Sailboat Runs over DiveFlags at BHB

[Shcubasteve]

Did anyone else see that yesterday!? I was headed out through BHB area and a 60' sailboat passed to the east of the main channel coming within 5' of at least 4 different diveflags!! A group doing CESAs actually surfaced directly in front of the sailboat and quickly headed back down just in time. Not cool man

[melanie.]

I concur, not cool. Thereotically, if someone could identify it, would reporting it to the authorities have any effect? Or does it just become a he said she said scenario which results in a warning not to do it again

[pjohnson]

Did anyone else see that yesterday!? I was headed out through BHB area and a 60' sailboat passed to the east of the main channel coming within 5' of at least 4 different diveflags!! A group doing CESAs actually surfaced directly in front of the sailboat and quickly headed back down just in time. Not cool man

Steve,
A couple months ago there was a county meeting that referenced the proposed BHB marine santuary. A couple of sailboaters spoke and indicated that there was a "secondary channel" in the area you indicated. They said this was deeper than the main channel and they needed to use it because of their keel depth. They also indicated they would use this "Channel" regardless of dive flag presence. Obviously it is not a channel and it is probably just one of these guys being a ****. Hopefully next time there might be marine patrol presence.

[danvolker]

Unfortunately for us, the navigational plan for the biggest sailboats that can pass under the bridge, is for them to use the channel just east of the wall...the bridge is higher by a few feet overhead in that area, allowing their masts to just squeak through without hitting...

If we make a fuss about this sailboat, the backlash could/most likely WOULD, be divers being banned from just east of the wall.


Smarter solution.....none of us should EVER imagine that a dive flag offers any safety to us, from passing boaters....Too many are not looking for the tiny flags, too many don't care, and enforcement is near zero---all there appears to be is REVENUE based ticketing of divers that are caught without a flag, far from other divers with flags.

At the bridge, any boat running through is going to be under motor power, other than kayaks ( they hit us, we may win the collision :-)...Motors can be heard by "attentive divers"....Any time you are surfacing, you need to consider WHERE you are, and if there are any motor sounds nearby..doppler shifts taking place--meaning figure out if the boat is approaching or leaving....Is it safe to surface? This needs to go through your head.

The most we could "ask nicely for", would be for the big sailboats to see a sign on approaching either side of the bridge, that tells them they should make 4 blasts of their boat horns held up to the hull, to pass the noise into the water...you hear that, you glue to the bottom, and head away from the sailboat crossing area.

[Shcubasteve]

Marine partol was all over them before they were able to clear Sailfish marina

[Reck Diver]

It seems as long as the vessel was at idle speed, they are not in violation of any laws

The following is a summary of Florida's boating laws, found in Ch. 327 and Ch. 328, Florida Statutes.

Vessel operators must make a reasonable effort to maintain a distance of at least 300 feet from divers-down flags on open waters and at least 100 feet from flags on rivers, inlets or navigation channels. Vessels approaching divers-down flags closer than 300 feet in open water and 100 feet in rivers, inlets and navigation channels must slow to idle speed.

[Scott L]

It's the busiest navigable marine area in a county populated by 1.2M folks. Some common sense about the possibilities of passing boats should be engaged...

[dumpsterDiver]

Unfortunately for us, the navigational plan for the biggest sailboats that can pass under the bridge, is for them to use the channel just east of the wall...the bridge is higher by a few feet overhead in that area, allowing their masts to just squeak through without hitting...

If we make a fuss about this sailboat, the backlash could/most likely WOULD, be divers being banned from just east of the wall.


Smarter solution.....none of us should EVER imagine that a dive flag offers any safety to us, from passing boaters....Too many are not looking for the tiny flags, too many don't care, and enforcement is near zero---all there appears to be is REVENUE based ticketing of divers that are caught without a flag, far from other divers with flags.

At the bridge, any boat running through is going to be under motor power, other than kayaks ( they hit us, we may win the collision :-)...Motors can be heard by "attentive divers"....Any time you are surfacing, you need to consider WHERE you are, and if there are any motor sounds nearby..doppler shifts taking place--meaning figure out if the boat is approaching or leaving....Is it safe to surface? This needs to go through your head.

The most we could "ask nicely for", would be for the big sailboats to see a sign on approaching either side of the bridge, that tells them they should make 4 blasts of their boat horns held up to the hull, to pass the noise into the water...you hear that, you glue to the bottom, and head away from the sailboat crossing area.

Novice divers that frequent the BHB "Marine Santuary" should not be expected to distinguish a doppler shift and the whole idea of listen for boat traffic is tough at that site, because there is frequent noisy boat traffic going through the designated channel. How is a diver going to distinguish from boat traffic in the channel which presents no danger versus traffic that is right through the diving area?

However Dan is right (I don't say that much) probably best not to bitch too much. I've never seen a sailboat go through there, but it could make for a terrible accident.

Also, a much more common occurance....I have heard on Channel 16 a few times in the last a month about boaters reporting divers going out into the channel itself, it has the potential to be an extremely dangerous dive location because being just a few feet "out of bounds" could be lethal to the uninformed diver.

[Thalassamania]

Sailboat keels are deep and can kill. Sailboats even under power, are quieter than stinkpots. If I were skippering a 60 foot sailboat, between worrying about my keel and my mast, I'd be hard pressed to take any but the east channel.

[Tom Winters]

It's good that it was a 60' sailboat - made it easy to hang the captain from the yardarm.