How to ignore a dive flag?

[SquintyPete]

• Circle it on your jet ski
• Pull your boat up to it and fish near by

I sometimes wonder what is the point of flying a dive flag is its going to be ignored as often as they are.

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So I guess my question/comment/rant is.. Who else has had experiences like this... and how bad is it.. or is it just a I have crappy luck.

Now for what has happened to me...
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Twice now we went and dove at a local lake used a bright yellow innertube that said DIVER on it and a big Dive flag sticking out of the top both times. Seems the local boaters and Jet Skiers don’t understand what this means the Jet Skiers were seen (after getting out to watch and see what happens) doing circles around the float in a no wake area no less!

While doing one dive I heard for the first time a jet ski passing right over me.. WOW let me tell you I didn’t expect it to be so loud.. I was 20ft under but I was kindof freaked for a second (till my brain said your 20ft under idiot)

I am sick of it, How hard is it to read a buoy or know what the Dive flag is! I swear it just makes me mad I mean during one night dive we ascend and not 20 ft away is a boat trolling along the people casting out to said float (this time we had a strobe on it and it wasn’t even that dark..)

I wish that people had to take classes on how to drive boats or jet ski’s and get a license like you do for a car. I guess I am going to have to make a flag of some sort that reads "DIVER DOWN STAY AWAY!!!" unless they ignore it than put some expletives in it. :razafraz:

 

[ERP]

My OW instructor once told me that they had a boat attempt to tie off to their dive flag.

 

[Drew Sailbum]

SquintyPete once bubbled...
So I guess my question/comment/rant is.. Who else has had experiences like this... and how bad is it.. or is it just a I have crappy luck.

The first OW dives I assisted with as a DM we had a similar experience. It was a shore dive and I was towing the dive flag as we descended along a very gently sloping bottom.

A jet ski began to use our dive flag as a turning buoy, occasionally doing donuts around it. With the noise so loud and close overhead, one student freaked out and began to overbreathe her reg. The instructor had to physically hold the student down to keep her from bolting straight up into the path of the jet ski.

Since then, I have heard of a dive boat captain doing surface watch who shot a flare gun at a jet ski that repeatedly got too close.

 

[seadog]

but a couple of years ago, in an area where jetskiers (?) were grabbing dive flags, a few divers put small treble hooks on thier flags. Problem ended soon after. Again, I DO NOT RECOMMEND THIS.

 

[oversea]

A stupid new guy question, but when diving off of my own boat w/ the float and flag, do I tow it around with me or anchor it below? Sound dumb and I think I know my answer, but what is the real deal?

Thanks

 

[jbd]

similar experiences with jet ski's. In one case I was on my way up at the end of the dive and had to wait for 20 minutes for the idiot to leave. Had there been a way to torpedo that jet ski, I would have:upset:

Another more recent event involved a boater who decided to to investigate my flag as I was towing it. I was about 8 feet down when this idiot tried to pick my flag up out of the water. I felt the pull and jerked the line. He tried again!! I would have surfaced and given him a piece of my mind but his motor was running and viz was only 1 to 2 feet so I didn't know exactly where he was.

He finally left and when I got out of the water the guy that runs the beach concession told me that the boater had said something about trying to get the flag but it kept moving away so he left it. The concessionaire told him it was a dive flag and that there was a diver down there. The boater was totally clueless.

I occassionally teach the BoatSmart class for the United States Power Squadron. The diver down flag and the Alpha flag are stressed heavily in that class.

 

[FreeFloat]

oversea once bubbled...
A stupid new guy question, but when diving off of my own boat w/ the float and flag, do I tow it around with me or anchor it below? Sound dumb and I think I know my answer, but what is the real deal?

Thanks

I'm wondering the same thing. As a small-boat sailor, I've often wondered just how much trouble I'd get in for anchoring and jumping over the side, even if I display the appropriate flags/shapes/lights.

I think the closest I came to answering the question was with a quick read through the International Regulations for the Prevention of Collisions at Sea (or ColRegs for short, mind you I'm not entirely clear on the real "long" title since everybody just calls them ColRegs) In the ColRegs it states that all vessels are responsible to maintain a lookout which would seem to preclude leaving your vessel unmanned. Then I wondered how come there's actually direction on specific "day shapes" to hang out if your vessel is going to be unmanned?

Since my boat is so small it would be no big deal for me to tow it around too.

Post anything you find out here as I'm curious as well. Or PM me.

 

[Drew Sailbum]

oversea once bubbled...
A stupid new guy question, but when diving off of my own boat w/ the float and flag, do I tow it around with me or anchor it below? Sound dumb and I think I know my answer, but what is the real deal?

Thanks

Generally, you must stay within a certain distance of your dive flag. If you are not straying further than that from your dive boat (or otherwise anchored flag), then often you would not tow it. But if you are covering more territory (like in a drift dive) you would likely tow your flag.

Other possibilities abound too. Several of the shore diving sites in Cayman are marked with permanent buoys marking a dive zone where boats are suitably restricted. In such locations, rarely does anyone even take out a flag.

 

[Texass]

We think of it as a safety device, tipsy weekend warriors think of it as a target.

I wonder are we both wrong? lol

 

[FreeFloat]

Suggest this subtle modification to your friendly local charter boat captain.

http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/sailor570/pwchelp.htm