Diveflag UK
Registered
Hi,
Just feeling my way around.. so thought I had better stop here first.. (well, after finding the chat room that is!)
Who am I and what do I do?
Good question.. to which my usual answer is as little as possible as often as possible.. but it really isn't true!
My name is Elly, a PADI MSDT, EFRI, TDI Gas Blender, been an Instructor since 2001.
During my travels and dives in many different countries, I have witnessed many near misses.. and some that didn't miss
concerning casual water users and surfacing divers. It would appear that many water users do not understand the meaning of the flags we fly by law to warn them, and there are no laws stating they should. (Old news!) So now I am (along with my husband Richard) the inventors of Diveflag, a universally understandable flag warning of the presence of divers in the water, with a unique inbuilt collapsible stiffener to make it visable on the calmest of days.
Along with this we are promoting Diver safety in general with our DADS (Diver Awareness Diver Safety) Scheme. We have sent posters to all UK Harbour Master's with a picture of the Alpha Flag and meaning, along with an image of our flag. We are hoping if enough people see our logo next to an Alpha Flag or Red/White flag the message might start to trickle down.
I am sure they do not deliberately set out to injure a diver on their day out on the water. On one occasion when I was on the boat with divers in the water on a shallow wreck (7m max depth) I was approached by a middle aged couple in their boat who wanted to know why I was shouting and gesticulating madly, pointing at my flags as they approached my stationary vessel at some considerable speed. (I was flying both Alpha and red/white). They merely wanted to know what the flags meant!! As soon as they realized there were divers in the water they shut off their engine and were prepared to paddle out of the area!
If you want to know more please visit www.diveflag.co.uk ~ this was only meant to be an introduction.. not a rant
Anyway... Hello!!
Just feeling my way around.. so thought I had better stop here first.. (well, after finding the chat room that is!)
Who am I and what do I do?
Good question.. to which my usual answer is as little as possible as often as possible.. but it really isn't true!
My name is Elly, a PADI MSDT, EFRI, TDI Gas Blender, been an Instructor since 2001.
During my travels and dives in many different countries, I have witnessed many near misses.. and some that didn't miss
concerning casual water users and surfacing divers. It would appear that many water users do not understand the meaning of the flags we fly by law to warn them, and there are no laws stating they should. (Old news!) So now I am (along with my husband Richard) the inventors of Diveflag, a universally understandable flag warning of the presence of divers in the water, with a unique inbuilt collapsible stiffener to make it visable on the calmest of days.Along with this we are promoting Diver safety in general with our DADS (Diver Awareness Diver Safety) Scheme. We have sent posters to all UK Harbour Master's with a picture of the Alpha Flag and meaning, along with an image of our flag. We are hoping if enough people see our logo next to an Alpha Flag or Red/White flag the message might start to trickle down.
I am sure they do not deliberately set out to injure a diver on their day out on the water. On one occasion when I was on the boat with divers in the water on a shallow wreck (7m max depth) I was approached by a middle aged couple in their boat who wanted to know why I was shouting and gesticulating madly, pointing at my flags as they approached my stationary vessel at some considerable speed. (I was flying both Alpha and red/white). They merely wanted to know what the flags meant!! As soon as they realized there were divers in the water they shut off their engine and were prepared to paddle out of the area!
If you want to know more please visit www.diveflag.co.uk ~ this was only meant to be an introduction.. not a rant
Anyway... Hello!!
