Call me a "Safety Nut" ..... and while I've never done the "Worrell" or "Tybee", I did cut my teeth by doing "The Down the Bay", C-100 and the origonal "New England 100" many times, these were all "Open Water" point to point races .... so .....

My "RED" Life Jacket has attached to it the following: spare clevis pins w/ rings, a swiss army knife, whistle, Mini MagLite, cell phone in waterproof pouch, and ..... a 12hr Forespar "PERSONAL SAFETY STROBE".

You never will know until the moment it happens ... but it does happen and then you are dependent on some "good samaritan" to save your butt ... I want to give them all the fore-thought and help in saving my _ss as possible.

As you usually are floating on your back while awaiting to be rescued w/ your chest facing up ... it's IMHO color is important ..... and may actually save your life

Colors:
1) Yellow while bright and highly visible ... is very "cold" as it reflects most of the sun's energy
2) Blue/Purple are not visible when one is floating in a large body of blue water but are warmer since they are dark colors that absorb the sun's energy
3) they do not produce (yet) flourescent orange or lime-green Life Jackets suitable for racing small sailboats .... but I do have a friend who races wearing flourescent orange bucket hats so that if one of them "goes overboards" you can spot that little black head clad in flourescent orange bobbing around in the water .... I prefer a brightly colored baseball hat/brim ..... usually red.
4) That leaves red which is highly visible and it also absorbs the suns energy making it a "warm" color

(when I do wear a flourescent orange hat, that's a different sport and I'm carrying/holding something that goes BANG ....)

Sail Flat, Sail Fast, Sail SAFE
HarryMurphey
H18Mag/P19MX