Tell me more about the self inflating life jacket. I do know that a firefighter in Forestville CA, near you was drowned when he was knocked overboard by a "rogue wave" when the boat owner tried to take a shortcut getting out of Bodega Harbor. I was told he had been wearing a self inflating life jacket. It did sound to me like they got him back on board immediately, but that maybe he drowned from being pulled through the water by the boat. I heard the boat just stood straight up on its tail, and that the life jacket might not have actually been to blame due to the violence of the incident. My source is not entirely reliable. Is there a huge incidence of self inflating life jackets not working? That is another reason why I have retired my self inflating life jacket. I now use a good foam jacket that will not fail to "deploy." I keep my knife on it, as well as my radio and a few other doodads. This is all information from the Small Boat Sailing academy I attended in Port Townsend with Howard Rice and John Welsford et al. Daniel M15 #208 Kestrel
*************************************************