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)