re: Urgent help required on an important safety matter

[Seafort]

re: Urgent help required on an important safety matter

The crew and I spotted a moving orange sausage just outside a marina on the Crouch. What's that we thought and followed it on the pontoon (I would have kept away on the boat suspecting a drifting pot buoy), if it had been close enough I'm sure one of us would have grabbed it as a hazard to navigation.

As a fairly new diver I know what it was now.
However in training to ocean theory I had not come accross this, so-

 

[bdsweeting]

Although it sounds a silly thing to do so close to a lot of boat movements.

Where was the support vessel?

 

[Seagreen]

Yes, should there at least be a bored looking bloke in a rib flying a wooden Alpha? Sounds a damn silly thing to do.

 

[clyst]

I believe these floaty things are encouraged to be used when "solo" diving by scuba clubs . Perhaps someone could comfirm ?? Sounds a dangerous practice to me though .

 

[wooslehunter]

No scuba club would ever encourage solo diving. This is a surface marker buoy used so surface cover can track the divers and are often marked with the word diver or an A flag. It also serves to mark the point where they will surface so boats can kep clear.

It's unlikely that a dive club would organise a dive just outside a marina. It's possible that this coud have been a commercial job: looking for something lost off a boat perhaps.

 

[jonathankent]

In light of the recent threads... I get the feeling this post hasn't got all that much substance to it, and is just an example?? /forums/images/graemlins/ooo.gif

 

[Seafort]

There was no support boat. We saw a lone diver surface and climb the pontoon opposite ours. We surmised the sausage was his but at the time found it hard to believe that anyone would be diving a boat length off a pontoon in a 12m channel.

Dave.

 

[Seafort]

[ QUOTE ]
In light of the recent threads... I get the feeling this post hasn't got all that much substance to it, and is just an example??

[/ QUOTE ]

Nope . When I started diving I was shocked at what divers believe we all know (I didn't).
As before, "I" had no idea what an SMB was.

Also how much room do you think the dive books say will be given to your rigid, 360 vis A flag?

As for the alternative flag, I had never seen it before.

I was trying to bring attention to SMB's which were not mentioned but for the first post in the original thread. /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif


Dave.

 

[jonathankent]

Then I stand corrected... it just had that light hearted feel to it /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif

I have to admit, I've never heard of these sausages... I might have seen one, but not realised what it is, and unless there was a marked dive boat nearby, I doubt that I would have thought of it being divers. Just goes to show.

 

[Wunja]

These are normally delayed surface marker buoys which the diver can deploy during/at the end of the dive.

Used properly the Buoy will 'stand up' to be seen clearly. This is done either by keeping the line tight or a small weight on bottom.

There were a few incidents years ago, when boaters 'recovered' SMBs causing the diver below to surface rapidly and risk decompresion illness.