My question relates to a recent conversation with one of our Special Forces boys concerning the relative effectiveness of smoke and dye in a sea rescue [ pilot down, man overboard etc ]. My friend is adamant dye is preferable to smoke, especially in gale conditions. His speciality has been helo rescue and it has been SF experience that smoke is blown horizontally across the sea surface and quickly dispersed. Dye is much more effective in air-sea rescue. In fact, my friend relates how on occasion they had to tape together several of those large military smoke canisters to get any real effect in rough conditions. Obviously we are talking daytime rescue. Anyone with thoughts, especially the visibility issue, and the size, weight, longevity of smoke v dye?<br>Cheers, Peter Rattenbury, Australia.

I have no experience with using smoke or dye, but your post has spurred a few thoughts on this for me:<br><br>1. Wind certainly moves faster than water. If you were on an island and threw a piece of wood out onto the waves at the same time that you let a helium balloon go loose, the balloon would fly away out of sight before the wood would drift away out of sight. So, it follows that smoke released above dye would blow away before the dye would wash away.<br><br>2. If you're in the water, you're going to be drifting with the dye. It's highly unlikely that the wind is going to be blowing at exactly the same speed as you are drifting on the currents. Therefore, the dye will not be drifting away from you so much as merely dispersing. Smoke will almost certainly be blowing away from you, albeit either quickly or slowly, while it is also dispersing.<br><br>3. Smoke can drift up above treetops. Dye cannot. Perhaps smoke is better saved for land applications where dye cannot be seen. Alternatively, dye can be sprinkled on the ground, particularly snow, and it will stay there for some good time, while smoke will blow away.<br><br>Given these thoughts, I think I would prefer to stick with dye for marine environments and take both on land.<br><br>I'm glad you wrote what you did, Peter. I've never really thought about it before, and it's nice to hear reports coming down from someone familiar with these devices. Does your acquaintance have anything to say comparing one type/brand/whatever of marker dye to another? How about one type/brand/whatever of smoke with another?

Peter,<br><br>Your SF friend is correct. Tradional orange smoke is virtually useless except to help a helo on scene already to guage wind direction and speed. While it looks dense close up, from not far away it loses that density and becomes virtually invisible. Add even a small amount fo wind and it is dispersed very rapidly. Interestingly, in tests by PracticalSailor/Powerboat Reports we found that the white smoke from a standard handheld flare was actually easier to spot (surface to surface) than the orange smoke. No air to surface testing of that. The sea dye marker makes a vary large bright green stain on the water surface and is very visible, even from as low as a few feet off the surface, extremely visible from the air. It does disperse fairly rapidly, but easily last half hour or more in moderate conditions. Most effective with a slight wind driving you downwind as it makesa very noticeabel tail, as opposed to a splotch in calm conditions. More is better, the little dye packs from Skyblazer are not particulary useful. The SeaMark dye marker from Pains Wessex in AUS is excellent. Dye marker will make a mess, so use with care. Smoke flares are expensive and have a limited life as they are a pyrotechnic divice, sea dye marker lasts indefinitely as long as it is kep dry. Good packaging is important in this regard. Sealed contianors only. The other option is the SEE/RESCUE / RescueStreamer which lasts indefinitely and is very visible. With enough room, I'd carry both. Save the dye marker for when you can see a plane searching close by, just like flare use, and leave the RescueStreamer out all the time.

Are the sea dye markers reflective or phosphorous at night? Or are they only practical during day light hours?

The sea dye marker is a very bright day-glo green, but is is not florescent, phosphorescent, or any sort of glow in the dark. It is strictly a daytime signal.

Thanks Doug, and other folks for your posts. Looks like the largest practicable waterproof container of dye is the way to go. I shall check out Pains Wessex, thanks Doug. And I shall inquire as to what our military have found to be best. Their requirements may differ from the most suitable for civilian use, except where dye is carried as personal kit. There is a strong view among the seakayaking fraternity here that flares and smoke are only really useful once your rescuers, who are usually airborne, have spotted you! Not the other way round!<br>By the way, I already carry a See-Rescue strip, as recommended by Doug, attached to my PFD always. They have proven effective in spotting from aircraft, which is where most primary rescue resources are deployed these days, at least down our way. <br>Cheers, PeterR

Doug!<br>Do you know if there is a flourecent or reflective SEE-RESCUE for nighttime use? Or is that also day only?<br><br>Stefan, Sweden

The generally available consumer version RescueStreamer is day use only. They have developed a version of the SEE/RESCUE with some IR and retroreflective material attached for military use. That would reflect back IR light to its source if you shined a light on it and were wearing night vision or IR goggles. Some reports that this version doesn't float as well due to the weight of the material, but haven't tested it myself. See: http://www.seerescue.com/IRfeatures.htm<br>