While I do not recommend going without a life vest. I have gone swimming in a pair of canvas chest waders during the summer as an experiment with a life line and 2 friends watching. I did not drown nor need help. I never understood why people would think that waders would make you sink, especially neoprene. Once water fills a pair of waders, they are no worse or better than they would have been without you in them. If they naturally float, then they will help you float by the same amount of upward force that they have on themself. If they naturally sink they will try and pull you down by the same amount of force that they pull them self down. If you are calm and the water isn't rough and you aren't in danger of freezing to death, you can backstroke your way across a small pond, like I did. Like I said, I do not recommend this and I do think that anyone that doesn't wear a life vest when the time warrants you to is foolish. But I hate hearing people say neoprene waders pull you down when it isn't true. Say that they will make it very hard to use your legs to swim, say that you might freeze to death before you get to safety, say that your an idiot if you don't wear a PDF, say almost anything, but don't say neoprene will drag you under.