Posted by kelphead on August 16, 2000 at 12:05:56:
dear california divers,
i am currently associated with the 'greater los angeles county of divers' organization, known as 'glacd' for short [ http://forums.delphi.com/glacd/messages/ ], and we are undertaking a project that we believe is dear to the heart of the diving community--literally. i am part of the 'dive flag safety & awareness program' [dfsap] committee which has a couple of aims:
1) to educate the non-diving public as to what the alpha [blue & white] and diver down [red and white] flags symbolize and to teach the boating and personal water craft user crowd to stay a very safe distance away from these flags and boats which fly these flags in order to promote the safety of free and scuba divers;
and
2) to encourage the use of dive flags and dive floats by individuals within the diving community.
while our 2nd goal is more of a long term one, our 1st goal is more immediate and i am posting this message to discuss this issue with you.
as some of you may know, there have been a number of injuries and deaths in southern california waters due to the ignorance of boaters and pwc'ers in relation to our dive flags. many of you may be aware of the tragic free diver's death last fall (1999) off catalina island. despite the fact that this free diver was diving near a commercial charter dive boat, and despite the fact that this same boat flew, as regular protocol, both the alpha and diver down flags, the free diver was struck and killed instantly by a boat travelling at full speed. later when the boater was taken into custody by the sheriff's dept, he was quoted as saying that he did not know what the alpha and diver down flags meant.
other divers can attest to the fact that even though they do indeed use diver down flags to promote their own individual safety, non-divers do not understand the meaning of these flags and still harass and endanger the divers using them, resulting in 'close calls'.
several members from the 'glacd' have come up with creative ideas to educate the boating and pwc public. these include flyers to be posted and, eventually, detailed pamphlets to be individually handed out. we are in the process of getting 'glacd' board approval of a flyer design and we are now entering the next critical steps in our project, which are FUNDING and VOLUNTEER RECRUITMENT.
though the 'glacd' will probably use some of its funding resources to pay for part of the flyer printing costs, we are unable to carry the total cost of the printing job.
that's where you and your dive clubs come in. =:) i am writing publicly to solicit funding, no matter how small, to allow us to print up to 10,000 copies initially of the flyer. we are in the process of confirming a cost estimate, which is tentatively ~680$ for 10,000 copies. we will initially be focusing on distributing this flyer to three socal marina locations which include:
**san pedro
**marina del rey
**redondo beach
we plan to post the flyer at each gate, on the marina bulletin boards, and to pass them out individually at the launch ramps.
we are looking at distributing this flyer every weekend in the month of september. however, we need your help to achieve this very worthy goal which can help you and other divers you care deeply about.
we also believe that education is the key, as opposed to controversial legislation which may not be popular, may be difficult to implement, and/or may be costly to enforce.
with your help we can expand our territory and continue to educate other boaters and pwc'ers in other parts of california. however, for the time being, we are starting small to ensure as much success as possible.
won't you please join us in our campaign?
it has come to our attention that not all dive clubs have their own funding and some dive clubs will not make good candidates as financial sources; NONETHELESS, we will still need your aid when it comes time for us to recruit dive club members as volunteers to help us hand out and post these flyers at the above mentioned locations on the weekends during the month of september. redondo beach alone has 4 marinas:
**portofino
**port royal
**redondo marina
**king harbor
whether your club can donate time -OR- $$, we will take anything that you can provide in order to make this a successful campaign for the good of each individual california diver, as well as for the diving community at large.
the following is a list of divers on the 'dfsap' committee:
john matsukas, chairman
shereen sabet, secretary
jennifer powell
tim fitzhugh
rose reese
lori scanlon
if you would like to help, or if you would like us to come down to one of your meetings and explain our project in more detail and show you our flyer, please contact me at:
taz@ucla.edu
on behalf of the 'dfsap' committee, i truly appreciate you taking the time to read this message and i look forward to you or your club joining us in our efforts.
thank you very much and i look forward to hearing from you.
happy and safe diving to you.
= : )
kelphead.