Tragic kayaker accident at Montaña de Oro

https://www.sanluisobispo.com/news/local/article315614059.html

Foreword: My sincere condolences to anyone who knows/is close to the victim in the group.

Another account of a kayaker slipping out of their life jacket. Similar downfall to the woman who drowned capsizing the kayak in Tomales Bay.

I apologize if this comes across as patronizing or painfully obvious, but I think it's worth mentioning that most of us probably adjusted our jackets to fit around numerous layers during the cold winter fisheries and we need to make sure we snug them back up in the hot months. Part of me wonders if that could be why we're hearing two "PFD came off" stories back to back as the weather heats up.

 Back in 2017 I was attending college 20 minutes from Lake Sonoma, and I got into hitting the winter smallmouth hard on my winter break. I was out there in a Prowler with all the scuppers plugged, in dual puffy ass coats in 30-degree weather but I had these fish dialed. Life happened; I didn't have another fishing adventure until June. It was hot, and I jumped off my kayak to cool down. I was surprised when I nearly slipped out of my "correctly sized to my body" PFD and got stuck like a weird fleshy can buoy with my arms restricted and my head partially submerged.

I was able to wiggle out, jump back in my yak, and sheepishly realized I had forgotten to adjust my jacket after squeezing it over a much more insulated version of my torso all winter. After adjusting the straps, I had a comfortable swim with my perfect fitting PFD.

I can understand how easy it is to forget to adjust the PFD, then go on to trust the PFD because it fit right the last time and it's a quality brand, and how the loose PFD get very scary fast if you add in high winds, chop, exhaustion, cold water shock, the list goes on.

Very sad. Easily preventable.

... I think it's worth mentioning that most of us probably adjusted our jackets to fit around numerous layers during the cold winter fisheries and we need to make sure we snug them back up in the hot months...

Good advice.

That is a great point! I just ran into this issue this past weekend fishing in San Diego. No dry suit, no layers... lifejacket was loose but I made sure to adjust prior to launching. This can be an easy miss that can have very negative effects. Buddy sytem, check your buddy.. Cup check 

That’s so sad. Thank you for sharing this: learning from accidents like this is a key way to improve safety.

Really sad story.  I went fishing with my son at Morro Bay the weekend of May 23rd and the office from Fish and Wildlife told me about this exact event.  He had me and my son adjust our PFD's exactly as Fitzcarraldo mentioned.mmY son's vest was OK, but mine was really loose.  I am never on the water without my PFD, but I realized I'd become complacent about making sure it was adjusted correctly.  Thanks for posting about this.

I’ve been trying to make something up for my girlfriend’s pfd in the lines of a crotch strap to prevent the pfd from sliding up and off from her. They make them for kids but not so much for adults. For a woman even if the pfd is fit right, because of having say medium to large breasts, it can make the pfd still loose enough that they’ll be vulnerable to it still slipping off.

I’ve been trying to make something up for my girlfriend’s pfd in the lines of a crotch strap to prevent the pfd from sliding up and off from her. They make them for kids but not so much for adults. For a woman even if the pfd is fit right, because of having say medium to large breasts, it can make the pfd still loose enough that they’ll be vulnerable to it still slipping off.

Make sure she has a quality Women's Lifejacket, the good ones have two "cutouts"  but as you said the larger ones are difficult to stay tight.

I appreciate you sharing your story.

I've actually been losing some weight (still a fatass but less fatass than before) and I wouldn't be surprised if my lifejacket needs an adjustment, didn't really think about it til reading this. Going to do that now.

https://www.sanluisobispo.com/news/local/article315614059.html

Foreword: My sincere condolences to anyone who knows/is close to the victim in the group.

Another account of a kayaker slipping out of their life jacket. Similar downfall to the woman who drowned capsizing the kayak in Tomales Bay.

I apologize if this comes across as patronizing or painfully obvious, but I think it's worth mentioning that most of us probably adjusted our jackets to fit around numerous layers during the cold winter fisheries and we need to make sure we snug them back up in the hot months. Part of me wonders if that could be why we're hearing two "PFD came off" stories back to back as the weather heats up.

 Back in 2017 I was attending college 20 minutes from Lake Sonoma, and I got into hitting the winter smallmouth hard on my winter break. I was out there in a Prowler with all the scuppers plugged, in dual puffy ass coats in 30-degree weather but I had these fish dialed. Life happened; I didn't have another fishing adventure until June. It was hot, and I jumped off my kayak to cool down. I was surprised when I nearly slipped out of my "correctly sized to my body" PFD and got stuck like a weird fleshy can buoy with my arms restricted and my head partially submerged.

I was able to wiggle out, jump back in my yak, and sheepishly realized I had forgotten to adjust my jacket after squeezing it over a much more insulated version of my torso all winter. After adjusting the straps, I had a comfortable swim with my perfect fitting PFD.

I can understand how easy it is to forget to adjust the PFD, then go on to trust the PFD because it fit right the last time and it's a quality brand, and how the loose PFD get very scary fast if you add in high winds, chop, exhaustion, cold water shock, the list goes on.

Thanks for the heads up. I’m still relatively new to this sport and this will be on my to do list for my next outing.

Thanh

If you are with a buddy a good rule of thumb is to have them adjust their pfd where they think it’s best. Then have them turn around facing away from you. Grasp the top of the shoulder straps and lift upwards firmly. You will be able to determine immediately if it’s fitted properly/snugly by the amount of limited upward movement. I’ve seen situations where it slid up completely covered their face.

Adjusting layers throughout the day may be necessary as temps change and additional adjustments to the pfd may be needed. This just a suggestion and not full proof. Other factors may exist that could prevent a positive outcome. This is one reason why the industry stopped calling them life vests and now refer to them as a personal flotation device or PFD. How about that manual bilge pump, who’s packing one when you’re off shore? One is much better than none!

A close friend used to to constantly remind me of the importance of the 7-P’s; Proper, Prior, Planning, Prevents, Piss, Poor, Performance. I’ve never forgotten it….