RE: [Paddlewise] Being Seen At Night--LEDs etc.

Ralph,

I don't have a whole lot to add, but I'm interested in what you might
compile.

With other similarly nutty companions, I set out on a night paddle up the
Houston Ship Channel a few months back.  What I rigged for my sea kayak,
using mostly pvc piping for support stands, was both fore and aft lights for
my boat.  For less than $20 at a local Academy (discount-type sporting goods
store, in case they haven't made it to your area) I bought battery-powered
lights made (I think) for small power craft.  That included the "all around"
white light that is required on smaller craft and should be above the
tallest part of your boat;  and the red/green split light for the bow.  I
used hatch cover straps to stabilize the lights, particularly the "all
around".  Of course this would create much difficulty if a roll was
required, but luckily that didn't happen.

My comrades did similarly for their craft.  We got almost immediate reward
for this - being suddenly in the search light of a tug boat coming up the
channel which none of us had seen. If he hadn't picked up on us, we might
not have seen him at all. The commercial craft (and I do mean ocean-going
ships) run with amazingly few lights on them and there is enough background
noise etc. they are very hard to hear.  As you might imagine in this part of
Texas, the banks have refineries on them at regular intervals and our usual
notice of a big ship would be as the moving black spot - blocking out the
refinery lights (for the uninitiated, refineries are incredibly well lit at
night).  Occasional wafting of refinery fumes not the best, and even more
noticeable the 100 degrees output of the power plant we paddled by.  But ya
gotta do this at least once if you're going to be properly initiated to
Texas.

Hopefully Doug Lloyd will also respond.  If you look carefully at my photos
from the trip in October, you'll see the flag stand he rigged for his boat
for at least daytime visibility in the Victoria harbor.  I'll resend the URL
if you'd like.  He was bristling with distress flares etc. - nah, we won't
go there...

Natalie Wiest
Galveston TX

[snip]
We are now in the beginning stages of a pilot program in which we will be
testing various lighting schemes on kayaks in New York Harbor.  This is
being done in cooperation with the US Coast Guard and local commercial
interests (some reps from the Sandy Hook Pilots Association; possibly other
local operators). [snip]

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