My kayaks are red and orange and the paddles are bright yellow. I mostly kayak in areas away from heavy boat traffic but when I enter an area that is heavily travelled, I take a very direct route across, not meander in the busy area. I have no current interest in kayaking in the broads or in Meredith Bay but if I did I would want maximum visibility, including a flag.
For those who belittle boaters who might not "see" a kayak, there are few problems in closer to the shore where waves are usually smaller. But put a darker colored, low lying boat in 2 to 3 ft. chop and YES, the boat can disappear in the waves where a flag would still be above the waves.
If you want to play in an area with increased danger but refuse to take actions that increase your visibility because they are inconvenient, well, I'm not to sympathetic to you. Equal rights to access also means equal responsibility to ensure safety. I really don't care if a law is passed since so many boaters already ignore the existing laws. If you want to kayak with disregard to keeping yourself as safe as possible, it's your right to be stupid.
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