(6/15/05) Someone tried to steal my float while I was under!

[lord1234]

wow..thats an awesome idea...

 

[Bill51]

Unfortunately, dive flag tampering will continue unless there are consequences. I like the spear gun idea offered earlier in this thread ... but slightly more subtle is a handful of monofilament line around a prop ... especially if it is their own fishing line.

Don’t ask how I know this, but carry a 10’ piece of 3/16” polypropylene rope in your BC. It floats and you can release it well below the boat for it to drift up into the prop keeping you at a safe distance. It’s also much tougher than fishing line and more difficult to remove once it starts to shred.

 

[MXGratefulDiver]

I know it's been posted in earlier threads, but grabbing beer bottles off the bottom (I'm sure plenty of dive sites, especially popular fishing locales, have a few littering the bottom), filling them with air off your octo and shooting them to the surface (like a polaris missle) at offending boats has interesting results (good and bad). I've shot bottles up (not at boats, though) just for fun.

I'll have to try this one with my dive buddies on our next skills practice dive ...

... Bob (Grateful Diver)

 

[dive_lover88]

hmm...have you tried pulling their lines and snagging it under a huge rock??
if i am ever in this situation,i will be darn pissed and that guy who did that dumb thing will be facing a bombardment of words(of course...)and the finger.

 

[gfisher4792]

hmm...have you tried pulling their lines and snagging it under a huge rock??

Careful with this manuever...if the the guy is keeping tight lines, a pull like that would say "fish!" and he'll yank on the pole to set the hook (probably in your finger/hand). Ouch!

OTOH, snagging the hook on a tree branch is much easier and more effective...not that I would condone this...

 

[Wee Haggis]

You first getting up close to the whiring blades of death

A very real hazard and not to be attempted without taking steps to manage the risks. Proper buoyancy and distance from the blades would be important. Use your buddy to create a distraction at the bow while you approach from the stern. Obviously, you would like to be slightly negative at this point so that you can immediately descend if required. If the motor is still in gear, you will have to consider floating the line up from below. It is much safer than attempting to remove the prop .

Seriously, I get just as frustrated as everyone else, but I am not that crazy ... yet. It is all fun and games to lament about how you would like to deal with these idiots, but disabling a vessel and leaving them stranded at sea is hardly justified. I am professional sailor and I still don't trust anyone that operates a boat. Treat them all the same and be aware that there are hazards above and below the surface. Some boaters are ignorant, but genuinely sorry once they are made aware of the danger they have visited on you. Others are just idiots, furthermore if they have been drinking ... well let's just admit that a diver on the surface beside a beligerant boater is somewhat vulnerable.

Same applies to fishermen when diving along side the shore line. Ensure your own safety and carry the appropriate cutting tools if there is a hazard of entanglement with monofilament line (better yet, stay clear). Getting a hook in your wet suit is one thing, another is a hook in your dry suit (especially a shell) or under your mask. Be very careful playing silly buggers with their lines because they'll soon figure out where you are parked and might just be waiting for you when it is time to come out.

Kudos to the beer bottle missle idea. Much easier than floating a lift bag and then having to go retrieve it. They make a neat sound on the underside of a pleasure boat that is sure to draw attention and perhaps make a point without dancing with the whirly blades of death.

 

[The Horn]

So we should start a new thread entitled: Ways to Sink/Discourage boaters at dive sites. Any thing that disables the vessel is pretty cool except for the fact that it leaves the boat at the site, above you, with a severly pissed navigational type idiot. It would be much easier to sink the vessel or "lower it to our level". Fantastic natural reefs can be created and you also satisfy the treasure craving with the discovery of the odd tackle box.

Instead of the surface marker bouy you could "lauch" a "boat buster beacon" or something we could market as "Scuttle Magic" or the "Sinker".

Seriously though, retalliation is not the best idea as there are some people out there more vindictive than myself (eh Haggis) and therefore Scuba War Three would start. The droppers of the "Cherry Bombs" should be charged with attempted murder or Intent as that sort of nonsense is enough to kill some one or produce serious injury.

 

[Wee Haggis]

Don’t ask how I know this, but carry a 10’ piece of 3/16” polypropylene rope in your BC. It floats and you can release it well below the boat for it to drift up into the prop keeping you at a safe distance. It’s also much tougher than fishing line and more difficult to remove once it starts to shred.

You are correct sir, and I have an 8 foot length of the same in my pocket that is rigged for a buddy line. However, if there was any danger visiting me from above, there is a very real possibility that it could fall out of my pocket and float to the surface. Of course, I would have to make sure my buddy wasn't still looped in at the other end of the rope .

I mentioned monofilament only because there never appears to be a shortage of stray line on the bottom, and sending it to the surface is one way of keeping our oceans clean .

Luckily, I have only been invaded from above once (well there was one other time out in the desert, but this really isn't the forum to discuss it). The boat was out of gear and these people were waiting beside our flag when we surfaced. They knew enough to approach with caution (in their minds, not ours) and were genuinely interested in what we were doing down below. Good thing we didn't have our lift bag or else they would have an aluminum ladder sticking up through their bottom (not on purpose, honestly we were attempting to recover it).

 

[The Horn]

Haggis, How come you have a day less to work than I do and were on the same ship?

 

[MXGratefulDiver]

I've had people on a nearby fishing pier "casting for bubbles" before ... it doesn't bother me much, as I've gotten rather adept at cutting the line if it gets close enough. It does bother me when they do this as we're doing maintenance work on the boundary rope that's down there to keep the divers away from the pier, however.

It also bothers me to see a 10-lb downrigger ball on 30 feet of steel leader heading my way ... :11: ... fortunately, trollers move fairly slow and it's not that difficult to get out of the way ...

... Bob (Grateful Diver)