Does a dive flag protect you? Think again.

[NudeDiver]

what I am saying, is that the offending boaters in most dive flag incursions, knew better--but they did not care....

Are you any less dead if a boat being driven by the former runs over you and splits your skull, than you are if the same thing happens with a boat being driven by the latter?

 

[TGreene]

I'm a brand new member here with 2 comments to make...

1) As a motorcyclist, I have to fear every cager on the road because of the huge number of absolute idiots that are more concerned about texting while driving, then looking ahead or using their mirrors to see me sharing the same road. Rather than cracking down on innattentive drivers, the powers to be would rather harass us about loud pipes or riding w/o a helmet.

A very close friend lost his left leg this past summer 2 days before he was supposed to ride down and take a Road Captains course with me. The guy that hit him obviously claimed that he didn't see him, but that doesn't bring back Chet's leg, does it..? On multiple occassions my wife and I have had cars and SUV's "toying" with us and trying to force us off the road, and there is nothing that we can do but try like hell to get out of those situations whenever possible, but that in and of it's own generally increases our risk factor even more, because we're now on the run.

2) A couple of years ago my wife and I were out for a boat ride w/ my wife's boss, when he got so drunk (on 3 beers mind you) that he totaled his boat with us on it. He insisted on running through the extremely narrow cuts in one of the byways that joins Lake Ponchartrain at full speed AT NIGHT, and no matter what I did to try to stop him he would just do it again and again. Twice I had to jump forward and push him aside, killing the throttle and turning the wheel as hard as I could to keep from grounding us on the banks. The second time a large knife that was sitting on his console flew across the boat and missed my wife by mere inches! He finally realized what he had done and started limping the boat back to his dock, when he gunned it one more time and ended up ripping a huge gash in the hull when he ran OVER a huge channel marker.

Having previously been very good friends for several years, we had absolutely zero social interaction with him after that night. This was about a month before Katrina hit (ground zero was where his fishing camp was in Slidell). We relocated and haven't spoken to him since, nor would we ever want to!

-Tim

 

[Gary D.]

Probably a bad move. The police may not take any interest in ******* boaters, but they will certainly take an interest in someone shooting deadly weapons at them. If he DID call the police and you all had a little get together, it would probably go a lot like this:

Gary D: blah, blah, blah, so I shot my speargun at his boat.

Oink, Oink: So, you admit you shot your speargun at him?

Gary D: yeah, that's right. He was harassing us.

Oink, Oink: That's all I needed to hear. You're under arrest for assault with a deadly weapon. Put your hands behind your back.

Not a chance. There were plenty of witnesses on the pier let alone the half a dozen or so of us in the water. He had intentionally tried to run us over not once but several times. The people on the pier were screaming at him and yelling if we were ok. Once back on the beach Santa Cruz PD was already there and contacted us. Little did we know people on the pier had called to report him. We needed him to call so he could be ID and arrested.

There are those who just hate divers in THEIR own private fishing grounds called the Pacific Ocean.

Gary D.

 

[NudeDiver]

There are those who just hate divers in THEIR own private fishing grounds called the Pacific Ocean.

Yet another reason to avoid the Lesser 48.

 

[Byte Me]

I am sorry but many people who fish far offshore carry a shot gun or similar, if you did not know that, to bad for you. It is not illegal, it is a constitutional right, it is not your business. It is your business to behave, something the vast majority of jet skiers cannot seem to do.

N

Too bad for me? I don't understand why it's too bad for me or how that even makes sense. Never said carrying a registered gun was illegal! I was making a point that while you may make decisions on an entire group of people while having experienced only a small percentage of them (e.g. a stereotype) when I do something similar (sarcastically) to a group that you're apparently part of suddenly it's not my business what you do. Hmmm....:kiss2:

And I realize it's not illegal to carry a registered firearm in locations where it's allowed by law, as the Constitution provides. Just like it's my constitutional right to enjoy public waterways in legal ways that I see fit. It appears to me that we agree on one thing - we both like to exercise our individual freedoms!

Good luck with your fishing! Oh, and correct me if I'm wrong but wasn't the point of this thread the fact that BOATERS seem to ignore dive flags and in some tragic cases have either purposely or allegedly wantonly and carelessly caused bodily harm to divers? From what I read the examples you cited were also incidences of boaters harassing your group, not folks on jetskis.

 

[NudeDiver]

And I realize it's not illegal to carry a registered firearm in locations where it's allowed by law, as the Constitution provides.

Um..nothing in the Constitution requires any kind of registration.

a well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed.

Nope - nothing about registering anything.

Just like it's my constitutional right to enjoy public waterways in legal ways that I see fit.

Can you point out the section in the constitution that explicitly states this? Thanks.

On the other hand - we have been ignoring the Constitution since AT LEAST 1861, so I don't guess it matters.

 

[danvolker]

Are you any less dead if a boat being driven by the former runs over you and splits your skull, than you are if the same thing happens with a boat being driven by the latter?

There are many more boaters that "just don't care", who are potentially going to split your skull----if ten times as many, then this means it is ten times more important, to solve this problem first....

Once we get the needed punitive measures, then the education Misdirected desires so strongly, will suddenly become the most important thing we could develop....but right now, we need the punitive before the education is worthwhile.

Dan

 

[ScubaSteve]

 

[Nemrod]

It seems many are angry at the OP for bringing up this subject because you are fearful that additional laws or regulations will be aimed at the diver and restrict our sport further? (That is a question) It seems to me that if many more people get their heads cut off or legs cut off or children get run over snorkeling (all of these things have happened in Florida last year and we are off to a good start for this year) that some restrictive regulations WILL be put in place. I think that the OP was wanting the diver community to help guide these eventual regulations so that they would be fair and effective and something everyone can live with--or---sit tight and hope for the best and get broad sided with some out of the blue draconian measure.

Most boaters and water craft users do in fact know what those flags mean and simply don't care to slow down or deflect their path the 30 seconds around a diver flag. Sure, after someone is killed they say they did not know, most certainly did and just did not care.

Sailing vessels and paddle craft have right of way over power vessels usually due to the lack of maneuverability and difference in speed potential. A boat at anchor has right of way over all (usually) and a diver in the water certainly has a right away over a boat of any sort due to the lack of maneuverability and speed differential. The boat/watercraft that hits a diver--with a flag---is always in the wrong as far as I am concerned. Intentionally using a power vessel to harass or intimidate a human being (or wildlife)--regardless---is an assault and is immoral and wrong. The Golden Rule still applies.

Me, I would rather give up my fishing spot to a diver or my dive spot to a fisherman for that moment rather than get involved in a shouting, arm waving, cursing and potentially life altering jackass behavior.

Marine patrols need to get their priorities straight, a death is a death whether caused by an out of date life preserver or by a boat propeller while towing a dive flag. Marine patrols are awfully good at counting life jackets and complaining that your registration numbers are incorrectly spaced, not so good at enforcing the flag laws that are already on the books.

If people would be nice to one another out in the real world then there is room for everybody to have fun.

N

 

[meierdierck]

Yo danvolker, how about some go getter like you take the helm and show us the way,
apparently this strikes a nerve with you,
so do something about it, rally the troops

YOU NEED A LICENSE TO DRIVE A CAR,
HELL YOU NEED A LICENSE TO OWN A DOG
BUT ANY BUTT REAMING A..HOLE CAN DRIVE A BOAT