new [tiny] inflatable pdf coming

[yugi]

I'm putting this in the DW and racing section as it's always a good idea to have this with you but the more experienced riders rarely do since they feel safer.

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/660538636/restube-ultralite-inflatable-life-jacket-and-swim

I use the classic Restube. Keeps my local law enforcement happy even though it's not a full lifejacket (they are just happy we make an effort). They check a lot more and insist more the last years.

So small and out of the way I've just gotten in the habit of always carrying it. Which, at the end of the day, makes all the difference. The fact it's with you.

To be honest I will still prefer the simple tube. The likelyhood I'll use it to help someone else or to use as a visible signal is still greater than me needing a lifejacket. Just the visibility of the tube floating behind you is a very valuable thing in case of the need to swim in. Even if I carry a phone I'd most likely just be swimming in (knock on wood).

edit to add: the more experienced riders set the example. Once they all carry one then the intermediates begin too. Then beginners. It's a natural cycle I've witnessed with helmuts in biking and skiing.

Swiss lifeguards use the classic Restube and it has proved a valuable tool to save lives. I know Switzerland doesn't conjure up images of huge beach breaks which is the classic lifeguard image. However the interesting statistic is that there are more deaths from drowning per year in Switzerland than by avalanches. Yet we get skiers flocking here from the world all over doing what seems to be their best effort to kill themselves in avalanches. I lose 1 or 2 friends/acquaintances a year to avalanches and despite being a waterman in summer I don’t know anyone who has drowned. So that stat really speaks to me how dangerous water can be. And, yes, I am a certified lifeguard.

[lucabrasi]

Love that video. Thanks for posting. I can't get a big enough screen.
Yeah, kind of interesting. Never thought of that. Big numbers winter and summer participants here. If they do one they do the other it seems...and lots more perhaps only summer stuff vs. only winter tho plenty of each as well. Whether knowing them first hand, second, or even third hand I am far more touched by people caught in slides than drowning here as well.
Most of the drowning I hear about are people caught in a storm on the lake or a tourist raft flipping on the river with the first happening far more often. Most of the people in slides it seems were out in places on days they shouldn't have been.....for whatever reason but many probably knew better.
probably like lots caught out in storms as well