Beware of boaters

[DennisS]

Almost everyone has a story about doing a beach dive, the boat that didn't see their dive flag and came roaring overhead. Just be glad you were under water.

Northpinellas: Boater ejected at about 90 mph

A runaway boat left a gash Sunday when it crashed onto Anclote Key. The dark area is where the boat spun around. The driver was thrown off when the speeding craft hit a wake.

[JIM DAMASKE | Times]​

 

[tstormdiver]

Almost everyone has a story about doing a beach dive, the boat that didn't see their dive flag and came roaring overhead. Just be glad you were under water.

I was on a live aboard in the Bahamas a couple of years ago. While we dove, our boat displayed both the Alpha & the Trident flags &as the crew shouted & waved, a speed boat roared in right over the anchor line where most in our group were doing our safety stop. We, of course, heard it & saw it. Luckily, no one was going on up at the time. When we boarded, the captain said it looked like the pilot of the speed boat deliberately came near our boat, trying to intimidate or show off. Unfortunately, the Bahamas does not have a "right of way" law for divers with dive flags displsyed & boats. It's "dive at your own risk".

 

[dlent]

I'm surprised to hear that there is no "Right of way" in the Bahamas. The U.S. Coast guard patrols those waters as well as the Royal Bahamas Defense Force. I'm not a boat captain, but I always thought that working boats and dive boats had the "Right of way" by international law.

 

[Gilldiver]

Three or four fishing poles out with 60# test and an umbrella rig with 3 or more large treble hooks on them work well for boaters. Catch them once and they don't tend to get near boats again.

Plus they can't say they were not near you.

 

[String]

Its not uncommon here to have to put the dive boat in between the divers and an incoming high speed boat despite flying the alpha flag. Defensive boating is used surprisingly and annoyingly often.

The main problem here are a lot of the issues are weekend yachties with no qualifications other than enough money to buy a boat, they have no idea what an alpha flag means and no concept of risk and so on.

Other commercial boats by and large respect the A flag and handle their boat accordingly.

(Only 'A' flag here, the US style "divers down" flag has no legal meaning or authority at all here).

 

[bleeb]

Three or four fishing poles out with 60# test and an umbrella rig with 3 or more large treble hooks on them work well for boaters. Catch them once and they don't tend to get near boats again.

On a slightly more serious note (assuming that was intended to be slightly humerous ):

Does anyone have experience with floating long tag lines and having some idiot buzzing the dive boat getting his prop fouled? This could be a nice 'training' measure, but I'm wondering if anyone has actually ever seen or heard of it happening. Unfortunately, it probably wouldn't help with jet skis, unless maybe you used lots of small logs as floats for the tag line.

 

[eriediver2002]

On a slightly more serious note (assuming that was intended to be slightly humerous ):

Does anyone have experience with floating long tag lines and having some idiot buzzing the dive boat getting his prop fouled? This could be a nice 'training' measure, but I'm wondering if anyone has actually ever seen or heard of it happening. Unfortunately, it probably wouldn't help with jet skis, unless maybe you used lots of small logs as floats for the tag line.

I carry a .44 for the aholes on the jet skis

 

[dannobee]

I carry a .44 for the aholes on the jet skis

We call them "Lake Lice."

The whole ignoring the alpha/scuba flag thing isn't limited to ignorant/inconsiderate powerboaters. We surfaced from a dive once to find a sailboat "race" in progress around our boat. I mean, come on, you can't set up course markers 100 yards from us in Monterey Bay?? Once we got back on board, a quick comment on Channel 16 to the Coast Guard made them see the err of their ways. At least they had the sense to monitor Channel 16.

 

[Narcosis_Anonymous]

I once had a jetskier doing doughnuts around my dive flag. When jetskis first came out on the market I thought they were cool but now I hate them. I wonder if I would be liable if my bangstick accidentaly fired into a jetski? Maybe I could start a new sport, jetski hunting. Use the dive flag to lure the jet ski close enough and then...

 

[Charlie99]

I'm surprised to hear that there is no "Right of way" in the Bahamas. The U.S. Coast guard patrols those waters as well as the Royal Bahamas Defense Force. I'm not a boat captain, but I always thought that working boats and dive boats had the "Right of way" by international law.

Technically, the alpha flag is not a flag for the protection of divers, but instead is a flag that warns other boats that the dive boat is conducting underwater operations and has restricted maneuverability. Kind of like the lights and shapes shown by dredges, boats that are towing a barge, fishing boats, and vessels not under command.

The "keep xxx meters away from a boat with dive flag" stuff is strictly local laws. In most juridictions that do have such laws, the requirement is not a total prohibition, and an approaching boat can pass near the flag if going at slow speed.