Quote:

Just in case you ever see me in a canoeing photo without a life vest on, it's because I wear an inflatable belt preserver.

I'm not confidant a inflatable belt PFD would give the same benefits of a vest type PFD, but for those who find the vest types cumbersome or want to work on their tan, a little extra buoyancy is better than nothing.

The wife said he came up 3x before going under. This tells me he was a fighter. While you can never be certain in situations like this, that little extra buoyancy might of made the difference between a close call, and a tragic but likely avoidable drowning  :(