RE: [Paddlewise] Running Lights

Rob G. noted: consider the fact that in a kayak we are MUCH lower to the
water surface than almost all other vessels. 

Haven't been able to read all the posts on this thread, I'm afraid, so
apologies if I missed and am repeating a sub-thread, but I'm often alone
in this one crusade, anyway: passive visibility.  Unstealth.  Yes,
lights are good and flares are good, but there is another way to make
yourself more visible in low light conditions through what I've heard
described as passive visibility.

Comes in three flavors: conventional surface visibility, retroreflective
surfaces and flourescent painted surfaces.  

There was a convention in British sea kayaks in the UK -- might be still
in force -- that hulls be gelcoated in some combination of hi-viz
"international" orange, bright yellow, or white.  No-brainer there, but
some combination of those colors is going to make your kayak more
visible in restricted visual meteorological conditions (VMC) or in
partial darkness than one coated in dark blue or green.  Same with the
paddler: brighter colors, yellow, orange PFD and cap -- easier to see
and identify.

Retroreflectivity is a step beyond simple reflective tape.  Has to do
with the ability of SOLAS-type tape or patch surfaces to return a
significant percent of a source light to the sender when the surface is
not completely perpendicular to the light path.  (In other words, if the
Queen Mary hit you dead ahead with her bow spotlight coming down the
channel, and you had a glass mirror ready to send a bit of that light
right back at her to show you had right of way, dammit, that returned
light signal would be pretty visible.  Might not do much for you in that
situation, but at least her bridge would know she just ran over a kayak.
Retroreflectivity -- and retroreflective patches and tape -- make it
possible for the Queen Mary to know that you're out there off the
starboard bow, even if all your retroreflective surfaces are positioned
ten or 15 degrees out of the light source path -- assuming she has a
light shining ahead and you're close to its beam.  Just better and
brighter, but still totally dependent on the approaching vessel
illuminating the area ahead with search light of some sort.  (Dark
night, Queen Mary coming down the creek, turning 35 knots with
conventional running lights, you out there in the middle of the channel
with 400 square inches of retroreflective tape on you and your kayak --
it's crunchy kayak time again.  They can't see a thing.) For a good
example, see the illumiNITE site at
http://www.illuminite.com/Catalog/outdoor/11609.htm.  Ain't cheap, but
it works!

Flourescent paint or flourescent clothing is another way to be passively
visible in times of low visibility.  (Doesn't do a lot for you at night,
but in dusk and fog, it's awesome.)  My Europaddle blades are a bright
yellow hi-viz flourescent paint ($5 at Lowes), and my cap is a cycling
cap of extremely visible yellow with some thin lines of retroreflective
tape for good measure.  It works.  Try it on a group paddle sometime,
and see which kayaker you see first coming out of the haze.

Lights are great and they're required for good reason.  But we're low,
wave-hugging little buggers out there, and passive viz might well be the
best defense against concrete fishing boats and the Queen Mary.

Joq
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