Towing a dive flag

[CurtSchu]

I just recently returned from diving out of Boynton Beach where we had some fairly strong currents at the surface so rather than towing the flag, the flag was towing us. The diver with the flag was pulling pulled so fast that the rest of the group were challenged to keep up.

Our solution was adding a reef hook to the end of the line and used that to anchor in at different spots long the dive to keep the group together. Worked quite well.

Was watching a lobster diving video earlier and saw this set up. Looked like a standard cave reel with a reef grapple where you would normally see the clip attached.

 

[OkByMe]

I put a 1 ounce lead "egg" sinker on the line and let it take up the slack. When the sinker bumps the bottom, if there is a bottom, I know to take up some slack an don't have to watch the line. Use the same method, kind of, by using the reel and a double ended snap as a counterweight to deploy the SMB.

 

[Skittl1321]

Yesterday we got our dive flag tangled in another diver's (visibility was so terrible so we never saw him until we traced the source of the line issue). Thankfully, our line was being kept really short/close to us, and we were still shallow, so it wasn't too difficult to untangle. And then we got it tangled in some surface tree limbs (we had to surface to deal with that).

Huge PITA.

 

[j yaeger]

After hundreds of shore dives, and half a dozen flags, I've settled on using one of these ratcheting reels. In my experience, nothing has worked better, been easier to manage, or made flag towing less obtrusive:
View attachment 163483

the very first time that i tried one of these "great inventions",the
center screw undid itself,and the spool fell into the deep,creating a mess.the plastic winding thingys don't do that unless you fall with them...again,less is sometimes more