: Doug,
: A black kayak will show up on the water suprisingly well. A black
: thing on the water tends to trigger the "what's that"
: attention on an instinctive level, possible because most marine
: prey or threat (seals, sharks, etc) tend to be kinda black
: looking on the water.
: Blue and green are not good colours on the water.
: Red and yellow are good colours on the water.
: Though solid colours are better than patterned, patterned are
: harder to focus on.

I'd even read that white, out in the ocean swell can get lost amid the white caps from a distance (on one of the surf ski sites).

However, the black thing I picked up from a write up by Greg Stamer about his and Freya H's Iceland circumnavigation:
http://www.gregstamer.com/2010/02/04/lost-in-iceland-article-online

--quote--
"All together 62 different groups of searchers are looking for you. A farmer saw you come ashore and called us. We also had a report from a ferry and a helicopter, but both of those reports indicated only a single kayaker heading toward this beach.”

Apparently only my yellow kayak had been spotted on the water by the rescue teams that had confused the searchers. Freya’s black gear is good for cold climates as it quickly warms in the sun, but it makes her difficult to spot on the water. At several points during our trip I lost sight of her, and had difficulty locating her amidst the black sea and rocks."
--end quote--

I do understand what you're saying and can definitely agree that I'd perk up seeing something black on the water.