In a message dated 98-07-02 12:17:38 EDT, kcoplan_at_Genesis.Law.Pace.Edu writes: << On the night lighting issue, I wish there was some "legal" solution better than carrying a headlamp. >> There are probably a lot of "legal" solutions better than a headlamp which, as you point out, is directional. Most of the chain boating stores sell battery operated lights for sailboats and inflatable dingies which mount with a suction cup as a base. There's a good 360 degree "stern light" sold, powered by a couple of "D" cells, with a suction cup base that puts out a respectable amount of light; mounted on the after deck of a kayak, it will cover about 330 degrees of your "six", and allow you to show a white light forward when needed. As a user of LEDs in marking special purpose buoys and as a SAR pilot on early tests of LEDs, this type of visual marker is essentially useless for a kayaker at sea or, particularly, in a crowded, light-saturated area like a harbor. (The only ones that really worked well were infra-red, night vision device- compatible, high frequency strobing LEDs that were used during the Gulf War as identification, friend or foe [IFF] indicators. When waterproofed and attached to small, low-floating bouy-like devices, two little LEDs looked like the Washington Monument on the Fourth from several miles away when viewed with night vision goggles, but were virtually invisible when activated in your hand in a dark room. Highly impractical for our purposes, I think.) Best advice --- as stated repeatedly: stay out of channels whenever possible. Use the USCG and international rules --- no strobing lights except for emergencies --- and at least be prepared to show a white light when near other vessels. But one thing not mentioned much if at all in this thread --- the use of retroreflective tape on PFDs, the boat hull itself, and on paddle blades, and the use of high viz, flourescent colors in low light conditions. Again, with my old search and rescue hat on, I can state that flourescent items are far more visible from the air and from low incidence angles than any other, and that retroreflective tape literally saves lives. Jack "Joq" Martin *************************************************************************** PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List Submissions: paddlewise_at_lists.intelenet.net Subscriptions: paddlewise-request_at_lists.intelenet.net Website: http://www.gasp-seakayak.net/paddlewise/ ***************************************************************************Received on Thu Jul 02 1998 - 10:18:14 PDT
This archive was generated by hypermail 2.4.0 : Thu Aug 21 2025 - 16:29:57 PDT