i am going to dive a new spot tommorow that i have not tried before but i could end up having to swim quite far out from the shore. i was wondering what do people think is a safe sort of distance to go, or how far do other people swim from the shore in general.
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distance from shore,
- Thread starterjwells1989
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Thread Status: Hello
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without boat cover 100yds is far enough for me but i have been 300 maybe 400 yds in some places depends on wind and currents i suppose.
thanks scotty3030,
yeah i always dive the end of the pier on my own and that is about 500 meters long. do other people go this far out or do you go further or less. i dont have a boat or kayak, only my float.
yeah i always dive the end of the pier on my own and that is about 500 meters long. do other people go this far out or do you go further or less. i dont have a boat or kayak, only my float.
Are you planning to dive the reef at Bognor by any chance? I go quite long distances from the beach but rarely go far from shore - although the shore is often rocky and occasionally a vertical cliff with little or no access from the sea. The fact that you are asking suggests to me that some extra precautions might be in order.
hey mr x,
no i was not going to dive the bognor reef, i was going to try somehwere down near the brighton marina along rottingdean, i have dived a lot there before but i have only ever dived a high tide. i am going to try a low tide tommorow and i will need to swim a fair distance out to find any sort of depth. i know people dive there before, its just more reasuring knowing i am not going further than anyone has ever gone before if you know what i mean.
no i was not going to dive the bognor reef, i was going to try somehwere down near the brighton marina along rottingdean, i have dived a lot there before but i have only ever dived a high tide. i am going to try a low tide tommorow and i will need to swim a fair distance out to find any sort of depth. i know people dive there before, its just more reasuring knowing i am not going further than anyone has ever gone before if you know what i mean.
You need to stay within your abilities. There are spearfisherman that swim several kilometres off shore when they go spearfishing so as long as it is in your abilities go for it. Just make sure that if the worst was to happen you could deal with it that far out. Freak storm, high winds etc.
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Boat traffic and current are the things to watch.
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If your destination is near a marina, the first issue (boat traffic) could be...an issue! Carry a float with an adequate dive flag and cross your fingers. Make a necklace from an elastic and attach a waterproof whistle to it. Yes, I said a whistle.
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Current is also nasty. Before anything, try to check its direction (throw a piece of wood in the sea and watch where it goes: this trick works almost always). It's better to swim against current when you go out, and in favour of current when you come back to land, because at the end of the dive you will be tired, and swimming long distance will be harder for you: doing that against current will be a torture (and a danger). But remember: the current might also change suddenly.
However, if sh...t happens and current will push you out, don't try to swim against it, but try to turn around the direction of the current: it will take more time to reach your goal, but your energy will be better spent than trying to force the current against its main direction.
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Hope this helps. Enjoy.
Boat traffic and current are the things to watch.
...
If your destination is near a marina, the first issue (boat traffic) could be...an issue! Carry a float with an adequate dive flag and cross your fingers. Make a necklace from an elastic and attach a waterproof whistle to it. Yes, I said a whistle.
---
Current is also nasty. Before anything, try to check its direction (throw a piece of wood in the sea and watch where it goes: this trick works almost always). It's better to swim against current when you go out, and in favour of current when you come back to land, because at the end of the dive you will be tired, and swimming long distance will be harder for you: doing that against current will be a torture (and a danger). But remember: the current might also change suddenly.
However, if sh...t happens and current will push you out, don't try to swim against it, but try to turn around the direction of the current: it will take more time to reach your goal, but your energy will be better spent than trying to force the current against its main direction.
....
Hope this helps. Enjoy.
thanks guys, i did actually end up going and i ended up swimming a fair distance from the shore, well a bit further than i normally do, it all went fine. as i was right next to a marina i did not actually have any problems with boat traffic but i did notice that when i had just reached the shore at the end a large boat went at a fair speed right through where i was diving, dont know what would have happened if i had been there.
happy you had a nice dive. The boat problem is something that we divers must live with, unfortunately. In my province, the uw sports federation and local diver's clubs made posters like this:
http://www.surf.it/phpsurfit/news/foto/boa-day14-5-2006r.JPG
Posters were attached in marinas, boat rentals, yacht clubs at cetera. In facts the problem is that many boaters (especially the unexperienced who rent boats for weekend) don't even know what the buoy and diveflag mean....
http://www.surf.it/phpsurfit/news/foto/boa-day14-5-2006r.JPG
Posters were attached in marinas, boat rentals, yacht clubs at cetera. In facts the problem is that many boaters (especially the unexperienced who rent boats for weekend) don't even know what the buoy and diveflag mean....
The posters pretty good Spaghetti. I've had a boat motor right up to my kayak and stop right over my head in 30ft of water with me right under it. I now have a sign with large red letters on a white background. I have it right beneath the dive flag and it says "DIVING KEEP CLEAR"
We're all survivors, kind of...But still some word of warning are necessary for the less experienced guys who will read this thread:
a buoy with diveflag is necessary, but it's not a certainty that boats will see you in time and stay off. I mean, don't rely too much on the fact that you have a flag: the boatman could be distracted and could simply not see your float. Keep you eyes and ears open even if you do have a flag, because it's not enough to be 100% safe.
Four years ago a guy I knew was killed by a boat, no matter that he was diving with a flagged buoy tied to his belt and with a second, bigger dive flag on his own rib boat 20 meters away.
a buoy with diveflag is necessary, but it's not a certainty that boats will see you in time and stay off. I mean, don't rely too much on the fact that you have a flag: the boatman could be distracted and could simply not see your float. Keep you eyes and ears open even if you do have a flag, because it's not enough to be 100% safe.
Four years ago a guy I knew was killed by a boat, no matter that he was diving with a flagged buoy tied to his belt and with a second, bigger dive flag on his own rib boat 20 meters away.
Spagers was the person driving the other boat prosecuted or what?
The bastard should have been fed to the dogs.:rcard:rcard
Yes he was prosecuted, went under process and was found guilty by the tribunal. But it took investigation and a bit of luck, if we may say luck, to detect him: in facts he said he didn't realize what he had done. He said he just heard a sudden noise but didn'pt realize he had hit a diver, so he simply went straight away and there were no witnesses who had seen him. But after a few days he was busted.
Amazing story, because all the members of the victim's dive club offered their cooperation to the Police and kept diving the area for three days looking for some evidence, until they found the victim's belt on the bottom. The bucle and leads looked like they had been shaved by a boats' propeller. They also dived all ports, harbours and marinas in the area to wathc all the boats, looking for the ones who had signs of damage on the props and keels.
Finally they recognized a boat parked in a marina who had serious hit damage on the props and pieces of orange floatline wrapped to it. Bingo.
Investigators made further chemical analisys and found very small parts of the propeller varnish on the victim's belt, and also parts of lead on the boat's props. At the process, the boatman still sweared that he didn't realize he had hit a person.
That's possible, we could trust him on this, but however, how can we forgive him? No, no. When we drive our car on roads we do watch where we're going, right? Same attention should be paid in driving boats, but too many boatman simply don't care to watch where they're going. :rcard
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A spearo was killed a few months ago in Croatia, poor bugger had a bouy/flag and was just 20m or so away from the shore. That driver just motored off, I understand that the female passenger was screaming as they fled.
I don't understand how it is we all need a licence and to pass a test to drive a car but any fool can buy a powered boat and drive around like lunatics without any documentation at all.
I don't understand how it is we all need a licence and to pass a test to drive a car but any fool can buy a powered boat and drive around like lunatics without any documentation at all.
Here in SA you have to have a skippers license and boat registration to launch at any of the harbours or marinas. You also need a license to be able to travel with your boat.
In the skippers exam they do cover diving and all that but that still does not mean they know what a dive flag means. Ive been in situations where there where 5 boats in a 50m radius from each other. Try picking up one of your divers or avoiding another boats in that situation. 4 divers a boat with 5 boats... 20 DIVERS in 50m radius !!!
In the skippers exam they do cover diving and all that but that still does not mean they know what a dive flag means. Ive been in situations where there where 5 boats in a 50m radius from each other. Try picking up one of your divers or avoiding another boats in that situation. 4 divers a boat with 5 boats... 20 DIVERS in 50m radius !!!