Safety devices

Truth Aquatics here in Santa Barbara CA has posted a notice on their boats that they will very soon require all divers to carry a 6' safety tube and an air horn.

I have always carried both. I do recommend a regular whistle as well. I've seen the air horns fail. I have found that a panga driver looking away from you and quite a ways away from you will still hear a conventional whistle immediatley.

I also carry a small signaling mirror. I have never had to use it but it is great for pissing off Sarcastic Fingeheads

And sarcastic dive masters...

A SMB (surface marker buoy, AKA sausage, safety tube, etc.) and sound signal device (air horn or whistle, but preferably both) should be carried on all open water dives. Like davephdv, I carry a signal mirror too. I would also add a flashing safety strobe and back-up light to the minimum list. I also carry a dye pack in some situations, such as drifts, or any dive in an area of strong currents.

The problem with SMBs is that divers are not trained to use them until they get to the divemaster level in the PADI system, or seek technical dive certifications, such as IANTD advanced air. Some SMBs are sold with a line attached for deploying the device underwater. There have been numerous incidents of divers injuring themselves trying to use an SMB underwater without adequate training. It's easy for a loose line to becomes tangled on the diver's BC etc., causing a rapid involuntary ascent after air is injected into the device. The thin, loose line included in some commercially available SMBs is useless anyway - a safety reel or spool should be used.

The real question is why PADI doesn't provide training in use of surface signalling devices in the basic open-water (or failing that, in the so-called "advanced") courses. If PADI treated usage of visual and sound signal devices as fundamental skills (which they are), then PADI divers would purchase and carry them (cf. the ubiquitous and unmistakable sign of a PADI diver - wearing a snorkel strapped to the mask on every dive) and some might even be able to use them.

Safely deploying an SMB underwater using a spool or safety reel is a technique that needs to be learned and practiced. I believe all divers should carry signallig devices, but untrained divers should never try to use an SMB until they have already surfaced. Forcing divers who don't know how to use SMBs to carry them could just create new kind of hazards..

I carry two types of safety sausages. The first is a closed tube that rolls up in it's own little pocket. It has an oral inflator. You inflate it and clip it to your BC. The second I'm sure your all aware of. It is a large tube of cheap plastic with one open end. You stick your reg in it and inflate.

The second is actually easier to use. It stands up on it's own and is much larger than the other and easier to spot. Due to it's cheap construction I always carry one of the more sophisticated ones in case the cheap one is torn or you have no air in your tank.

Being required to carry one is already a moot point on many dive boats. Most live aboards give you one of the plastic tubes and require you to carry it. I have a drawer full of them.

Both are designed for surface use and I feel are quite easy to use. I would agree in a panicked state is not the first time to try to use one. I still feel strongly that all divers should carry one.

What you describe is more of a technical diving technique and I believe is designed for decompression diving or safety stops in the open ocean. I would fully agree this is an advanced technique and should require proper training and practice. Certainly carrying and deploying any sort of line while diving without careful planning and training is potentially disastrous.

Deploying an SMB underwater may be only taught as an advanced technical diving technique, but I've seen a number of instances where open water divers attempted to do this, in once case with what could have been very serious results.

The Scubapro sausage is - or at least was - sold together with a loose piece of line about 7 m long to allow it to be deployed from safety stop depth. It did not include any instructions or warning that divers should not attempt to inflate the device underwater without training.

I don't think underwater deployment of SMBs is just for technical or decompression diving. It can be vitally important in a drift dive situations, particularly in remote areas. Divers can become separated and may be carried in different directions by currents. The chase boat is only going to be able to follow one set of bubbles.

SMBs can (should, in my view) also be deployed underwater prior to ascent in areas where there are a lot of dive boats or other watercraft.

Deploying a SMB at the surface doesn't really entail any risk, and I didn't mean to imply that I don't agree all divers should always carry some sort of surface-deployable visual marker. My concern is that people are buying (or may be being provided) sausages that come equipped for underwater deployment, and do sometimes attempt to use them without adequate training, preparation or experience..

(I also often carry two SMBs, or rather an SMB plus a lift bag.)

Frogfish

I couldn't miss this opportunity to propangandize my SOS. But as it is always with you, assuming you have a BC it fits (Aqua Lung, US Divers, Seaquest), it is there when you need it.

Be aware that there is a new version with a one-way valve so you can trim the BC to comfort without the SOS deflating. It is a big improvement and you should buy the version with this picture on the packaging, and the starburst that says something like "Now with One-Way Valve".

Saw one in a store today. Looks intriguing but why restrict it to one make of BCs.

Stephen,

I've heard about your SOS BC-mounted automatic surface marker, and also read one or two of your earlier posts about it. I've never actually seen one, so it's hard for me to understand how you can be sure that there is no risk (even 0.001%) that a malfunction couldn't lead to the device unintentionally inflating or aquiring buoyancy underwater.

Knowing your photography, I'm sure this must be something you've completely figured out, and that it isn't a problem. But I'm afraid this still probably wouldn't be the SMB for me.

I've done some informal tests on the distances that a standard (5') SMB is visible under various sea conditions, and the results weren't encouraging. I prefer much bigger SMBs. I use one made by OMS which is 10 foot long, 8 inches (measured flat) across. This marker is the one I want to have if I ever surface and find a squall has blown up while we were down. (It will fit in a Halcyon backplate storage plack, but is easier to carry behind the butt, flaked and tucked into two bungie loops mounted on the holes a the lower corners of the backplate.)

I've also had boat drivers tell me (on occasions when I and other divers surfaced far from where we were expected) that mine was the only marker they could see when we were first spotted. It's always with me - I carry it on every dive.

Also, as my comments in this thread above probably have already suggested, I also think it's important to have the capability to deploy the SMB at depth (along with training and practice to do it right), not just on the surface.

But good luck with this product - I hope you do very well with it. Any safe product that gets more divers to carry and use surface markers has to be a good thing.

Frogfish

Thanks for the comments from Dave and Robert.

To answer Dave ... why restrict to one line of BCs? The product was licensed to Aqua Lung and it was their decision to make it fit only their brand of BC. Obviously I'd like to see it on every BC, but as it fits on the lower dump valve, and not all threads are the same, there would have to be different adapters made. I have customized them to other BCs for friends, but I can see where Aqua Lung would prefer the product be adaptable only to theirs.

To answer Robert ... the SOS has to be released by pulling a ripcord on the surface. And even if you did release it underwater you'd have to inflate your BC to get the air to go into the SOS chamber. You might get a little more lift out of your BC because you have more surface area to inflate, but it does not self-inflate. It works totally off the BC pneumatics so it can't rocket you to the surface or anything. Also, the dump valve still works as normal. Underwater the BC acts like it always did. The SOS is just for attracting attention on the surface.

I don't dispute there are other bigger safety sausages that can be carried. This one happens to be convenient because it is on the BC all the time, can be inflated hands-free (useful with hands full of cameras), and it does not occupy your hands while waiting for a surface pick-up. It is also helpful if your buddy is in trouble and they have such a device on their BC. You can easily inflate theirs to increase surface visibility.

Having said all that, I think whatever safety sausage and surface alert device you like is wonderful. Every diver absolutely/positively should carry something on every dive.

I figured that was the answer; but I was hoping you would say adaptors were on the way.