'IIRC the pilot had the rubber socks removed from his immersion suit because they made his feet uncomfortable'.
He had replaced his rubber socks with wrist seals fitted tover his ankles. In turn these were fitted over his socks i.e.not next to the skin. Moreover his wrist seals and neck seal were also worn over the top of his undergarments, again not next to the skin. These three then acted as huge wicks to soak up the water. However he drowned, primarily as I recall, because he had not fitted his lifejacket properly so that, when he became unconscious due to hypothermia, the lifejacket could not keep his head out of the water.
This wasa major wake-up call to the correct use of safety equipment and led also to some significant design changes to the lifejacket and the SARBE radio fit.. Sadly this was a totally avoidable death.