Survival gear requirements over the water

I listened in on a webinar about aviation safety equipment and at one point the speaker said it was the law that you had to have a life preserver if you flew 50 NM or greater from shore. The reference he was citing was FAR 91.509. 91.509 states:

a) No person may take off an airplane for a flight over water more than 50 nautical miles from the nearest shore unless that airplane is equipped with a life preserver or an approved flotation means for each occupant of the airplane.

That seems to be pretty clear however, this FAR is in the section that applies to large aircraft (>12,500) and turbine powered multi enginge so in reality it doesn't apply to most GA aircraft.

Not to say that you should only carry survival gear when it is mandated but just to claify that there is no FAR regulation for small GA aircraft to carry survival gear.