Questions on towing a dive flag.

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Brilig

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Location
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So I'm getting back into diving after many years away from the sport. I've been practicing my skills in a calm familiar pond and I feel ready to head back into the ocean. I never even considered bothering with a flag back in the 80's but now I'm told the authorities in my area are likely to fine a diver without a flag. So I stopped in to my LDS,the same place I got certified,and picked up a dive flag. It's the type that looks like a lobster trap buoy with 100' of nylon line wrapped around a flat plastic line holder. The line holder has a loop of webbing to go on a harness strap with a plastic snap buckle to take it off and on. This thing looks like a real drag (you see what I did there).
My question is whether there is a standard way to manage one of these things or is it as simple as it looks. Just pay out some line and drag it around.
 
carry it in your hand. Don't clip it to yourself. keep it taught so you or your group don't get tangled.
 
If a passing boat/ship snagged the line you would want to be able to let go. You only need one per dive group. Assume you will have a buddy. Share the duties. And appreciate how whoever has the flag is slowed down.
 
The line and holder is just fine, I used this system for several hundred drift dives. For quite a while, I have used a reel rather that the manual system. I use a Manta reel, find it very easy with only a small number of reel tangels
 
If the line really is nylon, lose it and replace with polypropylene. PP floats. You will come to want that.

If you are diving in an area that doesn't have much change in depth, then you can give your flag some scope and lock it off on the handle.

No matter how you cut it, a dive flag is a *^%#$%^&* useless PIA to a competent diver.
 
Which is why 90% of my dives in the back bays are planned as 'hard overhead' dives. I submerge and ascend at known safe points.

Years ago, at South Padre Island, I saw what a Sunday boater could do to an aluminum tank on the back of a novice diver. A chainsaw pales by comparison.
 
I get the rules and the reasons, but practically aren't they a bit too simplistic and actually create in part a danger?

If shallow enough to get hit by a boat... better have drag that flag (but, beets me so why a tall dsmb wouldn't do)...
...
...and if deep enough to make it impossible for any boat to hit you ... the rules say keep dragging that flag nevertheless, even when shore diving or otherwise w/o a boat in pursuit. That I don't get, after all a submari e won't see that flag and at that point it just creates an uncalled for additional hazard... but the rules are the rules... and I might side with @lowviz 's interpretation there... where applicable....
 
Yes, they suck, but this is why you want one:


yes, I filmed this....


Talk about a lucky break!

If you are going to drop a flag in an area and tool around a bit, how much weight do you need to have it stick to the bottom?
 

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