safety colors

[Kevin Kaldenbach]

A local store has safety vest like people working along the side of the road wear. They are yellow or orange. I would like to buy one to keep in the pocket of my black foul weather gear....just in case. Has anyone read any reports where one is easier seen then the other?

[drysuit2]

You can always try some Solas reflective tape. My foul weather came with solas [not sure of the spelling] reflective tape built into the design , [usually in the hood]. Most PFD’s and Sailing harnesses also have some sort of reflective tape as well
Truth is; if you get in trouble, and need to put the vest on... it is probably already too late.
Meaning, you are most likely overboard and need to be seen. If you are on the boat, your running lights will do the trick. If they don’t work, I always keep several sets of chemical glow sticks in red, green and white aboard. With an older boat I use them as running lights a lot.
But your biggest visibility life safer, other than your harness, tether, and PFD is a strobe light. I keep the water activated type on all my foulies. And I wear a manual one on the PFD/impact vest I wear windsurfing. In the words of the Coast Guard guys I know, “they can spot a strobe light from two miles away, in the pouring rain, from a spotter plane traveling at 600 knots’. I’ve had multiple conversations about this with the Long Island Coast Guard because I am in or on the water 12 months a year. Every single person of authority I have spoken to has told me that a Strobe Light is the single most important piece of safety gear for me, that I can use. Without it, even if I am wearing a drysuit, PFD, reflective helmet, and even if I have filed a flight plan with my significant other...if you can’t be spotted right away...rescue missions become recovery efforts.

Sorry for hijacking your thread.

[Sea Hunt Video]

A local store has safety vest like people working along the side of the road wear. They are yellow or orange. I would like to buy one to keep in the pocket of my black foul weather gear....just in case. Has anyone read any reports where one is easier seen then the other?

Within the diving community, it used to be orange for "safety sausages", lift bags, safety tubes, etc. I attended a conference several years ago where one of the presenters during a tech diving seminar suggested that studies had shown that yellow was more "visible" than orange when deployed on the surface. He recommended yellow "lift/hang bags", yellow safety sausages, etc. From my anecdotal experience (probably not that trustworthy ) on recreational and commercial dive boats I think yellow is probably the more visible both at sea level and from the air. As I am sure you know, there are also different shades of yellow. Most dive safety stuff is (should be) a very "bright" yellow. As "Drysuit2" suggested, some dive gear also comes with SOLAS tapes - more expensive.

[Oswego John]

I tend to agree with Robert.

I am a retired from being an active fireman, still in what they call the Exempts Company. (read old geezers)

Years back, the ONLY, mandatory, don't argue about it, color for a fire engine was red. To be more exact, Fire Engine Red. At that time, the thinking was that that red was the color of choice for the greatest visibility.

Since that era, some upstarts fresh out of college have revised much of that thinking. The next time that you have a chance to observe modern fire engines, notice what color many of them are now painted.

Some of the more recent colors used are in the yellow family. No special shade is de rigueur. It can range from cream to the deeper shades approaching light gold. There is a type of paint that is called Neon. Neon orange, yellow and even lime green are now being used for high visibility.

So how does the color of a fire engine tie in with the color of flotation and safety gear. I don't know. It's a slow Saturday and I just thought that I'd throw this in.

Have a good weekend,
O J

[drysuit2]

Good point about the yellow. I noticed that even my red and blue foul weather gear have yellow hoods with reflective tape. I guess because that's all that sticks out of the water when you go into the drink.

[John Martin]

SOLAS = Safety of Life at Sea. This is a convention, simular to USCG, only more strict.

Business advertisers use yellow on signs, it is the first/quickest color the customer will see. Next time you drive down the road, notice all of the signs having yellow.

[tartansailor]

Solas reflective tape, and a strobe are critical. Color? Doesn't matter IMHO.

[Sea Hunt Video]

Color? Doesn't matter IMHO.

I know the article I quote from below is more than six (6) years old and refers to a British, not American, study, but the following is from Undercurrent, a well-respected recreational diving magazine (July 2006):

"Researchers at England’s Heriot-Watt University studied the visibility of various signaling devices and found that . . . Yellow was the most conspicuous color in all sea states, even with breaking waves and deteriorating light. A day-glo yellow pennant was consistently spotted at more than 1.2 miles to 1.8 miles. Red and orange flags were only visible to a mile away".

[Kevin Kaldenbach]

Thanks, Robert. That is just what I was looking for. I keep a strobe, Spot, etc. on my vest and in my foul weather gear. But batteries go bad and things happen so the more I can do to make me easier to spot the better. Keeping a yellow vest in the pocket of my foul weather coat won't take up much space but increase the odds that someone might see me. Also I question what damage I will do to the water proofing of my coat if I sewed reflective tape on to it?

[Sea Hunt Video]

Kevin:

You might also want to look at the following item (or similar):

http://www.leisurepro.com/prod/AQUF5.ht ... _sku=AQUF5

I know it is a dive flag (not a distress flag) and I know it is red, not yellow (or orange). However, it is very compact, very durable and very easy to deploy. When folded up it is only 9" long and maybe 2" in circular diameter - very similar to a sightless person's fold up walking stick. When deployed it is a very rigid 5 feet high. As I am sure you know, in the middle of the ocean 5 feet vertical is a lot, especially when you and your head are only 1 - 1.5 ft vertical. Depending on your gear, you should be able to find a spot for it somewhere on your person, your foul weather gear or PFD, especially if you are sailing well offshore.

I carry one with me on all dives (even local diving). Several years ago I took a group of experienced divers and photogs to the Galapagos. We were up by Wolf and Darwin Islands in search of hammerheads and whale sharks. For reasons not here relevent three (3) of us ended up in a current that carried us far away from our exit point and far away from the pangas waiting for us. The other two divers had blow up safety sausages. The surface winds kept knocking them down. I deployed the rigid dive flag. It stayed up, with 5' vertical visibility, and was spotted (barely) by the panga driver. But for that flag we could still be drifting in the Pacific.

Just a thought for additional safety when offshore.

[Carl Thunberg]

For what it's worth, offshore survival suits are orange. The Coast Guard wears orange. Smoke flares emit orange smoke. All this discussion of yellow is certainly true on land, and most DOT's mandate the use of yellow for construction workers. There is a long tradition of orange for nautical safety equipment. It may have something to do with what shows up best over a blue-green background. Think of how many sports teams have orange and blue uniforms (Florida Gators). Personally, I would use orange for marine use, but I don't feel strongly about it, and I honestly don't think you would go wrong either way.

[Oswego John]

Carl,

Maybe you're on to something.

Maybe you might recognize the locale. I notice that most of the "life boats" of the majority of the cruise ships are colored orange.

This is a segment of the hordes of adventurers from the mother ship that daily invade Bar Harbour and other ports of call.

O J

[Steve Laume]

Orange life rafts, storm sails and portions of offshore race boats, rudders, keels and patches on deck. Orange definitely seems to be the chosen color. Even the top of the piling in in OJs photo is orange, Steve,

[Carl Thunberg]

That photo is exactly why Bar Harbor is not my favorite place.

[Dick Kobayashi]

Back to the main point. I have had very good experiences with reflective tape purchased at auto parts stores. The adhesive is strong and the product is cheap enough to experiment with.

I value the strobe advice - never though about it - so thanks to all on the thread for that.