Ralph Diaz said >> Someone mentioned using light sticks duct-taped to the paddle blades. >> From >> what I have seen that has not been as effective as it might seem to be but >> it is certainly something we will put to a real life test among other >> schemes. Also someone mentioned using a flashing light on deck...a no-no >> for reasons explained above. Having said this, however, a few of us >> locals >> agree that if we were out in traffic accidentally at night and scared to >> death we would use our strobe as a last minute warning if that is all we >> had >> and take our chances with the law. Although the inland navigation rules do prohibit the use of strobes, according to our local Coast Guard Station, they are perfectly acceptable outside of the harbor here in Southern Calif. Last summer, I was the designated navigator on a crossing of the Santa Barbara Channel to Anacapa Island. Since our departure time was well before sun-up, I was concerned with our visibility since we were crossing 2 of the busiest shipping lanes on the West Coast. According to the CG, while we were still in the harbor, we were under Inland Nav Rules and that indicates that a strobe is a distress signal. Once we were clear of the breakwater, however, we were now under international nav rules and for those, there is absolutely no meaning given to a strobe and most captains would probably ignore them. The CG officer I spoke with thought they would definitely help our visibility. We all wore them on the back shoulder of our PFD's so they didn't interfere with the wearer's night vision. To avoid being blinded by our companions, we pretty much stayed on line with each other until after sunrise. I did drop back for a moment to take some pictures and everybody was really visible. Although this won't help in the waters you usually paddle, it might help those who do paddle waters not subject to Inland Navigation Rules. Steve Holtzman *************************************************************************** PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List - Any opinions or suggestions expressed here are solely those of the writer(s). You must assume the entire responsibility for reliance upon them. All postings copyright the author. Submissions: PaddleWise_at_PaddleWise.net Subscriptions: PaddleWise-request_at_PaddleWise.net Website: http://www.paddlewise.net/ ***************************************************************************
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