local charters supplying gear?

[phishphood]

Just curious if any of the local charters in Mass provide a float/flag/line on dives, esp on scallop or lobster based dives? Saw a video of scallop diving with Cape Ann Charters I think or something like that and they all had very similar looking floats/flags/lines/bags, not sure if charter supplied (at extra cost?) or if that's just the style that everyone uses/makes themselves. I'll be getting my own float/flag as I plan to do a good amount of shore diving, but was just curious if I could get going on some boat dives w/o picking those things up yet (moved here from CA, no flag requirements over there).

 

[gbirch]

Welcome to New England Phisphood,
You don't need a float when diving from a boat. The boat flies the flag and you are required to make sure that you surface within 100 feet of the boat (i.e. you should not be further than 100ft away from a dive flag while on or near the surface). When scallop diving, you have little hope of keeping track of, and returning to the boat so in that case you drag a float, fill the bag with scallops, tie off the bag to the bottom of the line and then ascend up the line and wait by the float for the boat to pick up both you and your catch. Dive boats have different practices concerning providing floats. For example, Boston SCUBA provides float, line and flag but Cape Ann Divers do not. You should check when making a reservation.
When shore diving, you must use a float & flag: https://malegislature.gov/Laws/GeneralLaws/PartI/TitleXIV/Chapter90b/Section13a

Happy diving!
Graham

 

[mmerriman]

and no you need to supply your own. The catch bag, flag & float you can get at any dive shop - the line for scalloping you can get at any hardware store - get 100' of something 3/8 thick. Nothing worse than trying to haul up a full bag using thin rope, regardless of its breaking strength.

 

[macado]

Boston Scuba (http://bostonscuba.com) supplies a dive flag with plenty of line/metal handle for our scallop dives. We like to use our own dive flags because we installed lobster buoys on them making them harder to pull under and we installed thicker line to make it easier to use on the pot hauler.

We do all our scallop dives as drift dives; Once you are finished filling your scallop bag, tie line off to the dive flag and use the dive flag as an ascent line. The boat will come and pick you up. We use a mechanical lobster pot hauler that we use to haul heavy scallop bags. No need to mess with lift bags if you don't want to.

I've posted a few YouTube videos of the process if you're interested in seeing it.

Scallop Diving with Boston Scuba (April 15th, 2012) - YouTube
Scallop Diving with Boston Scuba (October 8th, 2012) - YouTube
Scallop Diving with Boston Scuba (February 20th, 2012) - YouTube

 

[a1a9]

Great videos macado! I have a question; how do you mount the gopro so you are "hands free"?

-Peter

 

[decapoddiver]

Great videos macado! I have a question; how do you mount the gopro so you are "hands free"?

-Peter

Not sure how he does it but I use the head strap mount and put it under my hood. I also tried making a mask mount but didn't like how the drag from the GoPro moved my mask around.

Scallop dive North Shore Cape Ann, MA New England 7-14-13 HD - YouTube

 

[Tug]

Great videos macado! I have a question; how do you mount the gopro so you are "hands free"?

-Peter

I'll ask him to pop into this thread and answer, but what he does is use a head mount with a bungee retainer to keep it from falling off.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[phishphood]

I use the gopro head strap mount and put it on under my hood and consequentially under my mask strap about half the time

Sent from my XT1060 using Tapatalk

 

[macado]

Great videos macado! I have a question; how do you mount the gopro so you are "hands free"?

-Peter

I use the headmount like a lot of people but I modified mine slightly with a piece of bungee to use under my chin as a neckstrap. I dont put mind under my hood as I sometimes like to take it off during the dive to get closer shots. I highly recommend NOT using the stock one (without adding a chin strap) unless you put it under your hood.

We've found so many GoPros because people lose them off their heads when they jump in the water.

 

[matticus]

FWIW: I have a LM helmet which I've mounted my gopros to. I also can attach lights on the side.