Comments on: Comments on 7694

Post number 7694

dfowler — Tue, 15 May 2001 08:26:36 -0800

This debunks a few myths about PFDs.

By: frykitty

frykitty — Tue, 15 May 2001 09:31:25 -0800

I read that as PDF. Couldn't figure out what myths there were about Acrobat. Ahem. Okay, I'll go read the link now...

By: tweek!

tweek! — Tue, 15 May 2001 10:31:50 -0800

This is the worst post I've seen on Metafilter. You suck.

By: rodii

rodii — Tue, 15 May 2001 10:33:57 -0800

Ha ha ha. Good one.

By: jcterminal

jcterminal — Tue, 15 May 2001 10:40:25 -0800

the best way to prevent the transmission of PFDs is to abstain from se- wait, what?

By: ParisParamus

ParisParamus — Tue, 15 May 2001 10:45:50 -0800

This is lamer than the day running lights post?

By: donkeysuck

donkeysuck — Tue, 15 May 2001 10:53:15 -0800

this also debunks the rumor of skilled designers working for the Coast Guard. no Netscape 4.7.

By: darukaru

darukaru — Tue, 15 May 2001 11:17:01 -0800

What myths *are* there about lifejackets, anyway?

By: shinybeast

shinybeast — Tue, 15 May 2001 11:34:10 -0800

Guys, now you too can have personal flotation devices.

By: thirteen

thirteen — Tue, 15 May 2001 12:15:32 -0800

Pat: Doesn't that belong in Metatalk?

By: Skot

Skot — Tue, 15 May 2001 12:19:24 -0800

thirteen, you just made my day.

By: anapestic

anapestic — Tue, 15 May 2001 12:35:09 -0800

This thread is way lamer than the one about day running lights. That guy was obsessive. This is just the USCG being informational. However, I'd like to personally outfit Pat McGroin with a PDF. This nice lead one, right here. Keeps you from being bandied about by ocean currents, you know.

By: nicwolff

nicwolff — Tue, 15 May 2001 13:10:19 -0800

Gosh, as a sailor and whitewater rafter, I found this link interesting and informative. Chacun a son gout...

By: atfrost

atfrost — Tue, 15 May 2001 14:11:47 -0800

I disagree. I think that Personal Flotation Devices have been shunned and swept into the background for too long... I have seen the chagrin of these innocent devices, which only want to help, as they are thrown over for the In-Flight magazine only too often... ^_^

By: dfowler

dfowler — Tue, 15 May 2001 15:58:53 -0800

tweek! et al -- ha ha, made you look. To the point, It is unlikely that any different Type of PFD would have prevented most of the drownings where a PFD was used. That's what I call debunking myths.

By: tiamat

tiamat — Tue, 15 May 2001 22:21:53 -0800

Just remember everyone, the article is dead wrong. PFDs do not save your life when you are knocked out. PFDs are not designed to float you on your back. Only lifejackets do that, and those have had the same design for more than 50 years. Pretty basic knowledge for anyone who works on the water, I wonder who wrote that page?

By: dfowler

dfowler — Wed, 16 May 2001 06:29:19 -0800

Just remember everyone, in the same document, the Coast Guard identifies Type I PFDs as "offshore lifejackets," not to be confused with "near-shore buoyant vests" (Type II) or "flotation aids" (Type III). All PFDs classed by the USCG as "Type I" will turn most unconscious wearers face up. As far as the "lifejacket vs. PFD" point, it's addressed (by the Coast Guard, who work on the water -- shit, they tell us all how to work on the water): It is unlikely that any different Type of PFD would have prevented most of the drownings where a PFD was used. Consider this regarding PFD performance: (1) About 450 people drowned in 1996, apparently because they didn't have a PFD that they were willing to wear. (2) About 55 people died in accidents where PFDs were used, but only in about 5 to 10 of those cases is there any indication that a higher performing PFD might have prevented the drowning. In the other 45 to 50 cases, other contributing factors would have overcome the benefits of any PFD. The factors include: being trapped in an overturned boat, being held under a boulder or log by the strong currents of white water, removing the PFD for some reason (like swimming to shore), becoming hypothermic due to the duration of exposure in cold water, suffering other injuries that led to drowning, etc. That's what I meant when I said "debunking myths." They've got the numbers; they're right. Read the article before you get snarky.