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Life vest
equipment to help the wearer keep afloat in water / From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
A life vest (also called Personal flotation device, lifejacket, or cork jacket) is a special type of clothing. The vest makes people float in water. It also keeps their head out of the water so that they can breathe. There are different categories of life vests. They are mainly different in how much flotation they provide. Some life vests inflate all by themselves, others need to be filled with air manually.
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A life vest has one very important property: The part of keeping the head outside the water works even if the persion is unconscious, or unable to do anything. A swimming aid will simply help the person in the water, and make swimming easier. It will not work on its own.
People doing watersports, for example sailing, usually wear life vests.