[ricki]

Just saw your post, it is a funny image. Lots of irony there, not quite sure what they are lampooning though.

Here's another image. Imagine you are struggling towards shore and are getting hammered with swells throughout. You just abandoned your kite in offshore winds and are just trying to get on to dry land. The cut and calm water are very close by but you don't have enough strength to make it there. So you go and climb up a rocky revetment being hammered by waves. You get washed off, bump your head, lose consciousness and stay that way, permanently. Before you lose it, you may recall that you told the local shop you would be in for an impact vest the next day.

How about this one. You are a stoked newbie, can't wait to get water time in. All you have are lakes, but there is a light breeze, the sun is up, it isn't so cold in your 3/2 wetsuit, yet. Thing is the wind dies, the sun sets as due normal winter temperatures in the midwest and the fog moves in. Hypothermia comes on and steals your strength away until you can no longer swim around in circles trying to find land. Down you go, lacking flotation or an impact vest and there you stay.

Grim, true as are both stories. But if the point of that post on the California forum was to ridicule use of flotation, I think it was a stupid, ill considered idea. Too few guys use it currently which is why there will likely be repeats with variants of the above images.

Ignoring all that underlying "deeper meaning" stuff though, it is a funny image.