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

[Mlody11]

ROFL!

I dont think I've laughed this much reading a post. It is a serious problem but some of the retaliation ideas are so hilarious. Reminds me of WW2 subs Vs Destroyers. Depth charge cherry bombs and torpedo spearguns along with glass bottle kobolds and fishline sub nets.

To tell the story of War at Seas III (Divers Vs Boats + Fishermen) in a graphical way,

At first.. Watch the fishies. :fish:
Then comes the Imperial Starwars Theme ...
Pan Shot to the Racing boat. :redcap:
And the divers go... :thinkingo:
Then again... :redcap:
Then the divers.. :angry:
Then again.. :redcap:

Then the divers again..
Then the Boaters.. :furious: leading to the cherry bombings... :yleyes:
Then fast music... :guitarist Then the divers.. :bigun2:
Then the boaters... :lurk2: As the divers are winning... :shiner:
The goverment steps in and we all get nothing.

 

[RPanick]

We just need to advertise on our dive floats with some signs. Some examples:

• If you can read this, you are too close
• Fines doubled in diver areas, 15 years and/or 10,000 dollar fine for injuring or killing a diver in a diving zone. There are plenty of signs along the highway latey, and I never see anyone working. Wouldn't take much to change the wording a bit.
• Police dive team, stay clear
• Caution divers present, we can guarantee they will never find your body
• Caution unexploded ordenance
• DNR restricted area no fishing.
• Caution, US Nave Seal demolition team
• DNR fish count in progress, no fishing within 300 yards.
• Smile you are on candid camera, the police will be waiting for you when you get home, have a nice day.
• Put "Al Quida Underwater Training Excercise" on your dive buoy, that way you will be guaranteed all the police and special forces to keep those boats away you could ever ask for. With plenty of assistance getting out of the water, and taking your dive gear apart. And they put all your stuff in those nice plastic bags, all neat and labeled. They even help you remove your wet suit, bathing suit, and why are they looking there....

Personally, when boat diving the best solution is to leave someone at the surface at all times with the boat. It helps, if they spend the time cleaning their shotgun while waiting.

There was a story around here about a guy out fishing that was getting buzed by a jet ski. He got tired of it, grabbed his flare gun and started shooting. I don't think he hit the jet ski, but it got the idiots attention. Cops around here are pretty scarce on the water, and what's he going to do, go tell the cop that he got shot at while buzzing a boat.

Most other boaters would be very happy if the jet skis were banned. But that's not likely to happen. So the next best thing is that we need to get them regulated with proper safety gear. You know, enough crap that would sink the Queen Mary. So everyone write your politician and suggest that they need more regulations on them. Tell them you were suggested to do this by your fising buddies, so they will pay attention. Suggestions include, 50 lb anchor with 500 feet of 3/4 inch line with 20' of chain, two 8' wooden oars, full size fire extingusher (you know the one that looks like 130 cf tank).

 

[fishoutawater]

hey fishoutawater ...

Sounds like you and I are going to bump into each other sometime, are you talking about the LDS on Main St. in old town St. Charles??

No rottielover, The LDS that said that was over in Granite City Il. I don't even know if he's still there or not. He's not listed on Yahoo yellow pages anyway.

I'll pm ya.

 

[ChillyWaters]

• Police dive team, stay clear
  

That's actually a good one, and would probably work. The question is, would you get introuble for impersonating a police officer.

- ChillyWaters

 

[RPanick]

About the only chance of that happening is if the local Police dive team happens to come by. I doubt anyone else could tell the difference. And I suspect they might be sympathetic.

Personally smile you are on candid camera is my favorite.

 

[jpd8888]

if there boat has outboards a ice bag or a zip lock blocking the water intake holes and they won't realize it till the motors overheat and blow

 

[peterbkk]

I suggest that you should all should listen to the advice of ScubaRoo on the previous page. A retaliation war achieves nothing. All that happens is the other side just replies with their retaliation. I am kind of hoping that you are all just joking with your discussions of removing propellers and blocking intakes. Not only is that illegal but you would be guilty of the very act that you are condemning - putting someone else's life in danger.

Education is the only reasonable answer. Ideally this would be done by the authorities through an awareness program combined with a testing, licensing and policing program. But in many places, that's not going to happen. So, if we want to improve the safety of our chosen activity, we need to take our own sensible actions.

If you see someone doing something stupid, politely explain to them why their actions could be putting someone else's life at risk. Yelling and being abusive won’t help. Start by assuming that the other person does not understand that what they are doing is life threatening to someone else. And, calmly and factually, explain the situation to them.

Here is an example: Recently, I was with 3 other divers doing a safety stop on a permanent buoy line that marks the location of a ship wreck. Our bubbles would have been quite clear on the surface and anyone familiar with diving would know that divers were doing a safety stop. Then, another dive boat came along and decided to pull the buoy on board their boat and tie of on it. Before we figured out what was happening, we had been pulled to close to the surface and had to let go, drift away and complete the safety stop on an inflatable surface marker. No one was hurt but the action of the other dive boat could have triggered a DCI incident.

After we'd finished our dive and surfaced, I went across to the other boat and explained what they had just done. The divers on board were embarrassed and apologetic and helped me explain to the boat captain why you don't do something like that. I doubt if he'll do it again.

If every time something like this happens, someone takes the trouble to calmly educate the perpetrator, soon there would be a lot less such incidents.

Regards
Peter

 

[Scuba_Jenny]

Very true Peter, education is the key.
I do beleive that most of these posts are in jest.

 

[ReefGuy]

Yeah, but it's hard to educate a boater that's zooming by at 10 knots 10 feet above your head, or a jet ski that's doing doughnuts around your flag.

 

[Mad_diver]

In my original post the people who were pulling at my float were non-english speaking mexican nationals. Therefore, I don't see how I could have "educated" them with out first learning to speak spanish, which I didn't have time for at the exact moment......lol

But I do agree. Poeple need to be educated so that they might avoid such behavour in the future.

Mad_diver