from the air), and it has a very mild little 2-3’ high dam with a kayak “chute” on the right side, where experienced kayakers can pass through, tumble, barrel-roll, and right themselves back up, while wearing a PFD and a helmet. It’s so awesome to watch them!
Then, further down, the James picks up even more speed, and more speed, and descends into what is known as the Hollywood Rapids, right near Downtown Richmond. Class IV rapids, where the James drops (I think) 100 feet or 150 feet in a couple of miles, causing the amazing, legendary, rapids.
After that, then the James is again dammed up near Brown’s Island (downtown), and you portage around, or paddle into the canal walk area. Lastly, once past all that, the James river gets dangerously deep, as it was dredged out, dynamited out (centuries ago), and instantly becomes 30’ deep or more for barges.
For me personally? I prefer the quiet, serene, peaceful, upper sections of the historic James River!
EDIT: Feel free to look up Richmond, Virginia in Google Maps or whatever, and zoom in on the James River. Scrolls around left, right, etc… and check it out!
EDIT (2): Every person I saw going through the Chute on the “Z-dam” was wearing a PFD and a helmet!
As a kid I was considered a dare-devil by my friends. Many of them engaged in activities that exposed them much greater risk but mostly due, I think, to their lack of situational awareness. They thought me daring and I considered them careless due to inattention. I always tried to control what I could control and apay attention.
For instance, for some reason I wanted to jump from the roof of the gym to the roof of the lunchroom across the alley. I measured the open distance between the buildings and started working on my long jump skills. It took me about a year before I could consistently clear that distance. I actually won a second place ribbon at the playfield track meet in the long jump. When the day came I went up on the gym and cleared the loose gravel from the asphalt. I controlled what I could control. I barely made it across.
I still engage in some activities where mistakes come with consequences. I think that I’m just wired that way. When it comes to paddling I control what I can control and that starts by always wearing my pfd.
Always
That hike back to the car….urgh! I now put my spray skirt and my PFD in the cockpit before I put the kayak on the Blazer.
Bud’s stories are bring back a lot of memories for me. I think that the most adventurous (irresponsible) event for me was swimming across Lake Champlain. My Grandfather joked that that he tried to swim across once, got halfway and didn’t think that he could make it and swam back. I was young when he first started telling that sorry and did not get the joke until years later.
Well I guess that joke planted a seed because my youngest brother and I talked about swimming across the lake for many years. One day at a family picnic at my Grandfathers camp on the lake my brother said: " are we ever going to do it?" I said let’s go now so we just got in the water and started to swim toward Vermont. No flotation devices, no spotter boats, just the two of us. I was in my early twenties and he was in his teens. Eventually one of our cousins figured out what we were doing and followed us across in a boat.
I usually take my kayak from my floating dock to the ground level bulkhead. It can be from +1’ to -5’ depending on the tide. I leave my PFD on just in case a slip. Many people slip from floating docks bang their head on the way to Davey Jones Locker. Checkmate game over dead.
I’m going against the grain here, but I don’t always wear my pfd. On a placid small lake I probably won’t wear it. If there are a lot of boats or chop, then yes. Rivers? Absolutely. I have always had wide stable kayaks.
Like someone else mentioned though, a lot of people are wearing their pfd’s unzipped. I don’t think that counts.
Always.
I’d have to make too many excuses to convince myself not to, and then I’d have to search for other people to validate that I didn’t want to wear it. So I just spend extra for a more comfortable vest and wear it so that I never have to include that decision in my prep ever again.
I try to keep abreast of what the rivers and (impounded) lakes are doing in east TN with respect to dam releases, but you never have perfect information. It only takes one strainer or deadfall or slip on a rock, and you are either pinned in 5 feet of water or whatever.
But risks are for each individual to weigh. No one is as vested in your life as you. Though I can’t see how not wearing it yields a benefit close to potentially saving the only life you have to live.
I used to live on the York river and all I can say is no one ever expects that they will be overcome by some unexpected condition. But they might be. Take care of yourself
Only you can make that call so I’m not clutching my pearls here.
But a few things that indicate a few clues about assumptions being made.
First, if you are sure, then why ask here? I think the fact you are asking for confirmation from others to validate your position, and/or to make your case, is a clue to your (better) inner judgement.
A river is never a static height over time nor of uniform flow at all locations.
So…even if you are correct, then 1/4 of the river is not 3 feet deep
You also cannot know what is beneath the surface of the water in every case.
And if you aren’t sure why a river takes on new life in certain places, then you may not have all the knowledge you think you have. Which means you are weighing risks that you cannot accurately characterize. The river’s physical behavior is not without cause.
What do you have to lose, one way or the other?
It’s a dangerous business, Frodo, going out your door. You step onto the road, and if you don’t keep your feet, there’s no knowing where you might be swept off to.
There you go! Flotation and convenient storage as a bonus.
Just wear it.
I will not paddle with people that don’t wear life jackets.
I was on a trip with a friend. He was fishing and wearing hip waders. He kept “forgetting” to put on his life jacket. The river was fast and cold. I told him “I did not want to knock on your door and inform your wife that you would not be coming home.” Our friendship mostly ended right there.
I suggest not just wearing the PFD but trying it out in deep water and find its shortcomings. I wanted something better fitting and more comfortable than the general purpose vests. I went with a fishing model also and the pockets are handy even if not fishing.
It feels and fits great while paddling, but I no longer having that V shaped body of my youth it really wasn’t very good once in the water as it would ride up because of the lack of tight arm openings. I tried adding leg straps and although they work well in the water they are not all comfortable when seated. Some people wear pants and a belt and the PFD can be hooked to their belt (mostly canoe folks) and although I canoe in mine I quite often have swim trunks on or something without a belt. So I added a lower belt to the PFD to catch my torso at a lower point than the PFD would and I leave the web buckle strap slightly loose for comfort and it is really easy to grab the end and tighten it once in the water.
We are all different builds and these things have lots of adjustments but not perfect. Do what you have to do I say.
+Not a “Chicken Little the sky is falling type”, If I’m out in the Gulf of Mexico, or local bayous where the water is deep I’ll wear my PFD. Going down a river that gets no deeper than 4 foot, then I don’t wear it. Common sense should be used.
One thing that’s a bit annoying regarding pfd on vs off is in fatal accident analysis. If someone was not wearing a PFD, it is often speculated here as well as other places as being a primary factor in the death, regardless of the actual circumstances . We love to say “they’d be with us today if they would’ve been wearing their PFD” when in fact, we rarely actually know that to be the case. In fact, many seem perplexed when they find out a victim was wearing one…. Like, how could it be???
it seems to be a final word for many when quite likely further analysis could reveal much more useful information