iluvtheocean
Contributor
I tow the dive flag behind the kayak. As mentioned above, if it is affixed to the yak the flag must be much larger. I just clip the flag/float's line to my stern.
Towing the kayak is very easy, no more trouble than towing a flag. When I still had my yak I had a small folding anchor attached to the reel.
What I do is unfurl the line to the length of the depth and throw the anchor overboard before gearing up. That way, if I drop something that is not tethered, it will sink to under the yak. Once I'm ready to dive, I toss my tank overboard (tethered of course) then slide in wearing mask/fins/snorkel, then don my gear. Then descend the line and off we go!
A sweet thing about towing a yak is that when you find something heavy (think anchor, humongous lobster, treasure chest!) you can put it on your yak and keep diving. Another is that you can put a water resistant hand held GPS on the boat and when you find a honey hole, ascent to the yak and hit the "mark" button and you can return to the site time and time again. DO put a lanyard on the GPS and clip it to your boat.
When I lived in the USVI, conch were plentiful and legal to take but you sure don't want to tow those heavy things back on a beach dive...they fit very nicely into my boat.
I sure do miss having a kayak. I sold my uber-sweet Ocean Kayak Prowler 13 in St. Croix because it cost too much to ship to Hawai'i, then I sold my fairly sweet Ocean Kayak Scupper Pro 15 in Hawai'i because it cost too much to ship to Florida. Once I find a job and catch up on a few bills, I'll be cruising Craigslist for my next plastic boat.
Good to see some interest in yak diving again...it is an absolutely wonderful sport.
another option for the GPS is to use a GPS logging app on your phone & record the time/depth/compass heading on a slate. the time will match up with a logged point on the phone (kept dry in the yak) and there is an excel file to adjust for depth drift. ---that way don't have to ascend/descend too much. might be able to do with a handheld gps if it will do continuous logging and you can export it.
ok... so better to just clip the flag to an eyelet ---
i missed the kayak clinic cause i was out of town in P.R. for a family reunion. hopefully i make the next one.