Short Story re visibility: I didn't think visibility was a major issue paddling lakes here in the Ozarks, where the most common craft is a 2 man bass boat. That all changed on Pomme de Terre Lake when a storm arrived with brute force while only 500 yards from shore, near a boat ramp. I was in a friend's tippy Beluga, which immediately blew over and I was unable to roll back up. There I was in the water waving my paddle frantically as bass boats zoomed by at full speed to escape the storm - the wind and rain reduced visibility more than I could ever imagine, as many boats came within 20 feet (no joke!!) of me. I thought for sure I was going to be hit, even with my paddle waving high. This went on for 15 minutes! Finally a boater spotted me before running me over and pulled me out. My wife was about 20 yards away, overturned as well in a blue CD squall - we could hardly see her. We proceed to pull her aboard too. This was a learning experience! I thought we could make it back to our launch site before the storm became severe - I expected a gradual build up, not dead calm to hurricane! The world was a classroom that day! The beluga was yellow but partially submerged, my PFD was red and black. I think blue was a bad color choice for the Squall. I think your PFD color is every bit as important as your boat. Just a note expressing that visibility is not only an ocean freighter issue! *************************************************************************** PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List - All postings copyright the author and not to be reproduced/forwarded outside PaddleWise without author's permission Submissions: PaddleWise_at_PaddleWise.net Subscriptions: PaddleWise-request_at_PaddleWise.net Website: http://www.paddlewise.net/ ***************************************************************************
Hi, I was out on a evening paddle yesterday evening, and at one point I had a group of kayakers ahead who rented boats from a local outfitter. I could see them from a distance of >1 km, mainly because they had white paddle blades (rhythmic white flashes). At that point I counted 4 paddlers. A bit later while catching up I could still count 4 paddlers, wearing red pfd's. At that point I still couldn't see their boats. Some time later there were suddenly 5 paddlers on the water. The previoulsy invisible guy was using a paddle with dark blue or black blades and wore a dark blue pdf. At that point I could also tell the color of their boats. I guess I was ~500m away. Conclusions: As long as you are in your boat the color/contrast of your pfd and your paddle blades is the most important part -at least from the viewpoint of small vessels (these are the ones most likely to run you over). One kayaker I know has one of these bicycle flag poles mounted on his rear deck. This thing is ~2m long, with a little orange flag attached. He, or better his pole/flag is visible form quite a distance, and the moving little flag catches the attention first. Speculation: If you are in the water the color of your pfd becomes less important, since your upper body is mostly submerged. A strobelight and/or a contrasting paddle for signalling is than more important. For the boat color the contrast to the water is more important than color. Light bright color usually provide more contrast to the mostly dark water. In moving water with whitecaps etc. is becomes harder to spot a small boat anyway. Visual distress signals like strobe light, flash light, or flares/smoke signals are probably the only measures in this situation to make yourself more visible! I use right now a yellow pfd. I choose it because red becomes gray if the guy in the other boat is colorblind and all other colors (green, black, blue) were even worse for the purpose of visibility. I don't have a strobe light yet, but it is one of the items on my "soon to order list". My boat is painted with a red/yellow deck and a white hull. If I am going to refresh the paint job on the hull this winter (wooden boat and the paint gets worn off the bottom when you ride up the beaches) I will add a neon dayglow stripe (yellow or red) along the keel line to increase to aerial visibility of my upside down floating boat. My primary paddle is a Grey Owl wooden paddle. I hesitate a bit to give the blades a paintjob, but I think since the paddle is made from light colored wood it should be fairly visible anyway. My spare is a wooden Greenlander and I think I will give it a paintjob soon (black loom, bright yellow blades). The Atlantic up here looks pretty dark, almost black. In other parts of the world with light blue green waters (picture the tropical island) the whole color/contrast story might be different. If you paddle in the Arctic white color might be not a good idea at all, unless you are on a seal hunt. My two cents Ulli Dr. Ulli Hoeger Dept. Physiology and Biophysics Dalhousie University Halifax, B3H4H7, Nova Scotia Canada Phone I : 902-494-2673 Fax: 902-494-1685 Phone II :902-488-6796 http://is.dal.ca/~uhoeger *************************************************************************** PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List - All postings copyright the author and not to be reproduced/forwarded outside PaddleWise without author's permission Submissions: PaddleWise_at_PaddleWise.net Subscriptions: PaddleWise-request_at_PaddleWise.net Website: http://www.paddlewise.net/ ***************************************************************************
I've been trying to find red reflective tape for a long time, but I haven't been able to find it. I've seen some boats with red and white striped reflective tape, but I don't know where to get it. What I'd like to do is cover the black tape along the gunwales with red reflective tape. Joan If I am > going to refresh the paint job on the hull this winter (wooden boat > and the paint gets worn off the bottom when you ride up the > beaches) I will add a neon dayglow stripe (yellow or red) along the > keel line to increase to aerial visibility of my upside down > floating > boat. > *************************************************************************** PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List - All postings copyright the author and not to be reproduced/forwarded outside PaddleWise without author's permission Submissions: PaddleWise_at_PaddleWise.net Subscriptions: PaddleWise-request_at_PaddleWise.net Website: http://www.paddlewise.net/ ***************************************************************************
On Wed, 2 Aug 2000 21:41:19 -0400, wrote: >I've been trying to find red reflective tape for a long time, but I >haven't been able to find it. I've seen some boats with red and >white >striped reflective tape, but I don't know where to get it. What I'd >like >to do is cover the black tape along the gunwales with red reflective >tape. > >Joan > > What I would really like to see are gel coat colors with a reflective component mixed in as part of the coat itself. Is there anything like this? If it's possible, can it be done even with the more subtle colors as well? I'm thinking of this mainly for night paddling, so that when any light is brought upon the kayak, the entire boat will light up - yet in sunlight, look pretty normal. Just wondering. Melissa *************************************************************************** PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List - All postings copyright the author and not to be reproduced/forwarded outside PaddleWise without author's permission Submissions: PaddleWise_at_PaddleWise.net Subscriptions: PaddleWise-request_at_PaddleWise.net Website: http://www.paddlewise.net/ ***************************************************************************
Melissa wrote: > > What I would really like to see are gel coat colors with a reflective > component mixed in as part of the coat itself. Is there anything > like this? If it's possible, can it be done even with the more > subtle colors as well? I'm thinking of this mainly for night > paddling, so that when any light is brought upon the kayak, the > entire boat will light up - yet in sunlight, look pretty normal. > > Just wondering. > > Melissa I have been wondering the same thing for a while now. Not just for kayaks but also for motorcycle helmets and such. I know that they can do "metal flake" finishes, why not reflective? Perhaps Matt can answer this one. As for the reflective tape, I have seen it in many auto parts stores, and all truck dealerships have it. I think I still have a roll or two from a project I did a bit back, reflective graphics on my snowmobile helmet. Mike (aghast at realizing that he just admitted to the group that he owns a "land based Jet Ski") -- Paddling along through fog so thick that only one's thoughts are visible, your reverie is abruptly shattered by the ancient cry of a great blue heron as she lifts uncertainly from the brilliant blue of a mussel-shell beach witnessed only by the brooding, wet spruce....your passage home seems as much back through time as it does through space. Mark H Hunt *************************************************************************** PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List - All postings copyright the author and not to be reproduced/forwarded outside PaddleWise without author's permission Submissions: PaddleWise_at_PaddleWise.net Subscriptions: PaddleWise-request_at_PaddleWise.net Website: http://www.paddlewise.net/ ***************************************************************************
At 11:36 AM 8/3/00 -0400, Michael R Noyes wrote: >Melissa wrote: > >> > >I have been wondering the same thing for a while now. Not just for kayaks but >also for motorcycle helmets and such. I know that they can do "metal flake" >finishes, why not reflective? Perhaps Matt can answer this one. Last weekend one of the assistants to the BCU coaches (Fiona Fairity) at the AKT symposium was paddling a Anas Acuta that had an orange hull and a metal flake green deck. At first it looked pretty gaudy (if not festive) but it grew on me after awhile. I also overheard Gabriel's lovely wife, Rita, talking with Nigel Dennis about available colors for his NDK boats and Nigel mentioned that he could pretty much make one in any color she wished by supplying a sample and that it could be made using a couple of different metal flake add-ins. Waterski boats have been using metal flake in their gelcoat for many years. *************************************************************************** PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List - All postings copyright the author and not to be reproduced/forwarded outside PaddleWise without author's permission Submissions: PaddleWise_at_PaddleWise.net Subscriptions: PaddleWise-request_at_PaddleWise.net Website: http://www.paddlewise.net/ ***************************************************************************
On Wed, 2 Aug 2000 volinjo_at_juno.com wrote: > I've been trying to find red reflective tape for a long time, but I > haven't been able to find it. I've seen some boats with red and white > striped reflective tape, but I don't know where to get it. What I'd like > to do is cover the black tape along the gunwales with red reflective > tape. Try http://www.gemplers.com under safety products then reflective tape They have reflective tape in red, orange blue, green, yellow, silver(uses reflective prisms), white, and alternating white/red (as required by the US department of transportation for tractor trailers). kirk *************************************************************************** PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List - All postings copyright the author and not to be reproduced/forwarded outside PaddleWise without author's permission Submissions: PaddleWise_at_PaddleWise.net Subscriptions: PaddleWise-request_at_PaddleWise.net Website: http://www.paddlewise.net/ ***************************************************************************
I was at my local home improvement store this afternoon (Menard's) and noticed they had solid red reflective tape for about $1.89/roll. It was in the paint section near the duct tape. -Bob Matter Hammond, Indiana volinjo_at_juno.com wrote: > > I've been trying to find red reflective tape for a long time, but I > haven't been able to find it. I've seen some boats with red and white > striped reflective tape, but I don't know where to get it. What I'd like > to do is cover the black tape along the gunwales with red reflective > tape. > > Joan *************************************************************************** PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List - All postings copyright the author and not to be reproduced/forwarded outside PaddleWise without author's permission Submissions: PaddleWise_at_PaddleWise.net Subscriptions: PaddleWise-request_at_PaddleWise.net Website: http://www.paddlewise.net/ ***************************************************************************
NEWTOT_at_mail.modot.state.mo.us wrote: <SNIP> >>There I was in the water waving my paddle frantically as bass boats zoomed by at full speed to escape the storm - the wind and rain reduced visibility more than I could ever imagine, as many boats came within 20 feet (no joke!!) of me. I thought for sure I was going to be hit, even with my paddle waving high. This went on for 15 minutes! <SNIP> The beluga was yellow but partially submerged, my PFD was red and black. I think blue was a bad color choice for the Squall. I think your PFD color is every bit as important as your boat.<< <SNIP> The question I want to know is what color were your paddle blades. For visibility while paddling bright paddle blades waving around in the air attract attention way better than a bright boat or PFD. In your case you were even lower in the water and the PFD would also be mostly submerged. Next to your paddle blades a big bright hat would have probably been your best chance at being seen (especially if you took it off and waved it around). The Coast Guard says if you want to be spotted make yourself "bigger, brighter or different". Another way to make yourself bigger, brighter and different while in the water is to do a lot of splashing. I read something from the Coast Guard recently that said they like yellow first and a light bright blue next best. Different colors work better at different times. I'd choose Day-glo orange for fog but if it was getting dark I'd go for the light blue (it almost glows at night while red looks black). Of course Day-glo colors fade rather quickly and I'd also hate to have to look at it all day on my foredeck (at least until it fades). It should be easy to spray the paddle blades with bright colors if they aren't already bright. I wouldn't worry as much about the rest of your equipment. When searching rough seas from the air the coastguard does not like white, too much like whitecaps. Of course, by having an all yellow kayak, unless you notified the CG by radio or EPIRB you would probably only be helping them recover your body by the time a search got started. If you have the radio or EPIRB to get the search started they can also be used to help them find you. Matt Broze http://www.marinerkayaks.com *************************************************************************** PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List - All postings copyright the author and not to be reproduced/forwarded outside PaddleWise without author's permission Submissions: PaddleWise_at_PaddleWise.net Subscriptions: PaddleWise-request_at_PaddleWise.net Website: http://www.paddlewise.net/ ***************************************************************************
Matt Broze wrote: "The question I want to know is what color were your paddle blades. For visibility while paddling bright paddle blades waving around in the air attract attention way better than a bright boat or PFD. " My paddle has very large white blades (Tradewind model I believe) - I still can't believe how close the boats came by. I might also add that this borrowed boat had no bulkheads or flotation, and my friend STILL paddles it that way (stupid stupid!) - hence making a self rescue impossible. Florescent blades or a strobe light would have helped. Visability wasn't on my mind on a warm sunny spring day. Stranger still, our situation was noticed from the top of the dam and the Lake Patrol was called. Conditions were so bad due to the large open area in front of the dam - big waves! The 20 foot bass boat that brought us in almost rolled over as well. The fishermen had been visiting that lake for 30 years and never saw anything like it. (neither had I!) Tim *************************************************************************** PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List - All postings copyright the author and not to be reproduced/forwarded outside PaddleWise without author's permission Submissions: PaddleWise_at_PaddleWise.net Subscriptions: PaddleWise-request_at_PaddleWise.net Website: http://www.paddlewise.net/ ***************************************************************************
>Mike (aghast at realizing that he just admitted to the group that he owns a >"land based Jet Ski") Me, too. Owned 'em all my life. Used to race 'em. Mark (Beemers & Trumpets) *************************************************************************** PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List - All postings copyright the author and not to be reproduced/forwarded outside PaddleWise without author's permission Submissions: PaddleWise_at_PaddleWise.net Subscriptions: PaddleWise-request_at_PaddleWise.net Website: http://www.paddlewise.net/ ***************************************************************************
On Thu, 3 Aug 2000 13:01:53 -0000, SRI wrote: >>Mike (aghast at realizing that he just admitted to the group that he owns a >>"land based Jet Ski") > > >Me, too. Owned 'em all my life. Used to race 'em. >Mark (Beemers & Trumpets) > eek! *************************************************************************** PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List - All postings copyright the author and not to be reproduced/forwarded outside PaddleWise without author's permission Submissions: PaddleWise_at_PaddleWise.net Subscriptions: PaddleWise-request_at_PaddleWise.net Website: http://www.paddlewise.net/ ***************************************************************************
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