hey
if you are comfortable in your skin ( and some other phych thing) Hot pink is okay. A friend bot a house that was Hot Pink. He said it made it easy to get the owner to lower his asking price…
i would pay to see that!
I’m going to hold you to that and we’re going to need pictures. LOTS of pictures. 
Bugs!
My yellow/black combination of yak, PFD, shirt, and etc. seems to attract a fair share of like colored stinging insects while close to or on shore. Once I paddle out a ways, no problem. It’s a really visible combo, but as Greyak points out safety begins in your head.
Taj
Hmmm…
Well, there are a couple of houses up my way that are pink and purple. Converted three deckers into condo’s, you can’t touch a unit at under $400,000 per.
The other city I like most, aside from Boston, and I not a big city person as I get older, is San Francisco. Part of the charm is the multi-pastel colored victorians that are all over the city.
sing
red is dark
it looks nearly black at dusk or low light conditions compared to yellow or lighter colors.
light Seattle Grey
is my favorite color,it looks like an overcast day. It can have reflective tape and if I’m really worried there’s no end of flourescent orange hats/highway vests to wear.
red deck/yellow hull
is a nice combo.
situational awareness,
– Last Updated: Feb-18-05 1:43 PM EST –
Greyak got it on the button,,,it's a little like parents getting SUVs on the misguided notion that it's safer than a little sedan.
Kayak color is a passive solution for a circumstances that are more affected by active choices.
I was surprised how bright one of these skirts was when worn OVER a red pfd. A vertical block of white fabric actually stands out well compared to a worn pfd with a variety of dark straps. I was paddling up to some folks a mile away at a kayak demo. The safety monitors wearing flourescent orange vests were visible long before anyones kayak color came into the picture.
http://www.zyflex.com/store/productDetail.asp?id=110&cID=8&sID=21
The problem is
– Last Updated: Feb-18-05 3:41 PM EST –
If you have a bright helmet and PFD and a blue and white boat it's fine on a sunny day when you are upright ... now imagine your boat is updside down, in a swirling grey, black and white ocean and just your little head is bobbing up and down some distance away. A bright colored boat will be much easier to find if you ever really do need help.
Paddle visibility & close calls
– Last Updated: Feb-18-05 5:41 PM EST –
While light blades flashing in the distance are the first thing other paddlers often see - I contend it can be of little value for getting non-paddlers seeing us. They are not keyed into that rhythm and are not looking for tiny flashes several hundred yards away. I have been walking or driving with non-paddlers and seen the paddle motion far off - the non-paddlers with me could not spot them for quite some time - usually when the PFD color became visible.
Never assume others perceive their environment the same way you do. Boaters (good ones) do actively scan - but they scan for other boats - and things like logs and rocks. They scan rapidly - in relation to their boat speed. It requires a slower and steadier sort of scanning (like shore or kayak based observer) to notice paddle flash at any distance.
In regards to the point above about boats on plane with bow up not being able to see you - or sails obscuring their view - color is very unlikely to matter - since THEY CAN"T SEE YOU!
There is no danger unless they are close/closing rapidly/maneuvering unpredictably. So far I have never found myself in such a situation. Sure it happens - but should be easy to avoid in all but the most freak circumstances.
If they are close enough, and going fast enough, to possibly hit you - you need only move a very short distance (one kayak length) to turn a hit into a near miss. Since they haven't seen you - it's really your only logical option.
Seems to me that people that disagree with this (the ones who prefer paddle waving/horn & whistle blowing while being sitting ducks) tend to operate on inland lakes (good luck with that! No help if you have 100 mph beer powered bass boats and no traffic patterns), wrongly expect others to yield to them (not the way the rules work - the more maneuverable yields), and/or are just plain afraid of wakes and have no business paddling in the busier areas.
Count down to the usual angry rebuttal (when someone mistakenly feels their competence/judgement is being questioned): 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3...
No, Greyak, I still agree with you.
All the color in the world won’t help you if the threat is unaware or oblivious to running you over. And your point about backcountry paddling was right on. You continue to be a voice of reason, in my opinion.
Like cars, taking out a kayak is a measured risk. If color alone would help avoid accidents, perhaps the manufacturers would be badgered into producing only certain colors (eek! Auto insurance companies sometimes give discounts for bright colors! Don’t tell them I said that!).
I’m not saying that a dark color is more visible than a bright color. I’m just saying that in certain dangerous situations, all the color in the world won’t help you from another careless boater. I would rather paddle with a careful, observant partner in a boat of any color than a dumb partner in a brightly-colored kayak.
Kayak Designers!!
– Last Updated: Feb-18-05 7:17 PM EST –
Color us a boat that is super-safety neon this or that. Then color the foredeck a nice shade of grey so we don't have to f***ing LOOK at it for hours at a time.
yep
that’s what I did on a wood kayak,the hull was yellow, the deck was varnished and the aft hatch was flourescent orange. All I saw was wood. I’ve been thinking of making hard glass covers for the oval VCP hatches on a couple Necky boats,with the aft one bright orange.
VIs
I am about to get my first also (in two weeks!!!)
and have not thought about this. I am going with either sand or forest green. I will be fishing on the coast of Texas too…guess I will let you know if I am a good speedbump or not.
BUT
brighter colors are a bigger stress on areas of nesting birds causing them to flee their nesting sites abandoning thier nests and often their young. Paddling in an ecological reserve for four years now with millions of birds each season, you do see a difference between the disruption of a yellow boat(loud and bright) and say a darker color like dark red. The brighter boats are noticed by the birds sooner causing panic amongst the birds…so I’m told.
get what color you
like , then add a flashing light bar helmet on top. Every on can see ya that way. Seriously I think awareness counts more than color.
kevlar yellow
I love the brightness of unpainted kevlar. Same color upside down and light to carry so please consider cheap used kevlar with at least one bulkhead and no rudder about 16 ft long as your first boat. A white paddle is wonderful and I like a white golf hat with a full brim all the way around. Less apt to blow of than ball cap. Then have a large white bag on front deck in case boat is coming towards you fast. Slide paddle thru bag and wave it high.
The voice of reason
Greyak, your experience and reasonableness are appreciated among all the fear mongering on this site. Who really wants to spend a sunny afternoon staring at the deck of a yellow kayak?
Its not Pink, its coral
We had a house in my neighborhood who actually placed a sign in the yard that read " Its not pink, its coral" in referring to the color of the house and remarks received from others.
Brian
The ones who buy yellow…
… either really like yello (Linda!), err on the side of caution, or never really think about it past that. Some just think that’s what a “real” kayak should look like.
Many studies have shown the effects of color on people. What most miss is the differnece in short (few minutes) and long exposures. All bright colors become irritating if they remain in view continuously.
My way to look at it is this: Would I want to drive down a bright yellow or red highway all day?
Plus, “Yellowyak” would be an even more stupid P.net name that Greyak 
Yellow’s fine if that’s what people want.
The only yellow boat I could see in yesterday’s race was an OC-6 (that was nearby). Waves hid everything smaller except for glimpses of chests and heads.