Dive flags

[MrWong]

Evening Guys,
Just a little reminder of the Qld Boating Regs
Divers Flags:
Divers can surface at any time,sometimes a significant distance from where they enter the water. In the interest of diver safety, any boat is now excluded from operating within 30m of diver (or boat) if a dive flag is displayed. ::) ::)
Why an I being the fun police today ???

Well lets just say - A very avid fisho here whom also dives. High tide today was at Curtain Artificial - A beautifull day calm as minimal current and no boats in site - just as we entered the water a dive boat arrived - no probs.
After being down 10 mins and at 18m on the bottom - 10 metres away from my own anchor I recieved a present!
My present was a very large brand new SARCA anchor - I heard the chain falling looked up and dodged quick - - - missed by about a metre travelling fast from 18 meters up.

I was lucky - came to the surface to find a Red Fisher 600 centre cab about 20m from our boat anchored up and between our boat and our anchor. Guys all I am saying is...... lets all live happily together dont give fishos a bad name and dont kill anyone (most importantly).

Guys look out for dive flags - people are down there!
Yes we had a dive flag flying from our antenna and was clearly visible. :-/

Cheers
PS - Some big fishies down there under curtain


Tight Lines
Norm

[Gbanger]

you should have surfaced to let them know what they almost did..

[Bowser]

Then again, I ran into some pain in the A divers at Amity one day. They had set their flag on a float between the jetty and the boat ramp. I very slowly manoeuvred into the beach near the boat ramp and got a gobful because they had the flag up. I don't know what the exact law is regarding distance from jetties ramps etc but how are you supposed to get to the shore if they dive in the vacinity of a ramp?

[MrWong]

So true Bowser, Amity Jetty can be littered with divers and they are normally only in training - ie little experience and lots of mistakes.
Everyone in and around jettys must be polite and try and do the righty then at least we all get a fair share hopefully.
My reason for posting is more to hope a few fellow fishos get to see the other side and have a think when they drop ye old anchor - If theres plenty of ocean may be wise to be a little further away from a dive flag.
Me next time im under curtain I think a stack hat is in order !

Maybe I should have souveniered that beudy of a anchor old mate would have just thought his d shackle on the chain had came adrift!
Alas thats not me and hopefully people will read a little story here and learn by his mistake!
cheers
;)

[David_P]

Norm,

My apologies, yes it was me. I would have thought however that I was at least 30 metres from your boat once my anchor set, and hopefully more than that. I have no desire to upset my fellow boaties / divers / fishers.

So far as knowing the location of a submerged diver, other than spotting the bubble trail, well it is a little difficult. I noticed that one of the dive boats divers used a bright fluro float to indicate their location. Only having dived a couple of times in my life, I don't know how restrictive or practical this is, but certainly made the diver's presence known.

Again Norm I apologise for my intrusion on your space.

Regards,
Dave.

[Hoges]

Years ago I was on a 48 footer in Port Phillip Bay. We had 5 divers out the back on hooker hoses when this 15 foot half cabin with two blokes on board came hurtling towards us at a great rate of knots.
Screaming over the compressor, frantically pointing at our divers flag and towards the five hoses trailing off the back of the boat seemed to have no effect on these blokes.
Until at the very last moment they cottoned on and swerved their boat away a full speed. Then as if in slow motion their little half cab slid over on its side and tossed the two tossers into the drink not 30 feet away.
Luckily we could see they were alright and this gave us time to bring in the divers. We then went over and pulled the dick heads out and then managed to get their boat upright and bailed out.
:-[ I reckoned they were so embarrased it was not even worth going crook at them and besides I don't think they spoke much English. Although once they were close (make that too close) they certainly comprehended F#@k off!


;D

[MrWong]

David
No worries mate - live and learn and all is good your honesty is refreshing and I guess mine was too - - nearly had ya anchor hehehe ::) Yep you were probably close to 30m away from our vessel after your anchor settled etc Maybe the law is a little short in distance - My reason is as follows 50m of anchor rope out - 4metres of chain - 18 metres depth. That puts our boat at least 25m from our anchor on the bottom when the rope pulled tight.
Divers go up and down the anchor rope to descend and rise. Therefore our dive started at the anchor and finished there. Its done that way so if the current picks you up or you get lost and cant find your anchor you can rise and should be close to your boat - not 200m down current. Any hoo when your anchor dropped it acctually landed approx 8 - 12m from our anchor, and our boats distance apart would have been due to our boat paying out a longer length of anchor rope. Honestly though it was a near thing :-? In regards to your idea of an orange float thing - sound idea; and feasable ; however at curtain there are lots of wrecks and the intention is to swim inside or at least very close to them there are many many things to get caught up on down there and I would suggest that a float and tag line be a little obtrusive.
Mate you have an awesome rig - looking at a fisher myself at the present!
Aprreciate your integrity and look fwd to a beer one day!

[gunna]

Thats a good bit of advice about divers following the rope to the anchor. I've never given much thought to where the anchor is when I have been near dive boats. You tend to focus more on where the actual boat is. Something for me to think about in future.