This is good Etienne. I think I'm going to find some cheap fins to keep on board. (I found a big scuba fin floating on the ocean and salvaged it, figuring I might find another. Never did).
I'm wonder if I can make a paddle float by making a bag to fit a kick board, (and the paddle) and have a pocket for fins and my flares.

I hear you about being young and no life jackets. We never wore bicycle helmets, never even considered them.

Back in the days when I was windsurfing a lot I often pondered the
: logistics of bringing swim fins along. On the few occasions when
: I broke equipment and had to swim it ashore I would have given
: my eye teeth for a pair of decent fins. I never could figure an
: elegant way of bringing them along though, so I never did.

: I always wore a float coat windsurfing, and 99% of the time it was
: a help to have the extra flotation. Once though, when my harness
: line tangled in the hook and trapped me under the sail the float
: coat hindered me swimming down to get out from under the sail
: the long way.

: Swimming in a PFD is the pits. Maybe one of those life jackets
: which inflate when required is an option. I like the extra
: warmth and pockets etc that the PFD offer though.

: I suspect that if I lived in a warm climate I would be far less
: safety conscious and may well go without a PFD much of the time.
: We never even knew they existed when we were kids.

: Et