Cali/Az law kills great product???

okay so i got this pretty cool flag mount for our tower and it works great.

However i have herd that law prohibit leaving the flag up while the rider is up behind the boat. only once the rider falls the flag goes up. (or at least so i have herd from a friend of a friend)

Is this true because i bought the flag mount to make life easier.

I am googling the subject now but I thought someone on here might be able to answer this or point me in the right direction?

thanks guys

your only supposed to have the lag up when someone falls, when they are just riding it is supposed to be down, but Ive never heard of anyone getting stopped for having it up all the time, i see them up on boats while people are riding,

Rider goes down, flag goes up.

Flag goes down when the rider is up.

Never heard it any other way.

I haven't read Ca law in 3 years but it did state " California law requires that a vessel involved with towing person(s) on water-skis or other similar devices carry and use a red or orange “skier down” flag whenever the skier or ski equipment is in the water".

Key to me says in the water not just when they crash. So I used to keep it up at all times. I was asked once by a park ranger at Folsom and I told him about what the law said and he said he never thought of it that way but he actually never took the time to read it in full detail.

we use our mount for when people are swimming in the lake

The flag is an indicator of their being a person down in the water. If everybody ran a flag up all the time, that would defeat the purpose of the law because a flag up would no longer indicate that there is a person in the water.

I don't really see how the law is "killing" the product. The product should be made to comply with the law. It should either raise the flag on demand, like some of the other products on the market, or the user will have to manually insert the flag into the holder each time the rider falls and remove it when they get back up on the water.

Running with the flag up doesn't really defeat the purpose of the law if you are towing someone. If you are approaching a boat from behind pulling someone and they don't see that you have a rider behind you, it would at least indicate to them that either a rider has fallen or that you are towing someone.

We run with ours up all of the time (unless it falls down) and the rangers seem to be ok with that but it is a very busy lake.

killing is a bad word i guess. we use it when we swim but it is awesome to leave it up all the time when riding. no worries

Kenny, i could not agree with you more. I am a california rider, and i have looked at the rules regarding this issue because I leave our flag up.

As David says, "person in the water"... giving "in the water" a definition of being below the surface of the water, you could argue (and I do) that the outside edge of your back foot is below the water level...

so flag it up!

There is an issue with using the flag any time someone is in the water, or in the manner that Isaac has mentioned. I've seen the sheriff advise people on this, I've talked to them about the laws, and I've also dealt with swimmers using the flag inappropriately.

The *intent* of the flag is to alert others that you have a skier down in the water. When I"m driving and I see the flag up, I'm not looking for someone in the water swimming and playing near the boat, I'm looking for someone who is within a few hundred feet of the boat. I'm going to avoid the general vicinity of EVERY boat that I pass for the sake of potential swimmers, etc.

Think about a skier/tuber/boarder who has gone down. There is a time period where they are in the water and the boat may not be very close. THIS is the situation you need to think about when you see the flag.

In the narrow channels of the Delta it can be a real pain to come around the corner and see a family with the flag up because little Sally is in the water just off the swim deck going pee. In this situation I'm looking everywhere for the downed rider and I've even come off plane and dropped my rider because that flag means there is a RIDER/SKIER and he could be anywhere in the channel.

Please use your flags appropriately.

this is a quote from the ABC"S of the California Boating Law 2008 page 18
Water Ski Flag
It is mandatory for the operator of a vessel involved in towing a skier to display, or cause to be displayed , a red or orange water-ski flag, to indicate:
1) A downed skier
2) A skier in the water preparing to ski.
3) A ski line extended for the vessel.
4) A ski in the water in the vicinity of the vessel.
The flag must be no less than 12 inches on each side and be in the shape of a square or a rectangle. The display of the ski flag does not in itself restrict the use of the water, but when operating in the area, boater should exercise caution

Kinda like just leaving your turn signal on cuz your gonna just eventually turn anyway...

If I saw your boat with the flag always up, I'm not going to be looking for your downed rider when he actually falls. Hope I see him in time!

I leave mine up. I agree that people can not see my rider behind me when I am headed toward someone. I want them to know that I have a rider and my turn to get them, not to mention they could already be in there.

ITS LIKE HAVING YOUR BREAK LIGHTS ON ALL THE TIME! I know you can see the rider if you are not an r tard, but there are some r tards on the lake. Good call Shawn