What's the problem with sticking a USCG certified inflatable vest or cheap orange horseshoe vest in the hull to cover your bases and wear your CE vest. That meets USCG regs. Wearing it is usually a race rule not a coast guard rule, unless your under age (13?).
edit: Just saw Matt already addressed this.
"I said, now, I said ,pay attention boy!"
The cure for anything is salt water - sweat, tears, or the sea
Isak Dinesen
If a man is to be obsessed by something.... I suppose a boat is as good as anything... perhaps a bit better than most.
E. B. White
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