How can I add a visibility stripe to a kayak?

In my experience, a flag on a pole is way more visible from any kind of distance than the color of a kayak. Kayaks sit low on the water and a bit of swell can really hide them. Getting an orange flag up a few feet makes a big difference.

  100% agree. this is a 72" driveway marker.

I remember seeing a guy in the big blue at Pacific City that had a flag that also had a tinsel pompom on it….. you could see that thing glimmer  from shore when he was out at Haystack rock.

Now that is just genius. I gotta find me a tinsel pompom and clip it to a spare rod.

Here's a picture of my visibility stripe on shore at a launch spot.  When I get pictures of the stripe on the water at a distance, I'll post them.

Having your reflector at the waterline is borderline useless. Even in my 20 foot cc which is pretty close to a kayaks height it is hard to see the yak itself. The flags and anglers are far more visible. Wear bright colors, get a flag

I think it should help make the kayak more visible than it was in the same way using headlights during the day help others recognize your vehicle as on.  Seeing the stripe will make it not be mistaken for a floating log or whatever.  Although in high seas a flag has a better chance of being seen by boaters I'm sure. Still an improvement and cheap insurance.

I still have my rod flag that Bloodbath made for me long time back, just slips over one of your rods.  Some letters came off of it, but it's still very functional several years later.  Will be using it this season for sure, as well as my VisiPole flag. 

... Getting an orange flag up a few feet (or six) makes a big difference.

I thought so too, life preservers are orange, but fwiw, I have been told the Coast Guard sez that florescent chartreuse-yellowish-greenish whatever color is the easiest to see on the water, not the orange. Don’t ask me why, I don’t know nothing about it except that weird color has the highest visibility.

He’s a write up about a study done by Mustang Survival that came to the same conclusion regarding flotation devices and immersion suits -  florescent chartreuse-yellowish-greenish whatever color was the easiest to see, especially in low light situations.

https://www.newwaveswimbuoy.com/blogs/news/brightest-on-water

Hobie makes kayaks in that hi-vis weird color, what Hobie calls 'seagrass green'.

He’s a write up about a study done by Mustang Survival that came to the same conclusion regarding flotation devices and immersion suits -  florescent chartreuse-yellowish-greenish whatever color was the easiest to see, especially in low light situations.

https://www.newwaveswimbuoy.com/blogs/news/brightest-on-water

Hobie makes kayaks in that hi-vis weird color, what Hobie calls 'seagrass green'.

I have a friend who has totally bought into that "green is highly visible" theory.  But to go back to the complaint in my initial post, why doesn't Hobie sell Pro Angler 360 kayaks in highly visible colors like yellow, orange, and seagrass green, rather than just camo blue and camo green?

A nice seller on eBay makes these to order with options to customize. Safety is priority 1

.... But to go back to the complaint in my initial post, why doesn't Hobie sell Pro Angler 360 kayaks in highly visible colors like yellow, orange, and seagrass green, rather than just camo blue and camo green?

I bet they did their research and figured that landlocked bass fishermen are the only group likely to buy that tank of a boat, so they tried to match the color schemes frequently encountered in landlocked areas.. Camo, camo, and more camo.