FL Divers-Down Flag Law

[CBulla]

http://www.floridaconservation.org/law/boatsafe/obw_only/diver-down-flag.htm

327.331 Divers; definitions; divers-down flag required; obstruction to navigation of certain waters; penalty.--
(1) As used in this section: (a) "Diver" means any person who is wholly or partially submerged in the waters of the state and is equipped with a face mask and snorkel or underwater breathing apparatus.

(b) "Underwater breathing apparatus" means any apparatus, whether self-contained or connected to a distant source of air or other gas, whereby a person wholly or partially submerged in water is enabled to obtain or reuse air or any other gas or gases for breathing without returning to the surface of the water.

(c) "Divers-down flag" means a flag that meets the following specifications:

1. The flag must be square or rectangular. If rectangular, the length must not be less than the height, or more than 25 percent longer than the height. The flag must have a wire or other stiffener to hold it fully unfurled and extended in the absence of a wind or breeze.

2. The flag must be red with a white diagonal stripe that begins at the top staff-side of the flag and extends diagonally to the lower opposite corner. The width of the stripe must be 25 percent of the height of the flag.

3. The minimum size for any divers-down flag displayed on a buoy or float towed by the diver is 12 inches by 12 inches. The minimum size for any divers-down flag displayed from a vessel or structure is 20 inches by 24 inches.

4. Any divers-down flag displayed from a vessel must be displayed from the highest point of the vessel or such other location which provides that the visibility of the divers-down flag is not obstructed in any direction.

(2) All divers must prominently display a divers-down flag in the area in which the diving occurs, other than when diving in an area customarily used for swimming only.

(3) No diver or group of divers shall display one or more divers-down flags on a river, inlet, or navigation channel, except in case of emergency, in a manner which shall unreasonably constitute a navigational hazard.

(4) Divers shall make reasonable efforts to stay within 100 feet of the divers-down flag on rivers, inlets, and navigation channels. Any person operating a vessel on a river, inlet, or navigation channel must make a reasonable effort to maintain a distance of at least 100 feet from any divers-down flag.

(5) Divers must make reasonable efforts to stay within 300 feet of the divers-down flag on all waters other than rivers, inlets, and navigation channels. Any person operating a vessel on waters other than a river, inlet, or navigation channel must make a reasonable effort to maintain a distance of at least 300 feet from any divers-down flag.

(6) Any vessel other than a law enforcement or rescue vessel that approaches within 100 feet of a divers-down flag on a river, inlet, or navigation channel, or within 300 feet of a divers-down flag on waters other than a river, inlet, or navigation channel, must proceed no faster than is necessary to maintain headway and steerageway.

(7) The divers-down flag must be lowered once all divers are aboard or ashore. No person may operate any vessel displaying a divers-down flag unless the vessel has one or more divers in the water.

1(8) Any willful violation of this section shall be a misdemeanor of the second degree punishable as provided by s. 775.082 or s. 775.083.

History.--ss. 1, 2, 3, ch. 74-344; s. 64, ch. 74-383; s. 1, ch. 77-174; s. 1, ch. 86-35; ss. 7, 8, ch. 2000-362.

1Note.--Section 8, ch. 2000-362, amended subsection (8), effective October 1, 2001, to read:

(8) Except as provided in s. 327.33, any violation of this section shall be a noncriminal infraction punishable as provided in s. 327.73.

Note.--Former s. 861.065.

 

[Scuba_Jenny]

Hmmph. Good luck getting the boaters to abide by it...
The fools were out again today....

 

[ReefGuy]

You wouldn't believe how busy the law enforcement officers were during the pass cleanup. They were working constantly. I've come to realize that when you buy a large boat, you evidently have to give up part of your brain. Certainly the part the controls consideration for others.

 

[Scuba Duba Do]

"(4) Divers shall make reasonable efforts to stay within 100 feet of the divers-down flag on rivers, inlets, and navigation channels. Any person operating a vessel on a river, inlet, or navigation channel must make a reasonable effort to maintain a distance of at least 100 feet from any divers-down flag."


In class we were taught that boaters are suppose to stay at least 100 feet from the dive flag, therefore divers should, if able, surface within 50 or less of their dive flag, in order to provide an even greater safety margin than is required.

I try to wind up the line to my flag as I'm surfacing so I come up within a few feet of my flag, and that way the line doesn't get tangled up so easily around me or my buddy as we are bobbing on the surface.

 

[CBulla]

Jenny - as I'm learning, first step is to educate the those in enforcement about a problem, once that it has started they'll be more apt to spread the information outwards. Second step is to make the same information thats available to the enforcement agencies available to the public in a simple to read and understand format. I'm still on the case of the boater/diver education.. its a goal I have set and threre arent to many goals that I've had to write off in my life

Reefguy - that missing brain area also goes with the purchase of certain vehicles and the willingness to pay 890,000 for a ramshackle abode on Gasparilla. I still can't believe these folks have that much $ and no brains to back it up - Sooner or later I'll figure out what they are up to and quietly take it away from them and give it to people who bust their tail every day, use their brains, and feel like like they are walking into a headwind to do anything.. they are the real deserving people, not the idiots in their over priced toys we were watching on Monday and Tuesday last week.

Scuba duba do - I have the practice of letting out more line than is needed, it keeps the float from being over my head. After ascending, or during on a deep dive that I am carrying a trailing flag, I'll wind it up real close to me, only a yard or so out. The one morning out off Venice when I watched my flag getting buzzed by some knuckle head in a VERY big boat with, as seen from the bottom, twin screws, I was very thankful Ihad the extra line as the boat wasn't going directly over top of me, but off to one side or the other depending on how long it took the turn to occur and the wind to move the float. Its days like that I wish had a nice water mine to anchor my flag to so I could fin back into the sandbar area and stand up and watch the boat and boater quickly seperated from the water.. the boat to reef and well, the boater is on his own at that point.

At any rate, its the right time of year again that we can bring our vid cams to the beach and start recording the harassment. I had mine with me this past weekend but the weather didnt cooperate for diving. If we had it last weekend my wife would have been able to capture several of these buzzings on tape. My favorite question after the boat buzzed me was "did you get the bow numbers?" and at some point I honestly answered someone with "Oh yeah, he was only going about 20kts and I was only 18' down, it was a peice of cake to read them, I wrote it in the sand so I didnt forget them before I went in."

 

[Scuba Duba Do]

Sure, while I'm below the surface I leave enough slack in the line so my flag is not trying to bounce me around with every wave, I just make sure that when I do surface, that I've got the line under control and have brought the flag in nice and close.

I took an "Octopus Regulator Keeper", the ones with the bungee cord loop in it, and I hooked the one end to my BC and put the end with the bungee cord around the handle on my line winder. It’s strong enough to keep the flag from floating away on its own, but loose enough that if my flag or line were to become entangled in a boat prop, it would pull loose and not drag me with it.

I guess I never considered the fact that those boaters are fully aware that there are divers down, and are intentionally trying to mess with them. What's this world coming to anyway?

The one morning out off Venice when I watched my flag getting buzzed by some knuckle head in a VERY big boat with, as seen from the bottom, twin screws, I was very thankful Ihad the extra line as the boat wasn't going directly over top of me, but off to one side or the other depending on how long it took the turn to occur and the wind to move the float.

 

[DEEPSEAWOLF]

How prominent is this problem? Is it stupidity, arrogance, or is there a sense of joy at buzzing a dive flag? I've only been in the springs, so fortunately, I've never experienced this. I'd carry a .44-MAG powerhead for hull marking! If I surfaced and saw a smiling boater as he tried to see how close he could get to my flag, knowing that my wife was just below the surface,... I'm sorry to say, I WOULD shoot a speargun through the captain if they hurt my family!

 

[DEEPSEAWOLF]

here is MY question to a defense attorney...
782.072 Vessel homicide.--"Vessel homicide" is the killing of a human being by the operation of a vessel as defined in s. 327.02 by another in a reckless manner likely to cause the death of, or great bodily harm to, another. Vessel homicide is:
(1) A felony of the second degree, punishable as provided in s. 775.082, s. 775.083, or s. 775.084
Followed by...
782.02 Justifiable use of deadly force.--The use of deadly force is justifiable when a person is resisting any attempt to murder such person or to commit any felony upon him or her or upon or in any dwelling house in which such person shall be.

So the question is, if manslaughter and homicide are both felonies... what can be done to protect oneself?
PERSONALLY... I'm writing letters to Government officials! Basically asking this question. Divers are viewed by boaters as an irritation t traffic, and by fishermen as spear carrying, indiscriminate fish killers who rob them of the GOOD ones. Niether of these is the case. Does it take a federal lawsuit to bring this to view? Maybe a letter or two is a good start.

 

[Scuba_Jenny]

Divers are viewed by boaters as an irritation t traffic, and by fishermen as spear carrying, indiscriminate fish killers who rob them of the GOOD ones. Niether of these is the case. Does it take a federal lawsuit to bring this to view? Maybe a letter or two is a good start.

So much for all the volunteer hours divers have cleaning up THEIR messes so we can dive in cleaner oceans..... The tons of lead weights and miles and miles of monofiliment line, anchors, chains, and everything else....

 

[DEEPSEAWOLF]

When I did my OW checkout in the river at Ginnie and suddenly the tons of glass and tin on the bottom cam into view, I cried in my mask! I usually only see those kinds of trash piles in the forest where the "HUNTERS" go. I could have filled a John boat with just the stuff in the basin. I couldn't imagine what the rest of the river looked like. I could get rich salvaging the aluminum!