KEEP DISTANCE!

As many of you know, this Summer I had the opportunity of working by OmniSub, one of the historical diving center of the Isle of Elba.

As a tradition in Italy, in the month of August the island was rather packed: as a consequence, also the maritime traffic has been very high.

This situation caused a lot of stress in particular for our non diving boat crew, whose main task during this crazy period was to shout and wave to unresponsible boat drivers who rushed at high speed just a few meters away from our boat, thus putting at risk the safety of the divers below who in the worst but not impossible case could be hit by the hull or even by the propeller of boats moving right above their heads.  

📸 (c) DAN Europe

 Of course generally every diver and diving center staff member is very well educated about the obligation to use a “diver-down” or “alpha” flag and a surface marker buoy. Nevertheless, the above described incident tipology is generally caused by lack of attention or ignorance: with reference to this second point, unfortunately in Italy is it possible to rent any boat up to 40hp, even without any licence, under the condition of being at least 16 years old and to remain within six miles form the coast. Surprisingly, a display of knowledge of the most basic national sea traffic regulation is not a requirement for getting the boat.

 

For this reason, I grab this opportunity to make you aware about the ITALIAN regulation about diving warning signals and minimum distance from divers and diving boats.
 The subject was originally regulated by the DPR 1639 from 02.10.1968, art. 130, that states as follows:

 

• scuba divers must use a float equipped with a red flag with a diagonal white stripe (“diver-down” flag). If diving from a boat, the flag bust be lifted on the boat;
• scuba divers can move within a range of 50 meters from the boat or from the float.

In addition, in the year 2003 a note from the Corps of the Italian Port Authorities imposed to boats and vessels a minimum distance of 100 meters from diving warning buoys and diving boats.

Nowadays the subject is regulated by the D.M. 146 from 29.07.2008, art. 91 that, in addition to the above mentioned rules, requires every diver to bring along a personal DSMB.

It is important to stress out that the violation of the rules concerning minimum distance by boat drivers lead to criminal prosecution even if no incident or injuries occur.

Eventually, here a few safety tips for divers:

• always surface as close as possible to the diving boat;
• use an SMB if you are not able to locate the boat. If you di not know how to deploy an SMB; please refer to my previous post available here: https://www.facebook.com/741846475/videos/10157262944171476/;
  
• train your buoyancy, avoid uncontrolled ascents and always look up before surfacing.