The deal with the life jacket (PFD) is not whether or not you can swim. I'm a good, efficient swimmer, but I always wear a PFD in my boat. All kinds of mishaps can happen on even flat water, ranging from a simple capsize -- to a capsize that results in you impacting a hard object -- to being in a collision with another water craft.
Good swimmers have drowned because they were knocked unconscious. Carrying it stowed is making a pretty big leap to the assumption that you will be able to unstow it and put it on correctly. Also, a kayak, especially a sit-on-top, will move much faster than a PIW (person in water). Not fun watching your stowed PFD get blown away with your boat. Just having the PFD in the boat -- especially in a small boat like a canoe or kayak -- and especially especially if you are paddling alone -- is probably not good risk management. (Has everyone practiced donning their PFD whilst treading water?)
Hmm. So maybe the type of PFD could make a difference for a nude paddler. Wearing a conventional PFD puts you into that Donald Duck category -- looking like you're wearing a really puffy wife-beater. An alternative would be an inflatable PFD (with a CO2 cartridge) -- which is much more in the spirit of (almost) nude paddling. The decision then is whether it inflated automatically (contact with water) or manually (pulling a handle). With the manually-inflated PFD. just make sure that, in the heat of the moment, you grab the right handle. ;-)
While all you say is true, it remains a matter of personal preference and common sense. If I am in open water and its rough, I put it on. If I am in calm, shallow water with a group, I am less likely to put the PFD on, knowing, I have plenty of assistance nearby. However, most of the time, I am paddling in water that is only a few feet deep. Is the risk, zero, no. But the odds of an incident occurring that I would be saved by wearing my PFD are about the same as winning the Powerball. Just saying. Of course, if someone is uncomfortable in the water, I suppose they could drown in 3 feet. So, good advice, tempered with knowing your own limits, knowing your craft, knowing your surroundings, and knowing and accepting the applicable risk.
Just joined after getting my first kayak about a month ago - a short sit on.
I live by a 7 kilometre (not quite 5 mile) beach on a very shallow tidal bay. Quite often high tide isnt deep enough to make freestyle swimming possible, so I got the sit-on to give me an alternative activity for those tides. The beach is often empty, backed with a green belt beyond which are mainly acreage residential properties. These have their own tracks to the beach, meaning someone can pop out anywhere along the beach with no warning. So far Ive only managed to kayak nude once, but have yet to work out how to easily get the speedos back on - I had to dismount well out from the beach so I could get the speedos back on in the water when a couple appeared not far from where I was about to land.
Any suggestions for quick cover options, or how you can easily get speedos back on :) ?
Just joined after getting my first kayak about a month ago - a short sit on.
I live by a 7 kilometre (not quite 5 mile) beach on a very shallow tidal bay. Quite often high tide isnt deep enough to make freestyle swimming possible, so I got the sit-on to give me an alternative activity for those tides. The beach is often empty, backed with a green belt beyond which are mainly acreage residential properties. These have their own tracks to the beach, meaning someone can pop out anywhere along the beach with no warning. So far Ive only managed to kayak nude once, but have yet to work out how to easily get the speedos back on - I had to dismount well out from the beach so I could get the speedos back on in the water when a couple appeared not far from where I was about to land.
Any suggestions for quick cover options, or how you can easily get speedos back on :) ?
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