Rich Keller
Contributor
I have been diving for 41 years and in all that time I have never seen the Coast Guard, state or local police ever enforce this rule against a boater. Has anyone ever seen this happen? If so what was done?
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I think he means the boater ticketed for coming too close to the flag. I've never seen it.
That was exactly what I was asking.
Florida is getting serious. The marine patrol has radar that also measures distance. They have a boat fly the dive flag and they can now document speed and distance. "You were 182 feet from the flag doing 32 mph, here's your ticket". It's been moved pretty high up on their priority scale due to several recent accidents.
They've given the advice, go out, go over come in, instead of following the reef line to your dive spot. They are also getting tougn on flying the dive flag properly.
If I am not mistaken Florida was the first state to require a diver to use a flag but this is the first I have ever heard of a dive flag trap. Any statistics on how many boaters have been ticketed vs divers being ticketed?