[Paddlewise] Staying with the kayak

I just posted about finding the archives. What I am hoping the recent thread about "swim for it" will answer is simply:
   
  Is there a time one would abandon their boat when all else has failed? You are wearing your wet/dry suit, PFD, properly dressed for water temp, but for some reason you cannot get back in.
   
  Logic, w/o experience, says to me to stay with the boat, it is larger, therefore easier for the rescuers to see.. 
   
  I think I'd use the line I carry with me to tie myself to the boat if I felt there was a chance of separation. What is the error in this thinking?
   
  Different note:
   
  I was launching at the public beach at my local marina when a power boater came over and thanked me for having a yellow poly kayak. He said it was the only color easily visible from his flybridge. I asked about red, he said yellow, only yellow. So there you have it from a random sampling of one, we know that yellow is the best color.
   
  I am myself working towards a mother ship and am looking at safety electronics. According to the discussion re radar on one list, one fellow said his radar shows the  SF Bay Bridge as a solid wall. Others have indicated none but the newest radar can see us kayakers, and all agree that radar use has to be regularly practiced, otherwise is is practically useless. How many boaters with radar might practice regularly? I'm not holding my breath. The power boat crowd seems to think in terms of avoiding big ships with radar use, not small things in the water.
   
  So what is the concern/point about a radar reflector on a kayak?
   
  Having read a lot of sea kayaker back issues and taken several classes, I always go out in SF Bay with my farmer john, PFD, pump, paddle float, and if leaving the protected waters of the Marina or canal, take the VHF and GPS. My wife is given a float plan that includes return time and I call when I am out of the water. I practice my solo reentries, and have done so in about 2' chop, so far.
   
  Mike
  now closing in on 100 hours experience paddling, so the worst in nearly over.
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