Divers

[Geoffs]

Towards the end of last season I had a bit of a run in with the skipper of a dive boat. He was stationed about 1km off Ballard Down, with ‘A’ flag displayed, between Studland and Swanage.

I recognised the craft as a dive boat, slowed to about 15 knots and passed between him and the shore, giving him about 400 metres, and proceeded into Swanage Bay to anchor.

He followed me in and pulled alongside and gave me a load of verbal abuse. He claimed I’d passed over his divers, which he said he had marked with a couple of buoys. Now there are lots of buoys in the sea in that area, but I saw none with a blue & white ‘A’ pennant.

I’m quite prepared to believe I was wrong in some way, and my education regarding divers is lacking. Perhaps I should have passed on the seaward side, given more space, slowed down more? However I expect areas where divers are operating to be properly marked, and would not expect a boat to have his ‘A’ hoisted when under way.

Perhaps a diving expert would care to educate me in the correct way to behave towards divers, and what to expect from them. Don’t really care who’s right or wrong, but safety is the most important thing.

 

[paulineb]

The Death Boat

There's a dive boat working out of Brighton (I won't name it), it's nicknamed The Death Boat. They have 2/3 divers per year die when diving from their boat.

Pxx

 

[trev]

I would have thought 400 metres sufficient as divers using SCUBA shouldn't be that far from the mother vessel, especially in fairly deep water and with no trailing buoys/flags.
I think some folks just like to mouth off at power boaters as we make them feel inferior !!

Trev

 

[JohnR]

>>and would not expect a boat to have his ‘A’ hoisted when under way<<
Some dive boats have a metal A which they obviously keep "flying" all the time, I reckon that this is much better than no flag at all. And I won't have a word said against dive boats, having been rescued by one out of St. Peter Port many years ago (and it cost me a hefty donation for the new life boat there.)

 

[syd]

Wotcha Geof,
I am a dive instructor with the British Sub Aqua Club, it sounds to me that the skipper's divers were undertaking whats known as a "drift" dive. This is where the divers stay a couple of feet from the sea bed and get swept along with the current with the boat tracking them at close qaurters, thus making way with the 'A' flag on show.
However, the proper proceedure is for the divers to have a surface marker buoy. This is a large cylindrical, inflatable orange bouy which is attached to one of the divers to indicate their position.
However, it has been known that some so called "skippers" tell divers he will just follow their bubbles. I wonder?
The surface marker buoys are very visible and hard not to spot. I'm sure you would have noticed one if they were being used. Other than that I think 400metres clearance is sufficient.
Hope this helps for future reference.
Cheers
Sid

 

[Divemaster1]

Hi,

Just to echo the reply from Sid.
I am a dive instructor with PADI and have taken water above my head on several occations. It does sound like that "Skipper" of the dive boat did not follow the prescribed safety precautions and that you did take appropriate actions. Of course by the sound of it, he did recover the divers rather rapidly after you passing and it may just have been a reaction to a "near miss" due to the lack of appropriate precautions. I am not sure about your boats characteristics but I would have thought that you'd generate more wash at 15 knot than at full planning speed and that the dive skipper could have reacted to this as well as recovering divers in waves is a bit of a pain. Otherwise I would have thought 400 m as suficient clearance.

Regards,

Divemaster1

 

[hlb]

I've come across dive boats with a bit of a six inch flag. Cant see it when doing 20 odd knots, untill right on top of it. Then course there always on headlands and right in the middle of the passing boats. Not the safest place. Also not to sure that all the people out in little speed boats know what this little flag means. Sign needs to be about 3ft square with danger and things wrote on it, and not rellying on every one knowing what a little blue and white thingy means. Especialy as fishing boats use every colour under the sun

Haydn

 

[byron]

In the late 1970s a small tug sank off Calshot I ran Royal Navy Divers out to mark it as they didn't have a small boat available for immediate use, SPR put out several warnings on the VHF as did Calshot Coastguard Station, I was flying the 'A' flag yet several yachts in a race still came within 20-30 feet of us.

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<P ID="edit"><FONT SIZE=-1>Edited by byron on Tue Mar 12 14:16:17 2002 (server time).</FONT></P>

 

[longjohnsilver]

Re: The Death Boat

Pauline I'm intrigued as to how two thirds of a diver dies!

Second thoughts if you speak to my SWMBO she would say I'm two thirds dead, suppose that's what you mean.

 

[longjohnsilver]

More or less agree with most of what has already been said, can't see that you did anything wrong. When diving we tend to have several divers down at once, all with surface marker buoys. These should be very visible although of course not everyone will (or should) know what to look for. Generally speaking they are tall (about 3') sausage shape orange buoys, often with a written indication that there are divers below. Thedivers can easily end up 400 meters or more apart; it's then up to the boat to put itself between them and any boat who looks like coming too close, although this can sometimes be almost impossible if you are in the process of recovering (picking up) a diver who has surfaced.

The skipper you encountered sounds like a prat, unfortunately many dive boat skippers I have come across are pig ignorant, maybe they hope to appeal to the pig ignorant diving brigade who unfortunately seem to be attracted to the sport, maybe they think because they're a diver they're a cut above others. We've all seen them, and I speak as someone who's loved diving for over 20 years.

As a general rule just slow down and keep well clear when you spot an A flag, as already indicated the boat can be and often is moving to ensure the safety of the divers, and keep a good look out for the surface marker buoys. No one can ask for more than that.

 

[Geoffs]

Re: Divers - thanks

Many thanks to all for educating me, and maybe some others as well, on diving habits. I certainly didn’t expect divers to be so far from the accompanying boat, will have to keep a much sharper lookout for orange sausage thingys. Any course I’ve been on hasn’t said much about divers, they tell you the ‘A’ flag means ‘I have divers down, keep well clear at slow speed’, and that’s about it.

From what Pauline says, keep even further clear of dive boats off Brighton, don’t want to find 2/3 of a diver, not a pretty sight!