Leo,
I will agree that the new breathable waders are the best I've ever owned. But, even with the chest strap and waist strap quite tight, when subjected to buffeting from all directions in extremely strong currents for over 30 minutes, water still wicks in through your clothes -- although, nowhere near as much with other types of waders. My cell phone was in a sealed ZipLoc bag, in the water-tight pocket on the front of my waders, and it even took in enough water to kill it.
When we got the canoe back, my "watertight" Minnkota Kayak bag, which was tied to a rope at the stern of the canoe, was a quarter full of water.
In my 65 years I've never before been subjected to this kind of current, and I've been through some nasty stuff, including during my six years in the Navy. I too am a fairly strong swimmer, and I'm glad I'm in fairly good physical condition. It still took nearly everything I had to get out of the current and to shore. It took me about 4 days to get back to where I could reasonably work out, and even then, I am still hurting.
If I go down this river again, I'm going to add one of the inflatable preservers as a backup.
Ken
