Red or Yellow or Orange DSMBs

[UaVaj]

even though the poll is leading orange. which make sense - given the normal positioning - the buoy being vertical against the sky/horizon.

however yellow is the overall winner. even though yellow is lighter toward the sky/horizon. simply position the yellow buoy on the surface horizontally. the yellow against the water will give the best contrast for quick spotting/pickup/rescue. also yellow will be more visable during low lighting days, evenings and mornings. yellow also fades less over time so it will last longer.

as for pink. if anyone knows a pink DSMB that is 10' in length and 7" in diameter. i will take one.

 

[Quero]

simply position the yellow buoy on the surface horizontally. the yellow against the water will give the best contrast for quick spotting/pickup/rescue.

A surface marker lying horizontal on the water does little good regardless of what color it is since if it's not standing up boats can't see it because it will be in the wave trough a great deal of the time. A surface marker has to stand up to be useful.

 

[vladimir]

From Undercurrent:

Researchers at England’s Heriot-Watt University studied the visibility of various signaling devices and found that folding flags were by far the most reliable and cost-effective location device tested. 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. If your dive shop or boating supply store can’t order one for you, you might consider making your own.

 

[Centrals]

I normally carry an orange one, two if tec dive. But would add a third(yellow) if diving in real ow.

Yellow post box really stand out. But we have this stupid green coloured post box in HK, good camouflaged colour for hiding it from users!!

 

[Crush]

The contrast between the sky, ocean and your SMB does not differ much between yellow, orange and red. Much more important would be SMB size, keeping it clean, fluorescence and at night the ability to insert a flashlight into the bottom to turn it into a luminescent wand.

 

[Simon Hansmann]

Ive got a orange DSMB with a little loop at the top. for night dives i attach a flasher when sending it up works great. ive also got a yellow SMB. its rather small but i tell the boater that if i have that and im waving it theres something wrong. imo the emergency buoy doesnt have to be a dsmb since youll probably skip the safety stop and will only inflate the buoy on the surface.

 

[Steve_C]

Red is bad in low light conditions. In the US hungers used to wear red and now the standard color is a blaze orange because it is much more visitble especially early and late in the day.

 

[BoundForElsewhere]

Pink. Because no one expects it and it's fabulous.

 

[rjack321]

As others have said and cited already, there is actual empirical evidence that yellow is visible from the greatest distance.
Size ends up being more important that color in most cases. SMBs really are not the visible, especially in any kind of sea. As tall as possible but wider is ideal too.

 

[lowwall]

[QUOTE"Simon Hansmann, post: 8931873, member: 510376"]Ive got a orange DSMB with a little loop at the top. for night dives i attach a flasher when sending it up works great. ive also got a yellow SMB. its rather small but i tell the boater that if i have that and im waving it theres something wrong...[/QUOTE]
Why restart an 8-year-old thread to post this?