I think you'll find black is more visible than most in our Northern European 'grey sea meets grey sky' than say lighter colours. Not that I'm a fan personally even though it's the predominant colour of the kites we're selling right now, everybody seems to want the black model because our beaches are so dirty and it doesn't show up the mud, oil and other crap we end up getting on our kites here in the UK.
It's good from a commercial standpoint as it's easier to stock, the previous kite companies we dealt with refused to permit ordering by colour so we could never satisfy say a customer who wanted his/her entire quiver in the same colour and whichever colour was popular quickly ran out with the supplier (or so they said, you never really could trust Slingshots word on anything)
Traditionally the worse colour for remaining colourfast against UV is red for reasons unknown to me, but it is more likely to fade, I know this from time spent in the printing industry where the Holy Grail was a red ink that wouldn't fade on posters. So it's Henry Ford for me, you can have any colour kite you like as long as it's black..
OK if you're paying Ford money for Ford products I guess.
There are many different red dye's and pigments but in general a red indeed fades faster. That is because to see red, many dye's/pigments absorb blue (close to UV) and this has much higher energy/damage than other colors (wevelengths).
This is also why neon colors are in general very sensitive. The idea of neon (more correct, fluorecent) colors is that extra brightness is created by absorbing UV and emitting a color, hence the required decrease in UV protection and the absorbtion of UV.... very high energy!
There are many different red dye's and pigments but in general a red indeed fades faster. That is because to see red, many dye's/pigments absorb blue (close to UV) and this has much higher energy/damage than other colors (wevelengths).
This is also why neon colors are in general very sensitive. The idea of neon (more correct, fluorecent) colors is that extra brightness is created by absorbing UV and emitting a color, hence the required decrease in UV protection and the absorbtion of UV.... very high energy!
Thanks for the explanation on UV of fluorescent colors vs dark colors or black. That clears things in my head... except for those voices that keep me awake at night.
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Captain Core
"everybody seems to want the black model because our beaches are so dirty and it doesn't show up the mud, oil and other crap we end up getting on our kites here in the UK.
Sounds like your trying to bribe the tourism industry with that line... guess I'll cross the UK OFF my list of places I want to go kiting.
Sounds like your trying to bribe the tourism industry with that line... guess I'll cross the UK OFF my list of places I want to go kiting.
I think you'll find other than for a few hard core wave riders from Scandinavia & the Low countries who occasionally head this way, 90% of the Kite Tourist traffic is export only, we're not high on anyones most wanted kite beach list.
Same for Scandinavia. The whole North Sea coast from NL to DK has some of the most consistent wind anywhere. But since it’s so cold most of the year we don’t really have much to complain about. Maybe some boat traffic during summer months but that’s about it.
Black is fine by me. Makes for easy damage checks from under the canopy.
2011 REB
