what's the go??

Hi all,
was out at the cape yesterday and there were a couple of boats spearing, saw one guy with a nice kingie
there were a few boats around, 2 spearo's, 2 or 3 trolling and a couple anchored up fishing
first thing we noticed was no divers flag, when i used to do a bit of scuba we were required to have our flag
they seemed to have a jesus line out the back with red float (not the red/white international dive sign) and a couple of the spearo's seem to have floats attached to them, not sure.
one stage a spearo popped up a hundred or so meters away, in small chop with a black hood on, no float, very hard to see. we were on the troll so no big drama, his boat was probably another hundred meters or so away from him,
it just got us wondering about the flags.

cheers
dazza

yeah mate each boat should have a flag....

in NSW each diver is required to have a flag on his float line.. its not a bad idea IMO...

I use a red float with a nice fluro line.. the boat always has a large flag up.. it is pretty dangerous out there...

While it is a good idea to have a flag it isn't required for snorkling or spearing in Qld or WA and I assume it's the same for the rest of Aus. In fact the International Flag signifies divers which are defined as compression divers. I posted a couple of stories on another thread ... http://www.ausfish.com.au/vforum/sho...=148784&page=2

Quote:

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Originally Posted by boney-leg

While it is a good idea to have a flag it isn't required for snorkling or spearing in Qld or WA and I assume it's the same for the rest of Aus. In fact the International Flag signifies divers which are defined as compression divers. I posted a couple of stories on another thread ... http://www.ausfish.com.au/vforum/sho...=148784&page=2

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i find it very dangerous that you woudnt have a flag whilst spearing ect especially when boats are trolling in the area like i was at smiths rock off the cape one day and had a diver pop up in my lure spread about a metre off my prop and the boat he was off was not occupied and a long way away! im just glad we didnt have a more serious situation arise and that we both got off lightly. very lucky and a lesson learnt from both parties. cheers jim

Agree that a flag of some sort should be with the guy in the water. Once one is chewed up in a prop the initial "who is in the wrong" wont be as bad as "look at the carnage i have accidentaly done with my boat" feeling will be.
Could all be avoided with a flag at the fish float i reckon.
If we were running lures Dazza instead of livies we would have seriously put those lads lives at risk.

Cheers
Scott

Any responsible spearo (or any spearo with half a brain) will tow a float and flag regardless of the regs.

But there will always be idiots who do the wrong thing.

Yep agree that a flag is a good idea but it's not a guaranty for safety. Boaties need to be diligent when cruising around - if you're approaching an empty boat then this is a sign. Spearos can't assume because they have flags and colourful floats that people have seen them. If boats are coming close a spearo will generally get their fins in the air or wave their gun around. The guys that get heavily into the toys of the sport have camo gear which makes them near impossible to spot and their float lines can be quite long too. I'd like to see a statistic about how many divers have been hit by boats. It's not common so lets hope that is because everyone is doing the right thing ;)