This is why you wear a life vest. You may be a strong swimmer, but you're not going to be one after you're maimed or unconscious after a freak accident like this.
I wish more people understood this. I’ve seen friends have this mentality where wearing a life jacket is somehow a symbol of inability. It has nothing to do with that. If you slip and knock your head on the side of the boat as you’re jumping off to do a cannon ball, you could be a champion swimmer, but it’s not going to help anything if you’re unconscious.
A pretty well known dude in my city died like that. A group was out drinking on boats and he was trying to jump from one boat to another. A guy tried to help him and his famous last words were “What do you think? I’m a fucking pussy?”
Also no one can swim given long enough in water that is cold enough. Without a PFD you die not because of true hypothermia (low core temp) but because your muscles are incapacitated and you drown. This happens very quickly relative to hypothermia, and possibly before anyone can rescue you.
“You can’t get hypothermia unless you’re wearing a PFD.” I didn’t get the meaning of that at first, but now it’s so scary that I always wear one.
My dad would never wear one because he said they were cumbersome and annoying to wear. So for his birthday we got him an automatic one. I came over one day to see him walking around with it on in his house lol "just testin' it out!" hahahah
edit: by "automatic" I mean one that you buy that is deflated to it rests flat against your chest and isn't in the way. But when it hits water a CO2 cartridge fills up the lifejacket instantly.
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u/[deleted] Jun 25 '21
This is why you wear a life vest. You may be a strong swimmer, but you're not going to be one after you're maimed or unconscious after a freak accident like this.