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The history and state laws of Dive Flags
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The worldwide icon or symbol for Scuba diving is its Dive Flag. However, the current Diver Down flag was not invented until the early 50s and popularized later in the decade. Of course, Van Halen's record selling album in the 80s, Diver Down, certainly helped mainstream the awareness o
f the current flag.
The now-familiar red-and-white dive flag was invented in the early 1950's by Denzel James "Doc" Dockery from Michigan. Dockery spent a lot of time working on projects in his garage and in 1953, he followed instructions published in Popular Science magazine for building his own scuba unit. As an entrepreneur, he was intrigued by his new-found passion and starting constructing ways to make a living in this brand new sport.
During is experimentation with Scuba diving, Dockery found that he needed a warning flag to keep boaters at a safe distance on the busy lake. Since Dockery had served in the U.S. Navy, he was familiar with the red signal flag that's commonly used to connote danger. The Navy's "bravo flag" is solid red.
In order to make his flag distinctive, Dockery decided to make a modification. He asked his wife Ruth to sew a white stripe across the middle of it. They put their stripe horizontal, right down the center from left to right. Unfortunately, there was a problem with their design. It was the national flag of Austria. They needed something else. A vertical white stripe was out since that's the Navy's numerical number 7 signal flag.
After doing their homework, they decided to make the stripe diagonal. Ruth sewed it from the upper-left corner to the lower-right corner. The dive flag, as we now know it, was born.
In addition to inventing the dive flag, Dockery worked to get the flag officially recognized in his home state of Michigan. He was successful, and Michigan became the first state in the union with a diver flag law. Now, thanks to what he started, the federal government and almost every U.S. state officially recognizes Dockery's flag as the official warning sign of a diver down.
Dive Flag Laws In Arizona (5-362. Diver flag)
A red flag with white diagonal stripe from staff-head to opposite corner shall be recognized as a diver flag and shall be displayed when a person or persons are actually diving below the water surface and are equipped with apparatus to allow such person or persons to breathe under water.
For Boaters in Arizona According to The Boater's Guide of Arizona (2003 Edition) published by the Arizona Game and Fish Department: Vessels should stay as far away from a "diver down flag" as is reasonable and prudent for the circumstances. The suggested safe distance is 100 yards.
Dive safe and have fun!
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