PBO #561: Diver down flag

nigelmercier

nigelmercier

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PBO #561 June 2013 pages 34-35 describes a situation where a diver who has been separated from his dive boat is rescued. The article says: "It was now apparent that the small craft we had seen was a dive boat, although if it was displaying an Alpha flag it wasn't clearly visible from this distance".

When are the boating fraternity going to get it into their heads that dive boats rarely (if ever) display an Alpha flag; it is not distinct enough. The flag used by all dive boats is:

SCUBA_dive_flag.JPG
 
nigelmercier said:
PBO #561
When are the boating fraternity going to get it into their heads that dive boats rarely (if ever) display an Alpha flag; it is not distinct enough. The flag used by all dive boats is:
Click to expand...
Probably about the same time mosst dive boats operating around Oban stop using a blue and white painted board, exclusively in my experience.
 
Whilst that American flag might be more visible, dive boats in the UK are legally required to fly the 'A' flag and everyone I've seen certainly does.

If they fly the American flag as well, then so be it. But it's not the international signal to 'keep clear and at slow speed'.
 
When are the boating fraternity going to get it into their heads that dive boats rarely (if ever) display an Alpha flag; it is not distinct enough. The flag used by all dive boats is:
Click to expand...

We all know that alpha is the flag meaning diver down. If its not displayed prominently ..........?????
 
nigelmercier said:
Just shows how out of touch they are.
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For the benefit of those of us who haven't read the article..is there some irony involved in your initial post that we're missing or is this the appropriate place to say "out of touch with who?" (except Americans who are unaware of their own federal regulations)
 
nigelmercier said:
dive boats rarely (if ever) display an Alpha flag; it is not distinct enough. The flag used by all dive boats is:
Click to expand...

Is that a statement about the UK (many diveboats onshore in Kent?) or the Canaries?

I've no idea what they do in Tenerife, could well be the unofficial-but-common American dive flag, but all the dive boats I've seen in the UK have used flag A. And yes, I would have recognised the American flag if I'd seen it, I started diving when I was 12.

Pete
 
If I see either flag I know it means Diver Down - I would have thought most sailors did too.
Not many small boats display flags unless they are diving or racing. In either case I keep well clear

Diving since 1979
Cruising since 1999
 
I dive and used to teach diving and every boat we have ever used at sea, and any we used on lakes including my dive kayak, flew the UK A flag not the yank one. A lot have it on a solid background and I've also seen it as a 1m2 triangular shaper made up of three 1m2 boars each with the flag showing so its visible from reach side easily. Most skippers I've used use it properly and hoist it when on site and drop it when motoring back but some use it like the fishermans double triangles and have it hoisted all the time

What you are much more likely to see is a surface marker buoy;
spro12_sealed_smb_01.jpg
which usually means diver about 5 or 6 metres below this marker and gets used as a turn marker by jet ski's and similar
 
PBO #561 June 2013 pages 34-35 describes a situation where a diver who has been separated from his dive boat is rescued. The article says: "It was now apparent that the small craft we had seen was a dive boat, although if it was displaying an Alpha flag it wasn't clearly visible from this distance".
Click to expand...

I think distance is the important word, i would also suspect that size rather than colour is the important factor in terms of visibility. When i have dived in the UK its always been under an A flag, often painted on a board as a flag is only visible if theres enough wind to fly it.
 
nigelmercier said:
PBO #561 June 2013 pages 34-35 describes a situation where a diver who has been separated from his dive boat is rescued. The article says: "It was now apparent that the small craft we had seen was a dive boat, although if it was displaying an Alpha flag it wasn't clearly visible from this distance".

When are the boating fraternity going to get it into their heads that dive boats rarely (if ever) display an Alpha flag; it is not distinct enough. The flag used by all dive boats is:

SCUBA_dive_flag.JPG
Click to expand...

I've dived for 30+ years and always use the A flag, never seen that red one before. And as for that web page providing proof, well, you can prove anything on the net!
 
longjohnsilver said:
And as for that web page providing proof, well, you can prove anything on the net!
Click to expand...

Particularly when you do a world-wide search in English, which in practice largely means an American search. Strangely enough it comes up with the American flag! Not to mention that the search terms use American-leaning phrasing - it's not clear cut, but "dive flag" as opposed to "diving flag" or "diver's flag" sounds American to me, and they tend to use the word "scuba" more than we do. Plus when I used to dive, it was generally called an "A-flag" anyway, not a dive, diving, or diver's flag, whereas the American one as far as I know has no other name than "dive flag" or similar. So it's hardly surprising that a search for "dive flag" finds one more than the other.

Fortunately, there's plenty of first-hand experience here to contradict the dubious search.

Pete
 
I would have had no idea whatsoever what that red flag meant. I might have concluded that the fact it was red spelt 'DANGER' ... but then I might equally have approached the vessel to see if they needed assistance ..... presumably the last thing they wanted.
 
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