Boater ignorance & a shore invite.

[abitton]

I just dove twin lakes today! LOL. I always try to go during the week to avoid the classes & silt kicked up by the newbies. I noticed northwest divers sunk a fiberglass boat. When did they do that? I am going to Minnewanka on the 10 to 13th to dive the old townsite. If ya want to go I have room on my boat.

Sunk a fiberglass boat...

Hmmm....

I think you're onto something there... How 'bout Altitudemike make a few examples out of a random sample of idiots?

Alex

 

[JeffG]

I just dove twin lakes today! LOL. I always try to go during the week to avoid the classes & silt kicked up by the newbies.

It usually not that busy on weekends, the classes usually don't go very far into the lake. Usually I head out to the clay cliff's, its to far for the classes.

I noticed northwest divers sunk a fiberglass boat. When did they do that?

Must of been in the last couple of weeks. I didn't see it 3 weeks ago, but the club was doing a whole bunch of clean up (I was going to move the chicken on them , but then Aqua Tek knocked over the platform that I was going to move it to).

I am going to Minnewanka on the 10 to 13th to dive the old townsite. If ya want to go I have room on my boat.

Thanks for the offer, I'm still waiting for my gear to be shipped from Halifax. We are going to do the townsite with our X-Scooters and XL hulls later this summer/fall

 

[ron_cooper]

I have heard of the same sort of things happening here in Fort McMurray. I won't go out on weekends. Too many idiots on the lake, if you want to call it a lake. I think it would be interesting to carry around a shark bang-stick, the ones that hold a shotgun shell and can be fired by driving it into the side of something. Opps did I actually think that. Only joking. But we always could use more things on the bottom to look at, like boats, sea-doos. I was talking to one person that said they were diving and a fisherman stopped almost right on top of them. They found some bottles on the bottom filled them with air and bounced them off of the boats bottom. The boat soon left.

 

[andydiver06]

I thought rules would be stricter in Canada than in India. I just recently got a Power Boat Handling Licence and had to take a 10 day 9-5 course and give test. It is mandatory in India to operate any boat with outboard.
First five days includes rescue techniques, swim test ( 100 m in 3 min frees style only non stop), CPR / first aid, beach rescue and boat rescue using rescue tubes.

Next five days on types of boats, hull designs, Safety, parts of an OBM ( Power head, gear, electrical, cooling system) etc plus RYA level 2 circuit test where you have to show competency on Roundabout, hold off, C/ */ Circle/ Slalom/ Man Overboard etc.

You need to renew every two years and appear for retest within 2 months of last date of validity or your boat driving licence lapses and you need to do the whole course again.

Here the dive boats only dont put any dive flags but all boats keep a good distance from the divers under water.

 

[abitton]

I was talking to one person that said they were diving and a fisherman stopped almost right on top of them. They found some bottles on the bottom filled them with air and bounced them off of the boats bottom. The boat soon left.

Nice!!

 

[Foo]

I thought rules would be stricter in Canada than in India. I just recently got a Power Boat Handling Licence and had to take a 10 day 9-5 course and give test. It is mandatory in India to operate any boat with outboard.
First five days includes rescue techniques, swim test ( 100 m in 3 min frees style only non stop), CPR / first aid, beach rescue and boat rescue using rescue tubes.

Next five days on types of boats, hull designs, Safety, parts of an OBM ( Power head, gear, electrical, cooling system) etc plus RYA level 2 circuit test where you have to show competency on Roundabout, hold off, C/ */ Circle/ Slalom/ Man Overboard etc.

You need to renew every two years and appear for retest within 2 months of last date of validity or your boat driving licence lapses and you need to do the whole course again.

Here the dive boats only dont put any dive flags but all boats keep a good distance from the divers under water.

Wow! I'm sure the boating industry in the USA is hoping this doesn't catch on here! Sounds like an amazingly complete and thorough course. I'm sure it would keep quite a few of the dangerous boaters off the waterways if we had something like this. As it is, any 14-year old that can find the boat keys is likely to be out there. I know that I would feel better if I knew that every boat driver had taken such a rigorous course. Of course, the swim test would get most of 'em- hard to hold a beer can and swim at the same time.

 

[UnderSeaBumbleBee]

Do you think your wife would enjoy shooting a paint ball gun at them? It could provide a lot of entertainment for her while you are down under!

We have the same problem in the south. We area in Lake Jocasse that is litered with dive flags and is known for being the diving area. The last couple of times that I have been up there, there have been jets skis zipping over the divers heads in the cove. There are bouy's that warn boats to stay out of the area.

 

[bisonduquebec]

Whan taking my AOW, my teacher told me the following story. It might help your cause...

A teacher friend of him was giving scuba course on lake Simon (Quebec) and some boats would use the dive flag as a slalom course. After warning them, he attached a small strong metal cable between the flags. the next boat that tried it lost its prop. The dive master took a small boat and told the guys that police was on its way and left him stuck there.

I sure hope this story is true..... I still enjoy the tough.

 

[FIA-Sparki]

Try stringing a few contact mines around your flags, use a remote to turn them on / off so you can pick them up again when your done diving When ya hear a bang, its time to move to another part of the lake :mooner:


~~"Come get your free harpoons! Free harpoons for all divers!"~~


-Sparki

 

[altitudemike]

I have bought a paintball gun to repell boats. I told the wife to shoot when she sees the whites of their eyes. If they are whithin range then they are breaking the law. So if she shoots one & they complain then so will we. I hope this works. LOL