As a fellow tax-payer, I'm happy to pay, to let you go without if you desire.  But if you chose to wear, no, you can't have a refund.

yup, I'm cool with it.

Ahhh, the pot calling the kettle some derogatory term. Gotta love it! 

Just like MM's example that most of us flat water paddlers wouldn't even think to mention unless you summarily ignore warning signs at dams or enjoy crawling into into washing machines for a little spin.

My only point was that if someone relies on a piece of safety equipment to the point they demands everyone else should too, maybe that person shouldn't venture out in a unpredictably, "tippy" thing like a canoe in the first place.

It never ceases to amaze me that people call certain canoes stable fishing platforms and describe solo canoes as "tipsy' or not while I'd don a PFD in any tandem long before I would in a solo - depending on the company and circumstances...

There was one woman I remember specifically who simply refused to wear her seatbelt in my car on a return drive. We had a short but serious back and forth. I had been a little maniac in my younger days and my high risk insurance rate reflected that fact. A loved one was in the passenger front bucket seat. We found middle ground when Chris agreed to sit on the hump. I didn't care one whit whether she wore a PFD at any time on that trip or not. I have no clue but I doubt anyone ever did. I just remember her and the guy who sprung her on us at the last minute got really, really lost the second last day going back to a site we had all been to before. Still good people. We all pick our battles on things we haven't quite gotten over yet.

wally wrote on Jul 19^th, 2011 at 11:14pm:


You can lead a horse to water, but you can't make it wear a pfd to save its life.
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Quote:

Peurile.  If you grow up, you might be worth acknowledging beyond the fun of pot-shots.



I don't think anyone is trying to force anyone else to wear one.  Just saying don't call for my help.  Go ahead, leave your family with nothing but bills & an insurance company refusing to pay your life insurance.  Not sure what your justfication is for behaving like a baby without responsibility.  Don't really care.

The whole discussion reminds me of that Jackass star who died as he lived.  Drunk, stupid & without regard for anyone, not even himself.  Good riddance.  We're better off without people like this.

There are two things that I dislike about these discussions: the Holier than thou attitude I perceive in some and that some see no shades of grey.  There is a big difference between not wearing a PFD on a clam lake in the middle of August when air and water temps are quite warm and not wearing a PFD on October on a windy day with big waves.  There are different degrees of danger and we all draw a line on when to wear a PFD in a boat.  Depending on conditions and the type of boat, we all decide at some point that a PFD is prudent.  We just disagree on where to draw that line.

And I suspect there are some here who scoff at anyone who does not wear a PFD in calm August waters yet they themselves do not wear a wet suit (or partial wet suit) when paddling in cold spring or fall waters.  That seems hypocritical to me.