Re: [Paddlewise] Lights for night paddling

A steady light is the best solution, I like the little 360 degree
"lanterns".  Ray-O-Vac, etc sell inexpensive lights that will serve this
purpose for those who travel at night irregularly.

Lightsticks ("cyalume") are really cheap, but pick an appropriate
color--not red or green-and should be on a quasi-stationary object (you or
the boat, not a paddle) to avoid the strobe effect that signals distress.

Reflective tape is super cheap.  West Marine sells a product designed to
stick to your PFD for $1.85US per foot.  Two feet will provide tons of
reflective area front and back.

Wynne
Americus, GA 
USA


At 01:17 PM 7/2/98 EDT, JCMARTIN43_at_aol.com wrote:
>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


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