Both decklines and retro tape do a lot in rescues that involve close work in the water or flyovers by rescue personnel. One paddler even recommends marking with retroreflctive tape the stuff that falls out of a kayak during a capsize — water bottles, pumps, and the like — because the drift pattern created by that floating stuff will often lead rescue personnel to the kayak and, presumably, the paddler.
Odd. In the wooden sea kayak world, decklines are eschewed by builders in love with varnished wood.
Anyway, I’ve got the blog at http://www.paddlingtravelers.blogspot.com/
There’s a bunch of how-to’s and sources for both of the above.
Take a look and comment there or here.
Neat Idea!
Never thought of reflective lines before. I’ll have to check that out. The SOLAS Tape really makes a difference in visibility.
reflective tape
Article on reflective tape should be appearing soon on this site…tape on back of paddles helps others spot you, deck/hull tape good for night visibility. Some manf. have reflective line running along the “extrusion” line on their boats for visibility. The reflective lines are good, too, if enough for longer range visibility…Nothing wrong with wanting to be seen!!!
It’s easy to see the advantages, but
how’s it going to be on bright, sunny days with all these boats going downriver with glaring sunlight beaming in people’s eyes? How about the use of rescue mirrors for singling?
Not a problem
Most reflective tapes are retroreflective – they use tiny prisms or glass beads to bounce incoming light directly back to the source. There’s very little reflection if you’re off-axis.