Petition to Eliminate the PFD requirement for paddleboards

[mrbig]

Signed. Good on ya Rick for making it easy peasy. Still rockin my Stearns. On Crows Pond saw two young ladies and a dog on one SUP! Naughty girls no PFD's..I held my counsel as it was their second day of paddling - summer rules!

[Easy Rider]

A few random thoughts.

The idea of a strapping / taping a PFD to your board and not using a leash - yet being legal - is one of the dumbest things I have ever heard. 
It just shows that the people that were responsible for the rulings had absolutely no concept of the sport. 

To those that say "leashes break".  Remember that we are talking about PFD vs. Leashes - ON FLAT WATER.   
No one is saying you should wear a PFD in the surf . . . and I have never in my 9 years of SUP heard of a leash breaking on flat water.   

If you want to CHOOSE to wear a PFD - Great - please do so and feel safe about it.   

If there is going to be a ruling because people can not protect them selves - then a leash is the only option.   

[HanaSurf]

Check out the Lucky to be Alive thread started here. A great case for Wearing a Quality PFD.  SUP has a lot of newbies and oldies out there. Glad these girls were good swimmers.

[pdxmike]

Check out the Lucky to be Alive thread started here. A great case for Wearing a Quality PFD.  SUP has a lot of newbies and oldies out there. Glad these girls were good swimmers.

Great case for beginners to wear them, and for experienced paddlers to wear them in some conditions.  Even better case for having leashes--they could have used the leashes to keep their boards together.  I'd go so far as to say the pfds could have killed them--if they hadn't had pdfs on, would they have made the stupid decision to leave their boards and swim, with no idea where land was?  I doubt it.   And the fact they did find land swimming was totally luck. 


But their case is not an argument for requiring them to be strapped to your board, or to be worn by everyone regardless of skill, conditions, or location.  If their case is an argument for mandatory pfds, then it's also an argument for mandatory sunscreen. 

[kurtr]

 
Ho do I delete this post? Grrr.

[supthecreek]

Just hit the "back" arrow on your menu bar... it will go back to the thread, without leaving any reply

[WingSuit]

Over the past few years, here where I live in the Pacific Northwest, I can think of a dozen people lost "at sea", meaning within a half mile of land, or in lakes, just in my county.  These were kayakers, canoeists, and surf skiers, in all seasons. It will eventually happen to an SUP paddler.   Only one had a PFD, and since he had no strobe or radio, he succumbed to the cold water even though he was wearing a dry suit.  The Coast Guard simply couldn't find him in time.  I wear an inflatable PFD and a leash while on my board and surf ski, and a full PFD in my kayak, except the smallest lakes on the warmest days.  Don't find it onerous or unreasonable.  Don't regard it as a government intrusion. 

[supdiscobay]

Over the past few years, here where I live in the Pacific Northwest, I can think of a dozen people lost "at sea", meaning within a half mile of land, or in lakes, just in my county.  These were kayakers, canoeists, and surf skiers, in all seasons. It will eventually happen to an SUP paddler.   Only one had a PFD, and since he had no strobe or radio, he succumbed to the cold water even though he was wearing a dry suit.  The Coast Guard simply couldn't find him in time.  I wear an inflatable PFD and a leash while on my board and surf ski, and a full PFD in my kayak, except the smallest lakes on the warmest days.  Don't find it onerous or unreasonable.  Don't regard it as a government intrusion.

Wingsuit, that is great that you choose to have a pfd and also wear a leash. I believe that is very smart.

But, anytime the government tells me I have to do something and I have no choice, that is government intrusion.

A leash and pfd would not have helped anyone of those "lost at sea" souls.  They chose to not use a locator.
Key word here is choice.

[WingSuit]

The govt tells me to wear a seat belt, not to use my phone while driving, that i need an invasive species permit to paddle lakes, a license to fly, drive, hunt or fish.  Doesnt strike me as unreasonable. 

I didnt know you were familiar enough with the scene here to know that all those lost paddlers wouldnt have survived even with pfds.  Five of them were 100 feet from shore, by the way. 

[supdiscobay]

Wingsuit,
I don't know anything about your scene up north.  But they chose to either not wear a pfd, leash or locator. If conditions up in your scene can be that dangerous, they should have.

Your are right, I would now qualify my statement that some government intrusion is reasonable, but when it applies to this specific topic, it is not reasonable.

[supthecreek]

Personal choice... want it? Wear it. All good........

bubbbbut wait.... you are ok with being considered an invasive species? Because we are human... we are invasive? and you don't see the danger in where this is headed?

Just wait till they decide wingsuits are too dangerous.... and they make you wear a safety line.

[gorgebob]

We have rental boards and we don't use  bungees to tie down the jacket.
Renters have come back with out the jacket because it floated away. Funny sad. Once I saw was an inflatable duct taped to the deck.
 It is to bad that we have to lower ourselves to the lowest denominator and not just let nature take its course. The government is just trying to keep tax payers alive to pay another day. Oh yes, can you swim?

[WingSuit]

I do admit, i was pretty POd about having to get an invasive species permit.  It is inconvenient having to get inspected each time i launch.  But, they did find one zebra mussel after looking for 3 years ...   

Good point about the WingSuits.  Good thing i am only a poseur and am strictly a watersports guy. 

Here, what kills is the cold water.  Jump into 52 degree water and its invigorating.  Try to swim 100 yards in it, its life threatening.  Dunk only your head and you could be gasping to catch your breath for a couple minutes.  Swim a rapid in sub 40 degree water, even with a dry suit, and you are shivering. 

Lots of islands and deep channels with big tide changes means swift currents, and tide rips.

But i would still wear my inflatable pfd off shore in key west ... 

[pdxmike]

Over the past few years, here where I live in the Pacific Northwest, I can think of a dozen people lost "at sea", meaning within a half mile of land, or in lakes, just in my county.  These were kayakers, canoeists, and surf skiers, in all seasons. It will eventually happen to an SUP paddler.   Only one had a PFD, and since he had no strobe or radio, he succumbed to the cold water even though he was wearing a dry suit.  The Coast Guard simply couldn't find him in time.  I wear an inflatable PFD and a leash while on my board and surf ski, and a full PFD in my kayak, except the smallest lakes on the warmest days.  Don't find it onerous or unreasonable.  Don't regard it as a government intrusion.

But the pfd requirement still applies to you while you're on the smallest lakes on the warmest days.  If you don't wear a pfd then, do you at least strap one onto your board?  If not, it seems like you do find it at least somewhat onerous and unreasonable, because you are breaking that law.


Or, if you DO lash a pfd onto your board on those smallest lakes on the warmest days, do you do it for safety reasons, or simply to avoid a ticket? 

[pdxmike]

Over the past few years, here where I live in the Pacific Northwest, I can think of a dozen people lost "at sea", meaning within a half mile of land, or in lakes, just in my county.  These were kayakers, canoeists, and surf skiers, in all seasons. It will eventually happen to an SUP paddler.   Only one had a PFD, and since he had no strobe or radio, he succumbed to the cold water even though he was wearing a dry suit.  The Coast Guard simply couldn't find him in time.  I wear an inflatable PFD and a leash while on my board and surf ski, and a full PFD in my kayak, except the smallest lakes on the warmest days.  Don't find it onerous or unreasonable.  Don't regard it as a government intrusion.

There have been several SUP deaths in the NW already.  The ones I know about, based on memory:
--guy disappeared a couple years ago in the Willamette in summer a few yards offshore.  Paddling alone, no pfd, no leash.  Nobody knows what happened, or whether he knew how to swim.  Never heard of body being recovered.
--guy drowned in Lake Washington in summer a couple years ago, paddling with (I believe) his brother on Lake Washington a few yards from shore.  He was wearing a functional inflatable pfd from the rental shop, but didn't pull the cord when he fell in. He was a poor swimmer.  He was pulled off the bottom by a bystander who happened to train lifeguards, but it was too late to save him.  It all happened so fast, he was under before his brother saw what had happened.
--woman died in Oregon paddling on a river--fell off board, and was trapped underwater on an obstacle by her leash.  Don't know if she had a pfd, but sounds like what killed her was being caught underwater.


In first case, nobody knows what happened.  If a pfd would have saved him, most likely so would a leash.  Or maybe he had a heart attack and nothing would have saved him.
In second case, he was legal with the inflatable pfd, but it didn't help.  I'd say a leash almost certainly would have saved him, since either he could have grabbed it and got to his board, or his brother could have jumped in and got him to his board easily, because he wouldn't have sunk 20 feet under.
In third case, don't know if she wore a pfd or not, so don't know if the pfd was relevant, but the leash probably killed her.  She was wearing the wrong type of leash for the conditions.


So, with these actual cases, the results are inconclusive. #2 died wearing an inflatable, so the law didn't help him, but wearing a standard inflatable would have.  So would have knowing how to swim.  #1 might have lived in a pfd or not. #3 may have been wearing one or not, but wearing one would have been no guarantee she would have lived.


And as far as the law goes (having one on board) it wouldn't have helped any of the 3.
 
Plus, you can always find examples of people who died, but would have lived had they been wearing a pfd.  That doesn't mean there should be a law always requiring it.  And I don't think there's ever been an example of someone living because they had one strapped to their board, who would have died otherwise, since after all, by the time they got to their pfd, they'd already be at their floating board.