Diving Victim Of Severe Hit & Run Boat Collision

[RickI]

Perry is alive, which is a miracle all in itself. Beyond that he has a survivors attitude which will serve him well in the challenges to come as he builds his life anew. After being mauled by a high speed boat propeller in a hit and run diving accident (with dive flag properly displayed) he is doing his best coping physically, emotionally and financially in the harsh aftermath.

Excessively boat close encounters with divers flags and diver injuries resulting from collision are way too common. Awareness and understanding of what a divers flag means is poor in the boating community. Consistent proper boat operation is another, larger problem but good luck with that. Things shouldn't be this way and until things change, many of us are at risk and some will also be needlessly injured.

Please take a few minutes and read his story.

"On Friday, September 30, 2011, Perry and two of his friends went out for a leisure day of diving, that later turned tragic, has left him a long recovery and could have easily ended his life. To follow, are the details of that day in Perry’s words and perspective ... "

Continued at: Perry’s Story….. « Helping Our Friend Perry…


It is easy to feel shock and empathy for Perry, he has been through a lot of harm and is still swinging. Please take one more step and help this man out, he could use the support and encouragement.

Donating is easy, I just did so in about 20 seconds though PayPal. Any amount would be sincerely appreciated but I would ask that you dig deep. We can't turn the clock back to help him avoid this horrific and unjust accident but we can try to help his way forward into his new life. More about donating at:

How to help… « Helping Our Friend Perry…


Thank you and the best to Perry and his family.

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[knowone]

Was the boat running in stealth mode?

 

[ZenDiver.3D]

Was the boat running in stealth mode?

hmphh.
Let me help you. Quite often, in boating areas of Florida, boats are careless and run all over the place. When there are many boats in the water, you are inundated with the sounds of the motors. You must surface, at some point, and I have seen boats roll right at and over dive flags. When you have surfaced and a boat rounds a curve and bears down on you, time is fleeting.

Here, the boats run across the reef with no concern. Jetskis have a habit of using smb's and dive flags for slolams.

 

[Scott L]

Yeah, lots of Gumba's with go-fast boats speed about with reckless abandon in Broward County. Hopefully, the young man recovers quickly...

 

[fdarden]

I am so happy to see Perry sitting up. His color looks good, and I hope that he has the best recovery that he possibly can. Its sad that people are so careless.

 

[fdarden]

I have had many people ask me where specifically you guys were diving. I am a Yakker, and have several Yak-Dive friends that are really freaked out, and want to know. Perry mentions that they were off Oakland Park, but where exactly? Thanks in advance for any information.

 

[Garrobo]

I wish that someone should come up with a floating, battery-operated, high-intensity strobe and a larger dive flag to go with it. Considering that the average boater is probably drunk, doesn't really know what the purpose of a dive flag is and couldn't care less you really have to watch your step. Stiffer laws, fines and jail terms should apply when one of these a***oles run over a diver or get too close to a dive flagl

 

[Tom Winters]

Well actually the average boater probably does realize what a dive flag - there are massive levels of boat traffic off the southern Floriduh coast and rarely do boats violate my dive flag spaces or others that I see.
The problem is seeing them. I have seen snorkelers and kayakers way offshore with little tiny flags on their kayak or a tiny dive float - ridiculously easy to miss. And this is off north Broward county where there is a fraction of the shore cruiser traffic you see to the south. North of Boca inlet has never really been a problem.
I have had a large cruiser come too close to one of my diver's flags, and if I had not left my .45 at home, I might easily have cracked a couple of rounds off at the guy. Good thing too - it wouldn't serve any useful purpose, and it'll always be the little kid sleeping belowdecks that takes the hit.
The person driving the host boat out there has to guard the divers down. South of Deerfield Beach and away from the mooring balls, you really have to keep the boat live and not anchored.
Lots of times, I'll reposition my boat between the diver flags and an oncoming boat. The other boat might not see a dive flag on a float, but they sure as hell can see me coming on over at them. And I WILL hit someone getting too close. I hit a little Commie Soviet Krivak frigate to get them away from the USS Ranger in the North Arabian Sea - just a beam-to-beam meeting of the siderails gets someone's attention pretty well. The Russkie captain was pretty calm about it - he got too close so he had to pay the price and explain why the side of his ship was a little more indented than usual.
No matter how much boat traffic is out there, divers surfacing have got to listen for that up Doppler engine noise of a speeding approaching boat and stay under 10'. As I surface, I'm always listening and circling until I see the hull of my boat positioning itself upwind from me. If I don't see the hull, I'm ready to drop down in a second. People who immediately inflate their bc's have no chance at all to maneuver in a critical situation. On really flat days, I see guys running up and down the coast at 80mph, sometimes more. Usually they're far enough out to be out of the way - it's the lesser boats doing 40 to 70mph inside that are the danger. If you're anchored, you cannot unhook fast enough to protect your divers. If you've popped up and inflated, your last 10 seconds of life are going to be spent there waiting to get hit. Deflated, all you have to do is get 3' deep and you have a chance.
Yes, they should not have to be in that position, but out on the water like everywhere else, s#!t happens. You just have to be able to deal with it and try to avoid it as best you can.

 

[RickI]

It was a horrific accident, imagine the number of propeller rotations in only a few seconds of an high speed motor. I understand his tank was slashed several times likely sending him into violent rotations as the blades went into several parts of Perry, not just his hand. Consider propeller scars on manatees and you start to get an idea. This was a very bad accident in short and no one should have to go through something like this. He is a survivor and is healing, we can hope for as a rapid return to life as is possible. It won't be easy or painless but he impresses me as having a strong constitution and positive attitude. These will serve him well as he works his way back. He still needs our support not only with positive messages but also with donations. It takes bare seconds to donate through PayPal and it could make all the difference to Perry and his family moving forward. Please read his story and imagine what it was like, what lay ahead and donate generously.

I've been beach diving off this area for 40 years, this was before the flag laws. In that time I've been run over numerous times by boats on SCUBA and a couple of times free diving. This was with flags over me too. Fortunately, I have never come close to being actually hit. There was a time for a few years after the passage of the flag law when I refused to fly them. Boaters consciously or otherwise gravitated towards them. Today, aside from the stiff fine for not using a flag it is simply too dangerous with the abundant boat traffic not to have a flag up.

I always try to stay aware of boat noises while free diving. If I hear one, I immediately determine where it is traveling in relation to myself. If it is converging, I watch it and if necessary slowly send tall splashes into the air until it changes course. If I am doing deeper free diving say on a wreck, I try to stop at around ten feet listen carefully and scan a 360 arc for surface traffic. If the water is calm, you can hear boats over a mile off, rough somewhat less, sometimes a lot less. In the case of cigarettes going very fast, by the time you hear them they can almost be on top of you. I have noticed the same thing with waverunners at times running very fast. A slower boat is harder to hear at distance than a fast boat in some cases. I routinely see boats coming inside the safe offset distance from divers flags. I think there are still too many boaters who don't understand exactly what the flag indicates should be done.

Try to stay beyond 300 ft. of the divers flag and if you must approach within that distance do so at a slow idle speed watching very carefully for divers. Divers need to stay within 300 ft., I prefer 75 ft. or even far less myself when feasible of the flag. Florida Boating Regulations We need to build better awareness and that is assuming the operator even notices the flag. If he isn't scanning properly, is distracted or intoxicated, a flag can be easy to miss particularly at high speed. This is no excuse however, the burden of responsibility is legally and morally on the boat operator. Some vessels with high bows have a long blind zone in front of them for low objects like diver flag buoys. If you are SCUBA diving ascent can be a tricky thing if there are any close propeller noises and you aren't ascending up a line to your own boat. It is good to always trail a diver flag buoy regardless of the one that may be on the boat if you are ranging very far from it. Again, this is assuming the flag will be noticed, sometimes it is and at other times not. Still it is the best defense we have at present.

Take care Perry, we're pulling for you!

 

[blackvans1234]

I think the marine patrol (whoever 'enforces' these laws) should do 'stings'. There have been plenty of times when we have had jet skiers zipping by us on our surface swim, with our flag out