I believe you are correct…I have seen contrary info but don’t care about that, I consider no pfd viable unless it’s on the person, kinda like a seat belt or a helmet.
Like any other safety equipment / PPE (personal protective equipment in the industrial world) said equipment needs to be good quality and comfortable to wear, great example are safety glasses, if they are cheap and scratch easily I’d see guys with them pushed up on their forehead so they could read a tape measure for example. At a safety meeting one time I was complaining about the crappy safety glasses and some manager said the ones I had suggested, Smith & Wesson
Smith & Wesson Elite Safety Glasses with Black Frame and Clear Anti-Fog Lens These are awesome by the way..were too expensive. I said I see so safety first unless it costs too much or takes too much time… we had the Smith & Wessons in less than a month.
I chose the auto inflating pfds of the highest buoyancy for myself in case I hit my head and got thrown overboard and was unconscious, that way it would flip my pie hole up towards the air. I got the same pfds for my passengers. I do have 6 regulation orange PFD’s in the Tea bag on the T top, as well as the throwable cushion.
At the end of the day, safety is your own responsibility.
I keep a pair of the clear Smith & Wesson glasses in the Tea bag to use when I’m driving and the light is too low for sunglasses…they work great for that. They fit tight on my face and around my eyes so most of the wind doesn’t come in as well as the errant bug.