# Don't assume anyone can see you out there.



## DGax65 (Jun 7, 2006)

Yellow kayak, bright yellow PFD, hideously bright yellow paddling jacket, reflective tape on PFD, rod holders and paddle, whistle clipped to my PFD and I still have to keep my head on a swivel. Kayaks just aren't very visible. Fact of life. I practice defensive paddling, but sometimes it still doesn't help.


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## Cuda (Sep 18, 2006)

A sobering thought Kraley  I'm concerned at being hit by a Crayboat in the early hours of the morning, although thankfully most seem to have moved outside the outer reefs here at Geraldton as the whites have moved offshore. When I hear the sound of a big diesel engine rumbling nearby, I check out the water thoroughly :shock: 
You can draw a similar scenario with cyclists not being seen my motorists - boaties just don't look out for yakkers unfortunately, so I guess the thing to do is make sure that you can be seen by our stinkboat friends :roll:


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## Crikey (Oct 30, 2005)

Guys,

This is a very interesting thread, I definitely subscribe to the Hi-Vis theory, always wear a fluoro long sleeve shirt (UV rated to boot) and have a matching Gatesy style cap. I am not entirely sure that this does not get the wrong type of attention at times and boats tend to come too close thinking that from a distance the fluoro dot on the water is some sort of navigation mark. Even yesterday out at Little Manly some boats came closer than I would like <50 metres, but that is probably because they are more preoccupied with where they are going than how they are getting there. Why do I get twitchy when any boats approach me, generally the level of boat handling skills is very low, people do not get out on the water enough to maintain competence and a great proportion of people drive boats like cars and forget they do not have brakes. That is before you factor in any d**khead influence.

Ken please do not take offence at any of the above comments, given the time you put in on the water in the mothership I am sure that you certainly do not qualify for any of the above.

In my capacity of ship manager for some of the largest commercial traffic that regularly traverses Sydney Harbour summing comments would be.

We regularly submit reports for navigational near misses, our ships are always under pilotage are draught restrained to the shipping channels and subject to traffic separation controls it does not seem to make any difference to the general boating community. They treat the water as hoons if you are smaller than them and jaywalkers if you are bigger. I noticed as the Holland America Line ship came in yesterday morning that rounding South Head she used her whistle to disperse a crowd of boaties that were in the channel.

The maritime industry has used a combination of Hi-Vis, retroreflective and light devices for years to attempt to improve the visibilty of objects on the water. All visual aids do have limitations. Our vessels are now being supplied with thermal imaging devices to assist search and rescue operations for man overboard situations. They have been trialled and deemed effective to pin point someone in the water out to 1000 metres from the vessel. I would hope that god forbid we have a man overboard incident the person in the water would already be wearing a Hi-Vis lifejacket with retroreflective patches and a strobe light and even this has been identified as having short comings. Sorry to bash on about this but I feel it is a sobering thought.


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## bazzoo (Oct 17, 2006)

yeah ken , have to agree, i assume all boats are potentially going to hit me , so i am ready at all times to take evasive action, and even so have had that many near misses ESPECIALLY from young kids in their tinnies with 30 hp outboards on the back pounding up the river with only the stern in the water and the bow so high as to obscure the drivers vision, they think this is fun and if they can scare the s*^t out of a kayaker all the better


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## Dodge (Oct 12, 2005)

bazzoo said:


> , i assume all boats are potentially going to hit me , so i am ready at all times to take evasive action,


Baz agree this is the only way to paddle a kayak in company of other boats.

If you are the smallest you are the most vulnerable if anything happens, and rights and rules play no part in your decision making when safety is first and most important rule


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## onemorecast (Apr 17, 2006)

Might sound goofy but when I'm out on the water, around my neck I have a string with nail clippers on them and a good quality metal whistle.

A ferry driver might not hear it, but it's loud and annoying. So far in the 3 odd months of yakking I haven't had need to use it, though I have used it several times on the tinny. Got the stink eye a few times and several hand guestures, but their easier to live with than getting run over.


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## JT (May 25, 2006)

This is a worry indeed. I bought a high powered airhorn to use in a spot of difficulty.

The real worry I have found is realising the limitations of speed and thus one's options on a yak when taking evasive action i.e. I see a boat 80 meters from me pull up anchor, stow rods and start the engine. I look at their options to pull away from their current position and realise that in actual fact I lie in the path of one of those options. In some cases I have found that I can't actually cover sufficient distance in a time with which I would feel comfortable to eradicate the threat. To me keeping an eye out and manouevering in advance isn't enough. You need a way to be seen.

Has anyone seen a reflective surface for paddles, particularly the ends? They could be held aloft and waved. A slightly paranoid but highly effective solution might be a brilliant white strobe light in a rod holder driven from a 12v battery (the same one as a fish finder). I was out with Gatesy and Raw Prawn a week or so ago off the heads of Catho. Gatesy and I both trolled around the heads and can't have been more than 150 meters apart at some points and yet I couldn't for the life of me spot him anywhere regardless of how hard I searched. A combination of low profile and swell (and the Burqa he wears). No boatie would have spotted us either in those conditions until they were practically on top of us. :roll:

Grub for thought.

JT


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## DGax65 (Jun 7, 2006)

JT
Many LED headlamps have a strobe setting. The LED lights can be seen for quite some distance at night and have extremely long battery life. In addition to the headlamps I also keep a high intensity waterproof dive light that will singe your retinas if you look at it. Last ditch means for attracting the attention of an approaching boat: shoot a flare at them :shock:  
I think the risk of being hit by a boat is actually greater in daylight. Generally, there are many more boats on the water during the day and often the sunlight on the water can obscure a small object like a kayak. Combine the heat, reflected sunlight on the water, haze and beer and a kayak suddenly becomes damn near invisible. A whistle or air horn should be kept close at hand. I've also added a large amount of reflective tape to my paddle. I started with strips of reflective SOLAS tape around the shaft and at the tip of the paddle. I saw that some South African yak/ski fishermen have prism tape on their paddles to attract fish. I decided to give this a try. Even if I never attract a single fish, my paddle blades have so much reflective prism tape on them they definitely will attract the attention of a boater.








I also have strips of SOLAS tape around all of my rod holders and on my PFD. Even with all of these measures to increase my visible signature, I am painfully aware of my inherent lack of visibility. I approach this as do when I ride my bike on city streets. I assume that anybody in my general vicinity can't see me (and is drunk, stupid or both) and that I need to take positive steps to avoid collision.


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