A-Flags

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Next time they get to be in your way, stop, give them some scotch brite and tell 'em to get a scrubbin'.

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Dry berthed, so hull is spotless for top speed, unless hapless divers away from dive boat are in the water. /forums/images/graemlins/laugh.gif

The Portland divers, when not drift diving along in the tides there, could pop up now and then and scrub a few bottoms, it would go a long way to fostering understanding between the two camps.

They'd need a big floating Gatso camera to get the whizzy boats to slow down first tho!
 
seem to remember a couple of our german cousins getting into trouble recently while diving 1 mile or so from shore and getting into trouble no flags etc

but will say knowledge of colregs or not it is prudent to stay away from boat magnets ie flags bouys etc
 
I suspect the diving forum community is quite fragmented, so we'd have to talk to many of them to make any impact, and less than 10% in any forum are likely to read any one message, so quite a task ahead?

Good start tho! Even hitting a couple of % of diving community can only help

We had some PWC members on here aa while back, and some US guys, and cross fertilisation of ideas was helpful to those that read the posts.

Not everyone will read every post, so don't expect miracles. just a good start.

Hands up everyone that's read this thread so far?

or, in other words, very few will read this thread?
 
Another country I know but peeps have talked about handling the flag situation in small boats and how far away they should be visible from so following may be of interest (although it seems some forumites get upset about anything others do /forums/images/graemlins/crazy.gif). This is how it goes here in NZ.

First the ColRegs are amended as follows -

a rigid replica of the International Code flag "A" of —
(i) not less than one metre in height; or
(ii) in the case of a New Zealand ship of less than six metres in
length operating in New Zealand waters, not less than 0.6
metres in height, with measures taken to ensure its all-round visibility.

Then in the Navigation Safety Rules is -

Every person diving from a vessel must ensure that flag A is displayed in such
a manner that it can be clearly identified by the watchkeeper of another vessel
at a distance in excess of 200 metres.

They also then go on to say that the master of the vessel is also responsible for the same so both the divers themselves and the master are responsible for the visibility of the flag.

It is important to note that the only small vessels entitled to fly a smaller flag than 1m height is one that is registered or entitled to be registered in NZ (generally means more than half owned by a NZ citizen) so a foreign visiting yacht with diving from its tender is strictly speaking not entitled to the smaller flag - but I am sure it would not be policed if they did.

John
 
My perspective is that anything that works is fine

I suspect that in reality, your regs are as worthless as ours, as no one adheres to them, and in meantime, very few other than divers understand personal bouys or what they really mean

and that many go past Portland one or twice a year, rather than treating it as a day out, which explains a great deal
 
Alot of diving here is done hard close inshore over rocks as many good places have deep water right to shore well away from shore access and the boat is used for that access. Those ones often show no easily seen flag at all but they are well out of the way of other traffic and really no different to as if they were diving from shore - in any event, any such anchored boat I treat as diving or fishing and keep clear.

But once they get away from against the rocks I believe would be right to say that flags are usually shown although it would be common for boats larger than 6m to just show the 600mm one. Actually, I don't recall ever coming across the situation where I have unexpectedly come across divers within the 200m visibility requirement of the other rule though (possibly partly because, as I said, I regard any boat anchored outside of a day or overnight anchorage as either fishing or diving and keep clear in any event).

I could not comment on Hauraki Gulf area though as bin decades since I have boated there.

I also get the impression from the forums that boating, diving and fishing here is more of a pragmatic lifelong passtime than may be common in UK (for example, no one here would get all enthusiastic about catching a mackeral as many forumites seem to - well Ships Cat might but would probably prefer something of much higher food quality and abundance /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif).

John
 
living where you do, this may all become a pragmatic exercise. NZ is a bit different to the most congested parts of UK?

Not so here, where you can can go past 30 dive vessels in half a mile, none showing any signs, and many divers down, but that is their problem I hope, and they will solve the A flag thing, if we help them understand the issues.
 
I just steer clear of all boats under anchor with a flag or not. Even last week when some big stink boat decided to drop anchor 500mtrs right on my bow while I was tracking 4knots really didn’t take much to hit the pilot button and clear him by 500mtrs on the port.
 
NZ is a bit different to the most congested parts of UK?

Not sure what the relationship is between greater congestion and reduced frequency at which divers are inclined to show A flags.

Would have thought if anything, with yer unique level of congestion, the opposite would apply as is more chance of getting run down? /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

John
 
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On a 5.5m rib it is not practical to comply with the regs as stated above. However because an A flag is not rigid and only 0.5m doesn't meen it can be ignored.

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It is still practical on a 5.5m rib to have a rigid A flago f this dimension, we used to have one on a gemini dinghy which is much smaller.
 
Those smaller flags sound plenty big enough for smaller boats. What do they actually do to "to ensure its all-round visibility"?

I don't think I've ever seen a dive boat which does more that either fly a real flag, or have a single rigid replica aligned fore and aft.
 
It's not just dive boats that suffer. Why don't people give a wide berth when it's possible?
It always amazes me that I can be fishing in Poole Bay and so many seem to use me as a waypoint and come within a few feet, when they've got the whole of the Bay/English Channel to play in.
 
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I agree, but the flag has to be proportional to the boat and yes they're not always easy to spot because of wind direction. The boat I was on today had two and it took much waving, shouting and horn blasting to warn off the only boat for several miles. Maybe he was below making a cup of tea.

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As an A-flag on a dive boat has to be 3 foot by 5 foot and made of Rigid plastic, I don't think that's an excuse - unless you were using an illegally small flag and then complaining about someone else breaching Colregs.
 
Come on - a 3' by 5' flag on a small rib is still not that noticeable from a distance ...
A stationary small powerboat could quite easily be fishing, having a break, broken down or be a dive boat, so if the boat is wanting us to keep further away than normal it needs to be quickly and easily distinguishable from a distance. The helium balloon idea would be ideal if it wasn't impractical ... but how about a 20' mast with a sign on top? Or just string up a spare diver upside down. /forums/images/graemlins/laugh.gif

I did ask earlier, but no response - how far should we be aiming to keep clear by?
 
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