http://www.wfsb.com/news/20282782/detail.html

PFD's were the difference between 22 people in "good spirits" and possibly a fatality.
The boat didn't fare so well I'm afraid.

Are you kidding me? How is this a case for PFD's? From the story, it appears everything was ok regardless. There was only one mention of lifevests. If you're going to post a "case" for PFDs and cite a story, try to find one where the story directly links the outcome to PFDs rather than stating it as additional information. There is nothing in there indicating that PFDs were necessary and I could just as much assume everyone could have just stood up from the shallow water and walked to shore.

reeeeeepost!

I knew there would be a thread about this the second I read the other thread.

How about not paddling into bridges in crappy boats and you don't need a PFD.

In any case, I don't really know of anyone/anyteam that actually practices without at least having them in the boat.

This has absolutely nothing to do with whether or not they are needed for racing when you have TONS of people and boats around in case anything goes wrong. If they had somehow managed to hit a bridge during a race, they probably would have been out of the water in no time.

This is freaking common sense people.

I never have a PFD in the boat when I'm practicing at TSCC.

Also, it mentions that the rowers were ok. What about the paddlers?

Well actually you are breaking the law by not having a PFD in the boat and if you get checked by one of those police boats that patrol around there sometimes you will get a ticket. Not sure what if anything happens to the boat.

Also, if you are renting the boat from the CSDC folks you are in violation of your lease agreement and may end up without boats to practice in. Not sure what happens if anything to the owners of the boat if you get caught in it without a PFD for each paddler, but good luck with that.

Here's the videohttp://www.wfsb.com/video/20285321/index.html
Not a chance they could "stand up" and walk to shore.
No questions this could have been tragic and not so many smiling faces.
Pssst... anyone wanna buy a used dragon boat?

Acctually, marine patrol can fine the paddler for not wearing a off, but in the case that a large chunk of paddlers aren't wearing them, they can also fine the boat owner. Although I'm sure that Sue has got wording in the csdc lease to try and eliminate the risk to csdc

Well the report says a lot of things. Like it mentions "their home made boat" which I kinda doubt and if not then big surprise it blew apart.

In any case, it sure sounds like having PFD's in the boat made sense given the high water levels and fast moving current. Again common sense.

Still of course has nothing to do with wearing them at races though. If you can't tread water for 5-10 minutes or swim 50m or so then for sure you should probably be wearing a PFD. Especially if your crew and cox are inexperienced enough that you could be one of the few boats that manage to tip in a race each year.

If at some point, someone manages to do something stupid enough to actually cause an accident while racing that actually causes a severe injury or drowning, that also will not change the fact that you shouldn't need them for racing. A single serious incident would bring the likelihood of it happening again up to about 1 in 10's of millions or more (that 1 being the 1 that hasn't happened yet).

Personally I like the part where they say they are going to investigate the cause of the accident.

Officer: "So, what exactly happened?"
Paddler: "I have no idea, this was our first time rowing a dragon boat"
Officer: "Case closed"

Not to make light of a potentially serious situation, but who's to say that they wouldn't have been fine if they had PFD's in the boat (but not necessarily on their bodies)? I am glad they're all okay, but attributing that to the PFD's is a little bit of a stretch.

As long as people are comfortable with their ability to swim and wear PFD's if they're not good swimmers, they I think it's pretty safe to say that actually wearing PFD's isn't necessary... The "buddy" system also helps to make sure everyone is accounted for.

I personally always have a PFD in the boat for me when I paddle but never actually wear it unless it's required to race.

"A single serious incident would bring the likelihood of it happening again up to about 1 in 10's of millions or more (that 1 being the 1 that hasn't happened yet)."


Actually, if a serious incident occurs, the likelihood of another serious incident happening remains exactly the same. It does not become less likely to happen again. This is fundamental probability theory.

LOL - oh yeah, well quantum theory speculates that probability is a certainty (and simultaneously a non-certainty - but we won't talk about that part)

This thread has now officially degenerated

That first girl they interviewed sounded retarded...

this thread is retarded - and it's gay too.

CSDC has a rule of having PFD's in the boat? LOL. They don't even do it themselves!