I always wear my PFD because it does help me float after a crash and because it serves as an impact vest to keep the boom from hitting my ribs. But I have a fanny pack that I wear and decided to tighten up the shoulder straps of the PFD to make more room for the fanny pack. Bad idea, because it moved the PFD padding just above my lower ribs. I crashed a month ago, hit the water on my side and my elbow just got under the bottom of the PFD and slammed into my lower ribs separating one rib from the cartilage, it is doing pretty good now but was painful for a while. Point is, it would not of happened if my PFD was adjusted so that it covered all my ribs. So a heads up to all the PFD wearers.
A few of us have experienced that, not fun 
Some brands offer little protection on the side. I changed my vest to a Forward WIP to get better rib protection when speed sailing. A proper crash vest like waterskiers use might be a better option?
Select to expand quoteStretchy said..
A few of us have experienced that, not fun Some brands offer little protection on the side. I changed my vest to a Forward WIP to get better rib protection when speed sailing. A proper crash vest like waterskiers use might be a better option?
I've got a forward impact vest. It halved my recovery time after a bad stack . Since then I've cut down some closecell foam panels ( camping karrimat) and put them down the sides for extra padding / protection.
Select to expand quoteStretchy said..
A few of us have experienced that, not fun Some brands offer little protection on the side. I changed my vest to a Forward WIP to get better rib protection when speed sailing. A proper crash vest like waterskiers use might be a better option?
I looked at a lot of different styles of impact vests, but in the end realized I just needed to adjust and tighten my PDF properly to protect all my ribs, my PDF has really thick insulation that does not absorb water and it is really light. A lot of impact vests have a neoprene cover which absorbs water and makes them heavier.
