Vayu:
Hello,
I am relatively new to diving. This weekend we will be diving Rainbow River in Dunnellon, Florida. I was told that any group diving without a dm needs a flag. What sort of floats can be attached to a person without entanglement hazards? Is this a common practice?
-V
Well, there are a couple of ways of doing this. First, the simplest, is a flag, float line and weight. Throw out the line and let it anchor itself to the bottom. This is great, easy and provides a descent/ascent line. Although it is limiting because many laws require you to stay within a certain distance of the flag.
Second, is the tow method. You have a float, flag, line and a reel to deal with the extra line. You hold the reel in your hand, never clipped or tied off on you. You just play out or take up slack as needed. It's good because the float follows you around, so you never stray far from the flag. It sucks in the respect that there is some technique involved to deal with the line as you ascend/descend, called "task loading". Not a big problem, but I'd have someone show me how to do it before I'd try it.
Laws vary from State to State as to how far boats have to remain away from them and as to how close you have to remain, but let me tell you this; A lot of boaters or PWC users have no idea what the flag means. I've heard of them being stolen while the divers were under, used as "turn" buoys by skiers and jet skiers, boat just ignoring them and when yelled at say " I didn't know" or "sorry" or "******* you" or "Go dive somewhere else", you name it. Even local sheriff's or LE don't really know the laws and such in some places.
Best thing to do in a high traffic area is don't dive there. The boater may not even feel it as the screws slice-n-dice your head. But if you have to;
1-Enter and exit via shore only. Do not surface where boats may be or off shore.
2-Use the arm-over-your-head ascent and look, listen and turn a circle scanning for boats as you near the surface.
3-Have good surface support. A Sheriff that knows the law is good or at least someone with a good set of lungs...
4-If you HAVE to be on the surface, use a safety sausage or such for visibility.
Lastly, if a boat does go over you or you hear one closing, just stay on the bottom if you can. Most boats only draft a few feet anyway so under 10-15 feet should be enough, 50' or 60' makes me feel better.....
Probably more info than you asked for but, we've had problems with boaters lately, esp over the holiday weekend and I needed to vent...
Darin
