When did looking "macho" come into this discussion? Gimme a break!

Not as much on this thread, but I think it's pretty rampant on this
newsgroup.

As for recommendations, sure, we all think for ourselves.

You couldn't prove that by me. It would seem to me that a rather large
percentage of "sea kayakers" have been programed to spew forth the common
mantras without applying any actual thought or research to what they are
talking about.

However, when you're
giving advice on the web to someone you don't know, erring on the side of
caution
is the prudent thing to do.

Kinda reminds me of one of my father's stories from his lifeguarding days.
It would seem that a tourist, a young man, thought it might be fun to dive from
the pier into the water thirty or forty feet below. Unfortunately this fellow
didn't really know how to swim. So he decided to "err on the side of caution"
and dive into water that was not over his head so he wouldn't drown. His plan
worked perfectly -- he didn't drown. He died from a broken neck!

I doubt that anyone has ever been injured or killed
because they dressed for immersion,

A number of "victims" have died while dressed for immersion. Who's to say
that their attire did not in some way contribute to their demise. Perhaps they
were so hot that they decided to do a roll, or take a swim, and ended up in the
water separated from their boat as a result. Or they capsized and were so
encumbered by their attire that they were unable to catch their boat, or make
the shore. The bottom line is that you do not really know if being dressed for
immersion might have in some way contributed to some of the kayaking
fatalities.

but lot's of people have died because they
didn't.

I am not aware of anyone who dropped dead on the beach because they were not
dressed for immersion! Did they actually die because they were not properly
attired, or was their attire simply a contributing circumstance? By my way of
thinking there is a huge difference here. A lot of people have died despite
being properly dressed for immersion as well. So it would appear that this is
not the magic solution for survival in this sport that you seem to want to make
it out to be.

It's not up to us to impose the degree of risk we accept on someone else.

Then why do so many people in this sport attempt to do just that?

Scott
So.Cal.