KAYAK ANGLER FOR iPAD and ANDROID
[THE SECR ET LI FE OF …]
PERSONAL FLOTATION DEVICES
• Norwegian seamen strapped blocks of wood or cork to their chest to prevent drowning. Early Inuit paddlers made buoyant, waterproof jackets called “spring-pelts” out of sealskin or seal gut.
• The first cork life jacket was patented by Dr. John Wilkinson in 1765. The inven- tion was featured in Wilkinson’s book, The Seaman’s Preservation from Ship- wreck, Diseases, and Other Calamities Incident to Mariners.
• According to Linda Grebe, a product manager at Extrasport, it takes hundreds of hours to develop a new PFD. Every component undergoes third party testing to ensure that it functions properly and meets all regulations. Even adding a buckle or changing the color of an existing model costs $8,000 to $20,000 for testing and certification.
• It takes seven-and-a-half pounds of flotation to keep the average adult afloat in calm water. In order to meet certification standards, a PFD must have at least 15.5 pounds of flotation. Since fat floats, a person with a low body mass index will require extra flotation.
• Life Savers candies were invented in 1912 by Clarence Crane who was the father of poet Hart Crane. Hart died in 1932 when he jumped off the stern of a ship…without a life preserver.
• During World War II, U.S. service men referred to their government-issue life vest as a “Mae West” after the buxom burlesque star.
• Chinese sailor, Poon Lim holds the record for spending the most days at sea in a life raft. In 1942, he drifted more than 750 miles in 133 days. To survive he caught fish and birds and ate their flesh and drank their blood.
—Ben Duchesney
www.kayakanglermag.com…29
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PHOTO: WILL RICHARDSON
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