How I know you should wear a PFD all the time

Ok, you asked,
Why I know you should ALWAYS wear a pfd. Not sometimes, not most of the time, ALL of the time. How do I know?
Because the one time that I NEEDED a pfd I did not have one on or in the boat (which is why I'm such a big advocate of them now). To make a long story longer, my boat with a new thru-hull fitting (another story ) filled with water and sank.
 Our boats are slightly positively buoyant even completely swamped. But if you fill it with an anchor, and a battery, and other misc. fishing junk, it gets to be slightly negatively buoyant. I was in Lake Pontchartrain in N.O., it's relatively shallow (avg < 20') and warm (+80^o). But negatively buoyant means it sinks and keeping it off the bottom meant I had to support myself and pull the boat and the water in it up to keep it off the bottom. I also found out that Lake P does have some slight current that was going offshore at the time. This was a VERY uncomfortable situation.
  Luckily, my nephew was a few hundred yards away (sleeping) and eventually paddled to my rescue. By the time he got to me, I was almost exhausted.  After I caught my breath, I had him tow the swamped boat (submarine) a little under a mile back to shore while I swam along side.
 Now, I was in the most optimal conditions for foolishness like that to happen (warm water, calm seas, close rescue) and I damn near drowned because I didn't have a PFD (that and I was too stupid to let the boat go). Throw cold water into that equation and I'd be a statistic. Y'all get the idea.
 Yeah, that was a rerun, but its probably the most important "Don't  Ask" story I have. So Don't Ask why you need to wear a pfd. Just wear it!  I have one on now at the dinner table. 

"How I know you should wear a PFD all the time"

Because I don't want to die by means that others will read about later and wonder "how could he have been so f'n stupid!!!"

That's how I know I should wear a PFD all the time 

Thanks for the cautionary tale Wali.

I have one on now at the dinner table.

It's true, Wali has one on all the time now under his T-shirt.  He may seem like a fairly big guy, but really under the clothing is a PFD  and a skinny 140 lb man.  This extra PFD also makes his magic fish dance more spectacular.

Thanks for the story. Glad things turned out well for you.

Fishesfromtupperware,
I appreciate your story, and am glad you are ok. That is one big lake down there, and quite a swim. I'm personally thankful for having my pfd being a force of habit more than a thought as I went for a swim at the end of a rapid on the Deschutes river. Plus, the ones now days are much more comfortable to wear than the orange ones I used as a kid.

My only add to this topic is to dress for the water. I catch myself being lazy, and just wearing whatever (mostly to avoid sunburn) despite the water being cold which is about as smart as my not wearing a pfd.