JetSki's circling my flag - incurred VERY LARGE DECO OBl.

[Reku]

EDIT: This may belong in the sub forum instead of the main forum - sorry I thought I was in the right place.

So....normal day. I dive down to 50' with the intent to stay for 70mins. On my way up a few jetski start circling my flag and generally just driving around all crazy. I got scared I was going to be run over so I went back down and waited AN HOUR for them to go away. At this point I now had a 17min deco stop at 20ft and a 40min stop at 10 feet. I used ~213cf of gas and had ~231cf of gas on me, So I was safe enough in terms of gas, but it was honestly really scary. Why can't people just stay away from the dive flags?

My total time underwater was 187 mins or about 3 hours and 10mins.

My RMV is .49 and thankfully I was diving double LP85's overfilled to 3600 - or else I would probably be dead. ( test run on the tanks to see if I want to buy some. I do )

I'm starting to hate my dive flag, it draws unwanted attention. I may just start leaving it at home - I'd rather pay the fines then die.

 

[divad]

Why did you "[go] back down"?

 

[CptTightPants21]

Why didn't you stay at 20ft, shoot an SMB, swim away, and/or slowly ascend?

 

[Chugwhump]

I do not think there is a jet ski or wave runner that draws more than one foot.
Were you diving from shore or a boat?

Chug
has doved from a wave runner.

 

[lowviz]

...//... My total time underwater was 187 mins or about 3 hours and 10mins. ...//... I'm starting to hate my dive flag, it draws unwanted attention. I may just start leaving it at home - I'd rather pay the fines then die.

Buy a GoPro and Velcro it to the flag mast, on top of the buoy.

 

[Pedro Burrito]

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A ScubaBoard Staff Message...

Moved from Accidents to Near Misses

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[clownfishsydney]

Have seen jetskiis doing this as well. I fully understand not ascending. But as others have pointed out, you could have stayed at 10 feet quite safely waiting for them to leave.

 

[divad]

Buy a GoPro and Velcro it to the flag mast, on top of the buoy.

Some Jet Ski Dick Head would just steal it.

 

[DA Aquamaster]

I've had this happen numerous times in inland freshwater diving where a flag was required. On one occasion the PWC driver actually pulled my flag up, having no idea what it was. I scared he hell out of him when I came up with it, then squared him away on what it was and the laws he was breaking.

When this happens, and it is a "when" not an "if" given the lack of any PWC or small boat licensing requirement, you actually have several options:

1) as noted above, PWCs draw very little water and pose no real threat if you're more than a feet deep.

2) depending on the style of flag you can just pull it under. PWCs using a flag as a pylon were an occasional problem where having a flag with a small foam float was a good solution. Jet ski start buzzing around, just pull the few feet under water and they go away. If you've got one using an inner tube for a float, that's probably not an option.

3) you can always leave the flag where it's at - either anchored with a weight or rock or just let it drift - and swim away from it to surface away from the jet ski, then swim back to the flag on the surface. While sound is impossible to locate under water, it does change volume as the range changes, and unless the viz is incredibly poor, you can see the presence or absence of a wake on the surface. If you see no wake and the volume is constant or fading, it's safe to surface.

4) if you are shore diving you can just tow the flag into shore. Once again as long as you are a few feet deep, the PWC isn't a threat. If the PWC is still there, switch to option 3 and retrieve the flag after you've surfaced.

5) If you are boat diving, just tow the flag back to your anchor line and come up under your boat.

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I can't possibly imagine a situation where I would remain at depth and incur an unplanned deco obligation due to a clueless PWC driver being on my flag.


I certainly can't imagine anyone choosing to run out of gas and drown at depth rather than risk surfacing under a circling PWC. Drowning at depth is a 100%v guarantee, while the chances of actually getting hit are small, and if hit the chances of actually dying are a lot less than 100%. So you're either incredibly bad at weighing relative risks, or you're being massively over dramatic.

Either way, this will sound harsh, but you need to consider staying above 35 ft and avoiding deeper dives until you've developed more confidence in the water, or have at least thought through various possible problems and developed some better contingency plans on the surface. Your ability to problem solve at depth needs some serious help, and I suspect had you been shallower, you'd have figured out a much better option.

A little precognition on possible problems and solutions on your non diving days will help you by allowing you to just recall a plan of action rather than trying to develop one from scratch, and even if you haven't planned for that particular problem you'll probably have a solution for a similar problem that you can readily adapt, without having to create something entirely new while dealing with narcosis, task loading, etc.

In your case a buddy might also be a great idea, as it would be two heads working the problem rather than one, and you obviously need the assistance.

 

[Jax]

What about spear guns?