Re: [Paddlewise] Night Gear and red LEDs

Jonathan  wrote;



>I was shaking my head at this train of thought, and finally decided that
>this looked like a good place to jump in.

I was shaking my head too. Let me put on my commercial waterman's hat for a
moment. If I see a strobe or flashing light where it shouldn't be I might
treat it as an emergency signal, haul my nets or abandon them and come to
your rescue. If it is a kayaker out for a pleasant evening paddle I may be
mildly upset. I certainly won't be too concerned about counting the
flashes. "HMMM that was only forty flashes per minute. Guess its just a
kayaker or a kid playing with matches."

I believe the international rules say that boats under oar or paddle can
use either the flashlight/lantern or the sailboat lights. For kayaks a tri
color mounted on a post extending over your head might be good for
continuous lighting. Not sure if anyone makes one suitable for kayaks but
the Aqua Signal portable lights could be rigged to work. I agree with
Jonathon about mistaken identity but that may not be a bad thing (being
confused with a sail boat under sail since they are not easily manoeuvrable
nor can they easily get out of the way). Sailboats and kayaks have a lot in
common. Mind, I am speaking from memory on the regs so maybe the
international rules I remember are no longer valid. Correct me if I am
wrong. Meanwhile I will check myself.

As for paddling at night where there is power boat traffic you might want
to
consider paddling in groups. Boats so low as kayaks are often obscured by
waves and a bunch of lights are much better than one.

>On the other hand, NEVER nevernever............   point a high powered
light
>like a searchlight at the bridge of anything except in the last seconds,
as
>after that, they wont be able to see you or anything else and can't tell
>which way to turn.

AMEN. If you really want to piss off a fisherman hauling his nets shine
your
powerful hand held searchlight in his face to see what he is doing.

>I also feel compelled to point out that your best defence is to find them
>first, and remember that a rather large fast commercial boat can be really
>dark and amazingly quiet, if you just heard the wake then it's way to
late.

Once again, AMEN. Simply put, kayakers rarely have a compelling  reason to
be in shipping lanes anyway. These are commercial lanes and the people in
those ships are earning a living. If you must cross them look both ways and
then look again. Then, if you see running lights reconsider. Ships are
deceptively fast.


I know paddling at night is fun and a unique experience but for the life of
me I cannot understand why people who always wear their lifejackets even on
a calm day would insist on paddling in or near traffic sea traffic lanes at
night when they are at the mercy of people who not only don't expect you to
be there but may not be able to do a whole lot to avoid you.

My personal advice to night paddlers is to stay out of channels and only
paddle at night in those areas not likely to have powerboat traffic.  A
collision at sea can ruin your night.

Cheers,
John Winters
Redwing Designs
Specialists in Human Powered Watercraft
http://home.ican.net/~735769/






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