I am about to purchase my first Kayak and I’m new to the sport.
What is the best choice for the colors of my new boat for HIGH VISIBILITY?
yellow and lime green
Yellow is a nice classic color with good visibility. Lime green is a newer color for kayaks but from my personal opinion, it is the most striking color from a visibility standpoint.
yeah
yellow, orange, lime green, red
I personally have yellow and love the sporty look
I Know You Didn’t Ask About This…
but some of us choose to purchase a color that’s easier on the eyes and get bright, highly visible pfd, shirt, hat, and paddle blades. If you plan to spend many hours in a kayak, a bright color may be irritating. Anyway… quite a few people on this message board do this and no one’s been run over that I’m aware of.
Colors
3 years ago when I bought my boat I did some reasearch on visibility. The Coast Guard recommends "bright yellow, lime green or bright red. The dark colors or the pretty mottled blue and sunset patterns are referred to as “SPEED BUMPS”
Be careful! Have a wonderful time.
Well…
Seeing as how I buy most of my kayaks “certified pre owned,” color was never really an option. If I had my way on a custom order boat, I say HOT pink is the way to go!!! Nothing screams for more attention on the water. 
But given that is not usually a color option for most manufacturers (I think PH has like a pink/purple color for the Vela), I would say Yellow is the most visible followed by lime green and bright red.
sing
I’m with kudzu on this one
My new boat is a periwinkle shade of blue - probably not the most visible. But I think I more than make up for it with the colors of my gear. I’m also putting reflective tape on my paddle and the hull. I’d been thinking of getting my boat in lime green or orange but I think I’m going to be a lot happier with a less shocking color in front of me.
I agree on life jacket color too!!!
… I have adapted to Kayaking, somthing I learned a long time ago from Motorcycling. One of the popular cycling magazines did a study on accidents, and noted the color of the cycle itself, and the color of the jacket or shirt being worn by the rider. Their conclusion was that the color of the cycle didn’tmake any difference in the number if accidents, but the color of the jacket worn by the rider did. The most accidents were recorded with people wearing dark color jackets, and the least were wearing bright color jackets.
… Sooooo, I always like to wear a bright color life jacket, and any other bright color “shirts” if I can. I have power boated for years, before I “Saw the light” and now enjoy kaytaking. Unless the water is fairly calm, one can’t see much of the kayak itself from a powerboat, as the waves hide it a lot. BUT the bright color of a life jacket sticking up from the kayak can be an attention getter. Also when approching a kayak from the front, you don’t even see the deck in a lot of cases, as the upturned bow is seen.
… I just think a bright color life jacket is as much, or even more important!
Happy Paddling! & Stay safe!
first that helmet and now this…
I can totally see it. Sing surfing into shore ablaze in all him manly glory while being painted head to toe in hot pink. That’s actually a pretty frightening image.
Location
We have colors that are labeled as a shade of yellow by their makers (NDK and Valley) but to most people read as orange. (until you get a scratch and you see a yellowish tint emerge). We had the foggiest time we’ve ever seen in Maine over 13 or so years last July - major deep fog almost every day at some point - and found that we could see each other pretty well. It appeared the lobster boats agreed - no near misses anyway. But Maine water is generally a straight blue tending towards black, very little green, so there are a bunch of colors that would be fairly visible. Get some of those colors into more light, blue water off of Florida and it’d be a different story.
But visibility is not the only criteria. If you are going to be bothered by scratches, the lighter colors with more yellow in then tend to show scratches less obviously than something like a bright red, and if you want are easier to buff out.
Celia
also…
I’ve also heard that painting the bottm of a yak white isn’t such a good idea if you need rescue in choppy waters. The white blends in with the white-capped waves.
An interesting thing happened to a
friend.
Last week a friend of mine and several others were paddling out of San Diego, CA when they noticed strobe light. They immediately changed course and paddled out to it.
They found a powerboat there that had also seen the strobe and had come to render aid.
The “strobe” was a kayaker with a paddle with extremely reflective tape on his blades who was not in any trouble. Every time he moved the paddle, the “strobe” flashed.
Yellow with Black Trim is Stylish
You can really be color coordinated. Everything is available in yellow and/or black even down to your paddlefloat. Now all I need is get a black and/or yellow car and I’m all set.
Lou
YELLOW!!!
What can I say?..
Yellow
Sirius is turquoise blue
wetsuit is black, skirt is black, paddling jacket is dark blue and grey, pfd is dark blue and black with reflective strips down the back…
hmm…I’ll stick with the fact that yellow is the brightest.!!!
You Think I’m Kidding!?!
wait til I get around to building that S&G surf yak… The pics of it and me on the waves will BLIND you!
sing
Seakayaker had an
article several years ago and in addition to the colors already mentioned, they said “Robin Egg Blue” was very easily seen in rough water. USK thinks that hull color is more important than deck color. That way you can have a subdued deck, but once you go over, a bright hull will help you to be seen.
Like most of the others, I personally lean towards bright yellow.
Get what you like
For people doing offshore paddling/expeditions/back country - color can really matter. They may need to be spotted by air assets.
For anyone else (99% of paddlers) it won’t matter much. The main concern is small boats/jet skis - and the low viewing angle from small boats (combined with on water light conditions) means they often can’t even see the kayak vary well in any color - and it can become invisible in even light chop.
How much color matter really depends on where/when/how you paddle.
I think PFD and hat color are more important for general paddling - Yellow/orange - red not as good as it’s darker - but OK.
I started out with a yellow kayak, then bright light green, then another yellow. I had big white paddle blades too. Then I went to a light grey over white kayak and a basically invisible skinny black Greenland paddle. It has not made any difference - except maybe a slight positive one. Now that I have a boat that is colored like a boat and not a beach toy I seem to be treated more like a boat.
I paddle in pretty busy boat areas (but not crazy inland bass boat type lakes) and have never been close to having an issue. I actually prefer it when they don’t see me - or at least don’t do anything different when they do. Other boats tend to underestimate my speed and can make unneeded course corrections - usually putting them more on collision course if I’m crossing a channel. Better when they just operate normally as if I’m not there.
The real issue is situational awareness. You need to rely on your senses - know how to handle your kayak - and how to operate with the other vessels - not rely on color or expect the other boats to take responsibility for you. it’s good to make sure you can be seen, but better to just keep aware and out of the way. Some will tell you to wave your paddle if a boat approaches to warn it off. I say it’s simpler and more effective (and more responsible) to just use the paddle to move the kayak and be sure you’re clear! You’re more maneuverable than any other type of vessel. That’s where your safety lies.
colour and pollution
bright colours are a form of pollution, and add little to safety, though they might help in rescue (many people confuse the two…safety is what is in your head and paddling ability, it has nothing to do with the color of your boat)
I go for greens and greys, or dark blue. I do not like to be seen unless I need help, then I have lights and other bits of brightly colored kit I can dig out.