Be seen be safe

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RAL INN
RAL INN
SA
2898 posts
SA, 2898 posts
19 Dec 2015 5:34pm
Said hi to a couple of nice guy SUP'ers today off St Kilda doing a downwinder.
2 of the group were wearing hi vis red tops.
I was cruising at about 25+ kts in the Kraken (8m twin rig RIB), had gone past group and turned. It was the 2 in hi vis I saw first which alerted me to the group. But there was an extra one (in white) out front.
What I then realised was that given less favourable conditions, that leading SUP,er could well have disappeared under the front of my boat.
I would like to believe that as a professional boat driver I would have not let that happen.
But I can certainly see how with the army of recreational boaties out there with their demonstrated lack of anti avoidance skills, the worse case scenario could happen.
The Hi Vis red works. Whites, reds etc. don't.
Helmy
Helmy
VIC
799 posts
VIC, 799 posts
21 Dec 2015 2:43pm
Hey Ral Inn,
I was one of the ones wearing the hi-vis orange that you came and spoke to.
Thanks for coming over for a chat - it's refreshing to think that we can still help each other out on the water to avoid any safety / visibility issues.

For those that are interested (which should be everyone that paddles), my downwinding top is an Asic's brand running top (no vested interest btw) that I bought after our Maliko downwinding experiences earlier this year.
I had a green hi-vis running top (DeNali brand?) in Hawaii which was ok, but one of our guys had an Asic hi-vis orange. The others in our party had white tops, and one black top.
The Asic top was easily visible, it stuck out like a beacon, especially against polarised sunnies. My green top was ok, the white tops were very ordinary, and the black top was just impossible to spot. (We made this member get a brighter colour before we downwinded the next day).

Back to Stkilda on Saturday - the hardest one for Ral Inn to spot was the guy furthest ahead at that stage - white T-shirt, blue boardies, on a blue board. Against a backdrop of blue water and whitecaps, of course...

So I would encourage everyone to get a hi-vis / fluro orange top for downwinding. Doesn't have to be Asic, but they have the colour that really stands out. DJ's red singlet was ok, too (Kialoa I think) .
You can see DJ's singlet and another of our Saturday party (on the cool SIC 17 4) in a very similar coloured top to mine in DJ's heatwave downwinder post today.

(PS Ral Inn - what's with the judo shot? We may have encountered each other before)
RAL INN
RAL INN
SA
2898 posts
SA, 2898 posts
22 Dec 2015 5:27pm
Judoka from way back based in Bendigo. Sensai at Judo Bendigo till about 1998.
fought mainly U86kg but a lot U91.

maybe that will get your brain ticking over


PS the guy with all the Cameras had a red shirt on but no where near as good as the HiVis red.
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