colour blindness

[sailbadthesinner]

I am essentially colour blind
As such I have difficulty with certain shades in all colours Brown red green brown yellow green etc dependent on light

Whilst this has led to some interesting outfits i am wanting to find out what the letter of the law is. where i can be certified either fit or not fit to skipper?
I am day skipper standard but always sail with my colleague who is coastal skipper and have at least three pairs of eyes on deck.
I have yet to get confused but want to be sure before proceeding with the expense of moving forward. Even if i cannot get the ticket i would probably do the practicals and theory for the miles and the experience but i feel i really ought to clear the matter up either way.
Can anyone help.

If it Cooks Flys or Floats, Rent it.

 

[Chris_Stannard]

When I took my Yachtmaster, some years ago, there was no test for eyesight but the examination did include night sailing. In the event the examiner did ask what vessels were or were doing at night and expected that I would answer without refernece to others. This would seem to me to be a bar to your passing the yachtmaster practical but a call to the RYA office would clear this up completely/

From a practicl point of view I sail two handed with my wife who is green colour blind, unusual because its generally men who are colour blind and its normally red.
Any way my wife stands her watch at night and calls me if she is in any doubt.

I would suggest that you go on and get all the training in and perhaps even take the qualifications to see if you reach the required standards. Then I would also suggest that you should always have someone on watch with you at night when you are in areas such as the channel, where there is a lot oF shipping. And do remember that what other people see they may no be able to identify so you still need to know what everything means.



Chris Stannard

 

[peterb]

The main problem is to discriminate between red and green lights. The only other colur you are likely to meet is yellow, but many people with normal vision find difficulty in determining whether a light is white or yellow.

Get a pair of red and green filters. Ask someone with normal vision to mark them. Red lights can be seen through red filters but not through green filters; green lights vice versa. In practice you won't get complete extinction, but there will be enough difference to let you distinguish between them.

 

[tony_brighton]

Welcome to the club! You'll find that approx 10% of men and 1% of women have some noticeable 'colour blindeness'. The reality is that no two people see exactly the same spectrum so the nautical industry seems to have chosen a bizarre set of colour schemes for such an important topic (cardinals are all right of course).

I get by through having the other skipper who isn't colour blind. When I did my coastal skipper, I made the examiner aware before hand that I was colour blind - no problem. I tink he was looing for reassurance that I recognised the problem and had a back-up plan i.e. ask someone else when in doubt.

 

[rogerm]

It is easy for me to say this as my vision is normal (but I am deaf.....
There has to be some reason why they made conical buoys green and red buoys as cans.....
I just wonder what shape you can make a foghorn sound.... or perhaps it should flash?
Go and do it...
Roger

 

[zefender]

Re: colour blindness - driving?

I'm not aware that anyone colour blind is not able to drive a car (but I might be wrong!) and since not stopping at a red light is likely to be rather more dangerous than keeping a port buoy to starboard, I'd be surprised if it was cause for alarm. Previous threads have discussed whether alternatives to red and green might be better.

 

[sailbadthesinner]

Re: colour blindness - driving?

I agree.

The situation only really appeared when we were in the carribean around the windward islands. some of the markers, in some areas they used anything that floated, spotting if they were red or green caused some short debates. it was at this point i realised i was not confident about making the call on my own to see if an old water container was a port or starboard marker.

If it Cooks Flys or Floats, Rent it.

 

[alan43]

Re: colour blindness - driving?

That's a risky comparison. Colour discrimination is less critical when driving, because traffic lights have a standard top-to-bottom colour sequence; the red is always at the top.

Lights on buoys might be manageable (the flash characteristics can be helpful), but being unable to tell the colour of light on another vessel is a definite risk.

Re buoy shapes (& topmarks): they have to be distinctive to be recognisable in silhouette or in low light even if you have 'normal' colour sight.

Also, International Code flags should not be a problem, they are distinctive even as shades of grey.

 

[zefender]

Re: yes yes - but

At night, only the light is visible, its position relative to other lights, is not

 

[alan43]

Re: yes yes - but

I believe that all (or very nearly all) light-controlled junctions are also lit by streetlights, so that you would be able to see the traffic light assembly to pick out the position of the 'on' light. For junctions without that illumination, use full headlights instead. If you don't want to do that because of other traffic, check the behaviour of the other vehicles.

Much more risk at sea, because you can't deduce the colour from any other evidence. If you have severe red-green colour blindness, a yacht's masthead tricolour might appear the same through a 225 degree arc. How can you decide on your appropriate action when you can't tell which general direction the other vessel is travelling?