From: westes@netcom.com (Will Estes)
Newsgroups: rec.windsurfing
Subject: Re: Lifejackets while windsurfing (pretty long)
Date: 30 Aug 92 06:41:46 GMT
Organization: Mail Group

In article <25303@castle.ed.ac.uk>, william@castle.ed.ac.uk (William Warburton) writes:
|> In article <badn9qk.westes@netcom.com>, westes@netcom.com (Will Estes) writes:
|> |> 
|> |> If you are a good swimmer, you are eventually going to catch up to the
|> |> board, with or without the jacket on.  As a worst case, if you lose
|> |> the board, you are going to spend a few hours in the water swimming to shore,
|> |> but you have something to keep you floating when you get tired.
|> 
|>  I disagree with your assertions. It is easily possible for the speed
|> of a drifting board (especially if the rig has become detached) to
|> exceed your ability to catch it, particularly when wearing a lifejacket.

I have never once met or heard of a person who landed *conscious* and
could not catch up to his board.  There are probably some
beginners that this has happened to in easterly winds at the Gorge, but
a beginner shouldn't be in those conditions in the first place. 

The worst case I think would be sailing in a strong flood tide with the 
wind going in the same direction as the tide, and the board separating from 
the rig.  Not only would that be quite a rare event indeed, but I maintain 
that if that happened even Mark Spitz would lose the board.  In that one 
circumstance, your body has way more friction than the board does, and
in a strong wind you are hosed.  

But the fact is neither of us has any proof to support our relative
positions on likelihood of losing our boards when wearing a vest.  Given
that, the idea that you might lose your board if you wear a vest
is simply not a reason to avoid wearing a vest.  It is at best
a hunch or some thought that makes someone feel more safe in his decision to
be comfortable.  But it is not a proven fact.

But what we do know to be true is that if you lose your board and do not 
wear a lifevest, then you are more likely to get tired or overcome by waves 
and die.  The lifevest gives you some insurance in the event you lose the 
board due to any cause.  It doesn't give you immortality...it just gives you 
some better odds.

But what confuses me is why you raise the issue at all, because as you
say you sail on a lake.  I can't imagine anyone who is a good swimmer
not catching up to a board on a lake.  And if you are not a good
swimmer, you have no business being on water without a vest!  


|>  Most windsurfers I know don't wear any of the above, just rely on the
|> buoyancy in a thick wetsuit & harness. A few wear a Racing vest, either
|> to ease waterstarts or for peace of mind. Most drysuit users seem to
|> use a buoyancy aid rather than a racing vest.
|> 
|> |> Now, examine alternatives without the jacket on: if you get hit hard on
|> |> the head and knocked unconscious, without the jacket, then you die.
|> 
|>  Agreed- though few people sail alone, if you get lucky someone might
|> pull you out before you die. I think this accident happens very rarely,
|> see below.

Well, maybe you sail the waterway equivalent of a Los Angeles freeway
(actually, bad analogy, because in LA they would rob your limp body
and then shoot you :), but I'm always surprised on the San Francisco Bay
how even a very crowded sailing area can leave you very alone.  At
Coyote Point, near the San Francisco Airport, there might be 100 sailors
criss-crossing on a corridor, but it is quite common for me to get out
beyond the flight path, spill, and suddenly realize that there is
absolutely no one within 200 yards of me in any direction.  When someone
blazes by you at 30 mph over 2-3 foot chop, I think you are really
relying on something more than luck to hope that he sees you face
down in the water within the first two minutes of your stopping
breathing.  Personally, I have always believed that I am responsible for
my own safety, and anything I get from others is simply good fortune.


|> |> you get pulled offshore by an ebb tide, or if you have to spend the
|> |> night on the water, you are eventually either going to fall asleep or
|> |> become exhausted.  In either case, without the jacket, then you die.
|> 
|>  Agreed, however in my locale these are pretty unlikely scenarios and
|> again it is a fair bet that someone would help out. Perhaps your sailing
|> area is more dangerous? If so then I suspect your advice is less
|> applicable to the "average" location, whatever that is.

Fair enough.  Where I sail you can get out 3 or miles into an open tidal
bay.


|> |> To me, those are much worse worst cases than any reasonable scenario when 
|> |> you are wearing the jacket.  
|> 
|>  I think I (technically) agree with you here, however I think that the
|> worst cases you have described are so unlikely to occur that they
|> provide no support for your argument. The inconvenience and discomfort
|> of wearing a lifejacket is so much of a liability during "normal"
|> sailing that it seems unjustifiable.

Okay, fine, if you are sailing 6.5 wind on a small lake that has several
dozens of sailors doing bumper-to-bumper traffic then you don't need a
jacket....  :)  


|>  If I anticipated the worst every time I went out I probably wouldn't
|> go very often (Worse things happen at sea, you know :-).

Damn, I knew there was a reason I was here reading netnews on a Saturday
night! :)

But, seriously, I look at a lifevest like a seatbelt.  After you wear it
for a while, you forget it's there.  Yes, in some small number of
bizarre scenarios a seatbelt will get you killed.  But in the vast
majority of cases it will save you if something happens.  A good kayak
vest is actually kind of fun to wear.  It puts no restriction on your
movement, and it offers good body armor for spills against the board and
boom.  If it lowers my risk of dying by 60% in an event that only
happens to one in 500 sailors, I feel that it is worth the $50 it cost. 
But then again, as you say, I am the paranoid type.  I recognize your
right to evaluate risk differently. 

-- 
Thanks,
Will Estes		Internet: westes@netcom.com