Quote:
Originally Posted by MikeWaters
Looks like many of the surfers wear life jackets. I wonder if he was wearing one, i.e. is the presence of a life jacket a pretty solid help in preventing drowning in this type of situation? Not sure.
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Often the jacket adds as an extra layer of insulation, but big wavers wear jackets in the event that they get knocked unconscious by a pounding wave.
While a life jacket would likely not hurt, the issue is surviving the next set that is crashing down on you, even if you do make it to the surface. I can only imagine how hard it hits you when it is breaking on you at 20 feet or more. Probably feels like a load of cement being dumped on your head. since you crash in the impact zone, you are going to surface there too. You just have to pray that there is enough time between sets to swim out towards the channel or maybe someone can zoom in on a sea-doo and tow you away. Otherwise, you will drown.
Guys like Laird say that the biggest impediment when you are getting tossed around is the leash. If your leash is caught on something, you waste a second swimming upwards, only to realize you are caught...then more time swimming down in the darkness trying to find the end of the leash, then more seconds trying to un-velcro it, then more seconds getting back up to the surface. That is IF your leash is easily accessible and not caught in some crag somewhere.
Yikes.