I wish to comment on the criticism of the gent wearing the life vest as a necklace in the picture of the water evac.
One explanation offered was for ease of swimming. That's one good point, as those of us who have tried to swim with buoancy assists (think water survival training, Navy) discovered. Perhaps this gent was more aware than some of his critics allow.
Another is that, absent risk of it slipping off his head if it isn't tight enough/sung enough under his jaw, the life vest in that configuration guarantees two things:
- he floats
- his head is above water, so he breathes.
In a survival situation, that's not a bad thing.
Downside: given the water temp that day, my estimation is that he'd not be able to huddle/curl to conserve body heat as effectively were he not in the raft, but as that's not part of the safety briefing for SLF, that point's probably moot.
I note that he's in the raft, so he's floating anyway. His personal flotation device is a back-up accessory at that point.
All said and done, I see little wrong with his adaptation of the tool, though I admit it looked curious to me when I first saw the picture.
I expect that most folks stick with the simple "this is how you put it on, wear it thuswise" guidance.
Whoops, my post count equals my age.
