I can't say I advocate not wearing a life jacket. I advocate having fun though.

But I do read some of these comments and shake my head when people criticize the hell out of the guy when they don’t realize they basically do the same **** and take the same risks. And then say “you’re going to kill someone”. ****, you're all lucky you don't hurt anyone when you're traveling in a pack of boats at 80+ mph running past each other side by side. It's a risk every single time you do that. You do not know what the next person has on their boat. How tight they bolted that motor on the boat. How well some backyard mechanic welded on a skeg (don’t flame me for saying that – I’ve seen them out there), tightened a prop, tighten down a lower unit, tested their steering, cables, checked for cracks in their props, etc. Not even calculating the other elements like floating debris in the water, wind... etc. **** just happens sometimes.. that is the way it is.

Last time I went we were hanging out on the canal behind River Ranch and folks had their boats parked on the side watching while other guys were doing 100+ mph passes, drag races, and just general fly-bys with everyone just hanging out on the back of their boats. I felt a little unsafe but I shrugged it off because that is a risk we all take as soon as you put your boat in the water.

Anyways, back to the life jacket thing. It won’t mitigate the risk of a crash, but will mitigate the risk of loss of human life which at the end of the day is more important than anything else on the water.
Just my two cents.