mrAnthony
Registered
My buddies and I have never carried one in 20 years. Only time we've ever been bothered was a newbie PD recruit anchored when he saw us go in and sat and waited 40 minutes until we came out to write us each a $50 ticket.
Still don't drag one. There's far more hazard in me getting tangled up while spearfishing than there is of a boat running over me at 40 feet. If I "have to" surface in a ship channel, or whatever, I'll release my SMB first so any boater knows there's "something down there" and steer clear. I've done that before when I was "lost" and decided to surface and get a bearing. When I popped up, the guy in the boat was about 50 yards away and saw my SMB sticking up and steered clear.
The "safest" one I've seen is a guy rigged one like a surfboard leash that was attached to his BC with velcro, but the line was attached to the velcro, not to his BC, in a fashion so if it did get entangled in a prop, the velcro would rip loose instead of dragging him.
My experience with dive flags is it makes jerk jet skiers want to come use it as a slalom, creating a dangerous situation for me, and we've had them cut loose and stolen while we were on the dive.
Around here the water cops don't seem to be aware of, or care about, the "50 foot" rule. If there was actually some enforcement and boater education as to what "that funny looking flag" means, I might be more inclined to use one. What am I gonna do when some fisherman motors up and cuts the line and drives off with my dive buoy? Take out my cell phone and call the cops? My cell phone doesn't work underwater.
While I understand the theory behind the "safety factor" I just don't think it works. My experience is it attracts more boaters than it repels. If I recall, the dive flag and 50-foot rule is mentioned once in the boaters course, one sentence about 8 words long. My encounters have been more "We had no idea what a dive flag was and wanted to come see what it was attached to" or "You don't own the **** ocean, dude" situations.
The State of NC requires a diver to use one when diving in "state waters open to boating", but nobody seems to enforce it around here.
Still don't drag one. There's far more hazard in me getting tangled up while spearfishing than there is of a boat running over me at 40 feet. If I "have to" surface in a ship channel, or whatever, I'll release my SMB first so any boater knows there's "something down there" and steer clear. I've done that before when I was "lost" and decided to surface and get a bearing. When I popped up, the guy in the boat was about 50 yards away and saw my SMB sticking up and steered clear.
The "safest" one I've seen is a guy rigged one like a surfboard leash that was attached to his BC with velcro, but the line was attached to the velcro, not to his BC, in a fashion so if it did get entangled in a prop, the velcro would rip loose instead of dragging him.
My experience with dive flags is it makes jerk jet skiers want to come use it as a slalom, creating a dangerous situation for me, and we've had them cut loose and stolen while we were on the dive.
Around here the water cops don't seem to be aware of, or care about, the "50 foot" rule. If there was actually some enforcement and boater education as to what "that funny looking flag" means, I might be more inclined to use one. What am I gonna do when some fisherman motors up and cuts the line and drives off with my dive buoy? Take out my cell phone and call the cops? My cell phone doesn't work underwater.
While I understand the theory behind the "safety factor" I just don't think it works. My experience is it attracts more boaters than it repels. If I recall, the dive flag and 50-foot rule is mentioned once in the boaters course, one sentence about 8 words long. My encounters have been more "We had no idea what a dive flag was and wanted to come see what it was attached to" or "You don't own the **** ocean, dude" situations.
The State of NC requires a diver to use one when diving in "state waters open to boating", but nobody seems to enforce it around here.
