wrong color foulies?

[SchockT]

Originally Posted by capn_dave

Hello Groggy,

Nope........ it only matters if you fall overboard and want to be seen.

Fair Winds

Dave

If you fall overboard wearing full foulies you are in big trouble. Just make sure the PFD you are wearing IS brightly coloured!

[Barrosa]

its just awesome that going to be a blaster in future period of time.........

[groggy]

i hope?

[Minnewaska]

One of the presenters in the Safety at Sea course had crossed the Atlantic and had one of their bright neon yellow life rings blow off the deck. They turned around to retrieve it, but never found it.

Great moment to stop and think about the concern itself. If one is worried about being seen (and therefore recovered) after falling in the water, then the color of the foulie isn't really the solution. You need something very proactive to be seen. I like the Switlik MOM, a PLB and one of those apps that will show your location on a chartplotter. Wear whatever foulie you like.

[zz4gta]

Friend who works for marine rescue said it doesn't matter what colour your foulies are, red/yellow are as hard to spot as black/grey.

At night yes. In the daytime, no. There are lots of safety studies done about what colors the eye picks up faster/better. Dark colors don't work, ever. Reflectors don't work in the daytime, so bright colors do help. Brightly colored pants are a bit of a waste.

[MarkofSeaLife]

Many years ago I was a passenger on a tall ship when we responded to a fishing boat sinking mayday.
It was dead flat calm. With every crew member and passenger high in the rigging looking out for the survivors we made quite an exciting sight.

Suddenly an 18 foot aluminum dinghy with outboard came up to us AMIDSHIPS on the side we were all looking out and almost hit out ship. It was only when the occupants YELLED at us did we see them!

We would have motored righ past them if their engine wasnt on.

So looking for a head in the water is unlikely to be sucessful no matter the colour worn.

[hellosailor]

"Don't worry honey, it comes with life insurance".

If you've ever tried to spot anything in a choppy sea with whitecaps or spray, I would suggest color matters. There's an old argument that yellow and red can be mistaken for sunset reflections late in the day, but dark colors just won't get seen.

OTOH if you are wearing a nice bright PFD at the time you go overboard, the jacket won't be seen under the PF so the jacket color won't matter. The idea of a bright jacket is to stack the odds in your favor. Fall off an end dock and bang you head on the way into the water, and I suppose the odds of someone seeing you go up a little if you are in a bright color. Obviously bright colors don't help a lot. You never notice the guys wearing DayGlo camo jackets, do you? See? The bright colors just don't get seen much better than the dark ones.

Yes, i have a red jacket and a yellow one. The winter pants are from a camping supplier, and they're plain woodlands camo GoreTex that were too cheap to ignore. I figure if THAT'S the end of me that's out of the water, I've got bigger problems.

[SchockT]

My foulies are red, and the jacket has a bright yellow hood with reflective tape on it. The jacket's sleeves also have reflective bands on the cuffs. I have a hard time believing that it won't make any difference to my visibility if I am in the water waving a red reflective arm in the air!

When I was with the coast guard auxiliary we were doing a night search for some missing divers. There was a small aluminum boat with a reflective stripe over a kilometer away, and our handheld spotlights lit up that stripe like a strobe! Every bit of visibility helps when people are trying to find you!

[MarkofSeaLife]

I like the idea of the AIS thingy each crew member carries. When you go for a swim every boat within 4 nm has you spotted and zeros in so close those leery reflector jackets will be seen.

Still too expensive at $300+

[groggy]

It was all moot anyway. The store emailed saying the carbon jacket was out of stock, as was red, sorry, but would I accept yellow?

I really didnt want yellow, so I cancelled the order. I do like the jacket, so I may reconsider soon.