fads free diver
Submitted by fisho-ron on Wed, 2012-02-01 20:56
who was the guy at the fads freediving on saturday?
heard from a freind he nearly got run over!!
no flag and in dark colors, with the boat a fair distance away, not such a good idea i would think??
but then again if ya got dollies not bad either??
i was sitting at sandy cape in the heat and the wind so either way i am pissed!!!! 
.. edit: for not being out there
Tim
Posts: 2497
Date Joined: 26/09/06
Few
Depends which fad and when Ron. Was a few of them out there Saturday.
fisho-ron
Posts: 2539
Date Joined: 26/09/09
not to sure mate, as said,
not to sure mate, as said, it was a mate teasing me about getting into some dollies.....a/hole...lol
but good on him for getting into a few while i couldnt even get my dingy out.
when we did the son and his mate was meant to be keeping an eye on it on the beach while we went into town, come back and the whole thing is full off water...had to laugh mate, with every thing floating on top of the tinny.
joshua-casey
Posts: 102
Date Joined: 28/04/11
diving is a zillion times
diving is a zillion times better than dragging a bit of plastic around show some respect.
fisho-ron
Posts: 2539
Date Joined: 26/09/09
until mr white bites you on
until mr white bites you on the arse!!
Lamby
Posts: 3145
Date Joined: 04/08/09
I can't see the disrespect
I can't see the disrespect myself Josh?? Ron actually seems worried for the welfare of the bloke in the water with no flag or float??
ps. love me spearing so not even coming from the fisho in a boat angle here
fisho-ron
Posts: 2539
Date Joined: 26/09/09
yeh mate., nothing about
yeh mate., nothing about respect either way.
i am pissed i wasnt out there!!
my mate got some dollys so he dindt give a flying frig either, but at least were some brighter colors or something to show your there, i would hate to run you over and have to take your dollys home
Righteo
Posts: 404
Date Joined: 23/12/11
pretty sure i used bait and
pretty sure i used bait and livies not plastic, secondly some respect from divers at the fads could be on the cards, good on yas for getting a feed and spearing a couple dollys but have seen them go off the bite after that leaving us disrespectful anglers frustrated, good ol 2 way street mate.
Here we go again.
Righteo
Posts: 404
Date Joined: 23/12/11
come to think of it ron the 2
come to think of it ron the 2 divers i seen out there saturday passed were not towing a flag either... also where do anglers stand if a diver just jumps out and decides he wants to swim around the fads, i know that mythical thing known as common sense comes into it but really where do the 10 boats fishing stand when a diver flys the flag on the fad? not trying to be a smart ass just interested to know as a fad coutesy thing was posted here earlier but nothing to do with diver interaction was mentioned from memory.
Here we go again.
fisho-ron
Posts: 2539
Date Joined: 26/09/09
give him 10min and then trow
give him 10min and then trow lures at him...lol
good question mate and cannot answer either,
but i think the big boys in the 40 footers wouldnt give a shit if they seen no flag and were trolling luers behind them, might hook something bigger and angrier than the expected hey!
crushed
Posts: 81
Date Joined: 20/06/10
Righteo, which FAd were you
Righteo, which FAd were you on? I was out at the AMS FAD on Saturday morning. Had not been there long and were others there already so trying to fit in without pushing in. When resetting our drift we were not aware of anyone in the water but we did spot a spearo about 10 - 15 m pop up in front off us dressed fully in black. To be honest he was lucky we saw him, saw him before his float, but could not see a flag on the boat which he seemed quite distance from when they drifted away.
I have never dived or spearfished so not one to judge on which method has more merit or deserves more respect, fooling fish you can't see with an artificial or a well presented bait or stalking a fish and shooting it and holding on for the ride.
Regardless we all need to look after our own safety and help others look out for each other too.
That is a good point you raise too Righteo what are we supposed to do when someone is diving right on the FAD, we tried to stay the 50 but that puts you miles away from the spot. Not trying to stir the pot just keen to understand what we should do in that situation.
till
Posts: 9358
Date Joined: 21/02/08
Freedivers are not required
Freedivers are not required to use a flag, thats the law rightly or wrongly.
LOL at dressed n black comments, most wetsuits *are black*
The 50m is as slow as you can go and keep watch, so it should be drifts as usual for everyone.
fisho-ron
Posts: 2539
Date Joined: 26/09/09
jamie.that info sounds spot
jamie.
that info sounds spot on mate and makes sense now, i thought you had to stay 50mtr no matter what.
i know most suits are black mate!!!, but it wouldnt hurt to make yourself more visable on the surface, as i said, do you think a boat trolling with his spread out from 100's of meters away would of spotted him, prob not until their on top of him but hey? bit differant from drifting.
you can bet your bottom dollar both partys would be hurling abuse at each other! and we all know the big boys own the fads??????us little pleasure craft scum shouldnt be out there.
whos right or wrong? i would think neither, but the diver should help himself and make boats aware he is there, even if it is having his boat very close with a flag up or something, it all helps
bit like water skiing mate(in a black wetsuit in winter) when you fall off, you raise your hands to make it easier for the other boats to see you, i used to hold my board as high out of the water as possible.
maybe he could of held one of the dollys up...lol..piss em off even more.
crushed
Posts: 81
Date Joined: 20/06/10
Jamie, thanks for the info.
Jamie, thanks for the info. Was the first time I had encountered it so just did what we thought was right.
I thought it was a 50 m exclusion no matter what which is what we tried to maintain. However it is tricky when on the drift and they pop up closer. So we were doing exactly as you say, trying to give them plenty of room and keep a careful watch. At the end of the day no one was hurt, which is the most important thing.
Yeah "most" wetsuits are black but there are other colours, not that most would make any difference and I presume anything too visible would make the fishing impossible. However, with only their head popping up and a black hood on they were bloody hard to see. As Ron said waving hand or something would help us help them. Don't envy being I'm their position though, must be nerve racking.
till
Posts: 9358
Date Joined: 21/02/08
First off, the regs are
First off, the regs are stupid. They specifically exempt snorkellers from having a flag, just so joe blogs doesn't need one down the beach (WTF???). Look out for the international red flag with a white stripe, some people use that too and it has good vis.
As you may remember from your RST:
The regulations governing the operation of vessels near divers require skippers who see a dive flag on a vessel or buoy to keep a proper lookout, proceed at a safe speed and where possible keep their vessel at least 50 metres clear.
Where it is not possible to keep 50 metres clear skippers must proceed at the slowest possible speed.
I have been out there before when there were two divers, each 150m the other side of a boat and thatw as really quite exceptionally stupid. On another occasion a boat just bombed the fad as we were drifting up and ejected divers that proceeded to hang onto the FAD. Spearos should do drifts like everyone else if there are multiple parties atthe FAD.
There is no code of practise for spearing the FADs yet, but I believe its being worked on by the spear groups. I personally need to find some orange tape for the tip of my snorkel, and I've taken to using a floatline which at least points to where I am as well.
I've been in the water out there a couple times lately and it is a little nerve-racking, the other boats that came out while we were there we very cool about it though.
Does anyone know the guys in the frontline custom penguin cc I see out there a bit?
Bodie
Posts: 3758
Date Joined: 05/11/07
heres a question.... the fads
heres a question.... the fads are in bloody deep water, how do the free divers secure their boat?
till
Posts: 9358
Date Joined: 21/02/08
They tend to leave someone in
They tend to leave someone in the boat.
alfred
Posts: 3097
Date Joined: 12/01/07
They have been out there
They have been out there quite abit.
As for a diver in the water at the Fads, it could get quite tricky if there are many boats out there, but the skipper of the boat the diver rolled off needs to be on high alert and eyes on diver at ALL times. The idea is to stay between the diver and any other boat, or a quick zoom in for pick up if need be.
Rick
Posts: 1118
Date Joined: 22/12/06
Skipper
Bodie, when we were out there Saturday, the skipper put the divers on the spots and basically drifts with rest of the boats
PGFC Member
petervb
Posts: 447
Date Joined: 18/12/09
they definitely don't secure
they definitely don't secure their boats at the fads they leave a skipper on board to pick them up
kmo
Posts: 127
Date Joined: 17/01/12
Boaty
Freedivers should leave someone in the boat for each drift. Either that or tie themselves to the boat.
As Till says, the spearfishing representative at RFW is working with PGFC and other stakeholders to come up with a code of conduct for spearos at the fads. The draft I saw includes towing large, brightly coloured floats, running a live boat (ie boaty), drifting in line with other uses and generally showing respect and courtesy. A code of conduct is only really useful to the people who read it though.
Personally I have never taken the risk to spear out there for fear of getting run over. Rottnest is bad enough with all the gin palaces on autopilot! I always figured if I was going to be hit by something 18ft long with a big white belly it was going to be made of fibreglass.
edit: Geezs, first post and I was beaten by 4 others! You've gotta be quick around here
Lamby
Posts: 3145
Date Joined: 04/08/09
Yah that's what I had in mind
Yah that's what I had in mind the inter flag with white stripe on a bright float (sticks out like dogs balls) As I mentioned love spearing have no issue with it just don't want to see someone run over which can be avoided with proper measures. Skipper on the boat at fads to keep an eye on his mates would be minimum imo
Righteo
Posts: 404
Date Joined: 23/12/11
did notice divers had a red
did notice divers had a red float and also they're boat skipper did just do the drift like everyone else but the divers tended to hang around the fad (not off it).
cheers till and everyone else pretty much cleered it up for me.
final note, got no problems with the divers i think its unreal, my favourite one was watching a bloke off west end go down for minutes at a time im assuming sitting well below the surface, never seen him catch anything but he had multiple floats and really just couldn't believe how long he was down for, dont like the idea of sitting 10m down in 25m of water off west end ;)
Here we go again.