Tagline for Strong Current?

[Waterwulf]

Our drag line has saved someone from a hard swim on more than one occasion. Once, we surfaced and discovered that we were quite a ways from the boat and were drifting past it fast. We missed it by quite a bit even though we were paddling as fast as we could. On that day, there was somebody in the boat.

My girlfriend and I blew our whistles and waved the whole time that we were swimming like crazy. My partner and his girlfriend both spotted us early on from the boat and waved back. They were shouting something but it was to far away to understand. We expected them to drop the anchor line with the attached buoy and come get us but they didn't. They just kept shouting and waving. We kept swimming as hard as we could, getting more and more angry.

We finally managed to barely snag the end of the drag line and were able to float on our backs and rest for a few minutes. Then we felt a yank on the line as our "friends" in the boat started pulling us in. My girlfriend and I made our plans to dump their bodies in the swamps and their gear out over the deep mud flats. We had out stories straight as we got close enough to yell at them.

We trained for this! Dump the buoyed anchor line and go get the divers! But no! They left us to swim fast or drift away! Little did they know that they were dragging in a couple of very PO'd divers. They laughed at us! We screamed louder. Then it dawned on us what they were saying.

"You took the boat keys with you". I felt my pocket and sure enough, they were there. Back then, I wore cutoff jeans and a shorty wet suit top for padding and I stuck them in my pocket when we anchored. They had no way to come get us because they couldn't start the boat. (I always took them with me when we left an empty boat) After that, I hid a spare key in the boat and told my partners where it was. That's why I said "don't forget to leave your keys in the boat".

 

[johndiver999]

A 200 ft floating line with a dive flag/float on it is cheap and easy. Yellow Polypropylene line from home depot or harbor freight is cheap and will last a FEW years in the sun. The float will be down wind, which may not be exactly down current, but hopefully will be close. You want as long of a target as you can get, if you are diving an unattended boat.

If a boat rus over it and gets it caught in the props, you could probably hear the commotion and come up and get to laugh at their stupidity.

 

[Eastwest]

The strongest swimmer can don his gear to the other divers when reaching the boat pull anchor and pick up the other divers this is a proven fact besides the tag line being far , far away .

 

[Gone for diving]

The strongest swimmer can don his gear to the other divers when reaching the boat pull anchor and pick up the other divers this is a proven fact besides the tag line being far , far away .

If I under you post correctly.
I have a current I would like you to swim against. If you make it 5 ft forward any length of time to do it. I will gladly be corrected.

 

[Eastwest]

I have a two foot sand bore that when I can't swim to my boat , just screw it to the bottom and wait till the tide changes from my new anchor line .

 

[NW Dive Dawg]

First, if there's enough current to pull the boat, I will always swim into the current. I'll return a few yards to one side or the other on my way back.

There is so much less current on the bottom. Consequently, I will do a commando peek halfway through the dive (on my turn), then when I think I'm getting close just to see where the boat is to be sure I don't surface far away when I do. I would rather do my swim at depth, than on the surface.

A hundred-yard tag line with a nice sized buoy only makes sense.

I totally agree with a tag line.......and always have one off of my boat.

But a hundred yard (300ft) tag line might be a bit much and can cause issues if another boat traverses that area. My tag line is closer to 100ft (3-4 boat lengths.......... and the buoy at the end of the tag line has a dive flag.....in addition to the BIG ASS dive flag flying from my boat.

 

[Waterwulf]

Boats are required to stay away from divers flags by at least 300 feet on open water. Some people are unable to determine what a hundred yards on open water looks like. Putting a hundred yard line out as a drag line, with regular buoys on it plus a dive flag on the end buoy might help with that. Between that one and the one on the boat, they should be able to see. If they cut inside the 100 yard limit and get snagged, then that's on them.

 

[Nemrod]

Hello SB,

I have a question for those of you who dive off of your own boat......I have a small Whaler (15') which I dive off of frequently, and I was out this past Friday 10/20 with two friends, we were hunting on a shallow reef at dawn. First dive went off without a hitch --- excellent conditions w/ low current which made navigation a breeze. We ran a square pattern from the boat & surfaced right at the mooring buoy. The second dive started out with similar conditions, but about 20 mins into it, the current started ripping. I made a conscious effort to adjust our course but when we surfaced at the 60 min mark - we were about 1/3 mile from the boat. Once I took a moment and evaluated the situation, I decided the best course of action was simply to swim it. Which is what we did. All was fine.....after about 15-20 mins we were close enough to grab my docklines; this is what brings me to the question at hand:

I have always run ~20 ft docklines....two off the stern & one off the bow. When I tie up to a mooring for a dive, or set my anchor, I always toss the stern lines into the water. Just for something to grab onto when returning to the boat. On Friday, as I was nearing the boat on my surface swim, I could see the docklines off in the distance and they looked *SO* close, but working against the current (with all of my gear....incl. speargun, lobstering equip.) and after spending 2+ hours underwater, it took me a long time to reach them.

From the moment I could see the lines, all I could think to myself was "why the f--- don't I have a 100' tagline on a carabiner, that I strictly deploy for this scenario?" and that thought has brought me here to this post. Do any of you run a similar setup? As a captain myself, first potential hiccup is an entaglement hazard for other boaters - especially on a popular dive site with multiple moorings. Could potentially mitigate this hazard by attaching a floating dive flag to end of tagline? You'd still have the submerged line in between boat & flag, which no other vessels should be crossing over, but we all know how that goes.

Ideas? Thoughts? Suggestions?

I run a tag line in areas of potential current though I would generally avoid such a place under the description you provide. My tag line is a yellow poly line, ski rope, with ski line plastic buoys tied off every 20 feet and then a dive float with flag on the end. The ski floats keep the line near the surface and visible. And yes, people still run over the tag line, I think on purpose.

Robot or human?

Sliding pool noodles over the line also increases visibility.