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Lesson learned!!
Here is something that changed the way I think about lifejackets!!
Was out on a boat with a friend who was doing his RYA2. He only wanted it for insurance because he has had a rib of one sort or another for over 30 years. He never wore hi lifejackets either because he was an excellent saltwater swimmer at competition level.
Anyway, he of course had to wear one for this course. About an hour in, while doing mooring exercises well upriver in very slow moving water, he fell overboard.
For about 5 seconds we laughed before realising he was sinking. He inflated his lifejackets about 10 seconds after falling in and obviously was ok.
The problem was that he had turned whilst holding onto a handle and hurt his shoulder. That shoulder happened to be attached to the hand that was holding him in the boat, and he consequently fell overboard. Of course, once in the water he couldn't use his arm and having shoes on made it very difficult to float.
Lesson learned! Haven't seen him without it since!
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Don't worry, this is perfectly normal. Could someone pass me the flares please?
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