Light on left thand

[divestoclimb]

(I was going to post here but I don't want to hijack the thread...)

I'm also curious about the left-hand technique. DIR practices that you hold the light in your left hand, correct? I would think in a cave this would distract to my teammate ahead of me if I have to use my light hand to adjust my buoyancy throughout the dive, since my light signal would keep coming and going. I'm also worried about having adequate light to write on a slate or wet notes with my right hand and see what I'm doing.

I ask because I dive with my light on my right hand currently but I'm considering switching it over (for a very not-DIR reason that's not worth getting into ). How does the left hand work in practice?

(P.S. yes, I know DIR divers use the light on the left hand because the right hand drives the scooter. I don't have a scooter so that's not a good enough reason for me to switch)

 

[JeffG]

Yes...you need to staple the light to your left hand. It should never...ever leave the left hand.

if it does...you will die.

Next................

 

[ligersandtions]

Check out this thread....post 9 (my question, which is the same as your question....regarding adding/dumping air and what to do with your light) and the answer is in post 10. The entire thread is pretty interesting, so take a look through. It may convince you to switch your light to your left hand, or it may not....but it does give some things to think about.

FWIW, I switched my depth guage / timer to my right hand after reading this thread because I now understood WHY people said to do it that way).

 

[Jasonmh]

(I was going to post here but I don't want to hijack the thread...)

I'm also curious about the left-hand technique. DIR practices that you hold the light in your left hand, correct? I would think in a cave this would distract to my teammate ahead of me if I have to use my light hand to adjust my buoyancy throughout the dive, since my light signal would keep coming and going. I'm also worried about having adequate light to write on a slate or wet notes with my right hand and see what I'm doing.

I ask because I dive with my light on my right hand currently but I'm considering switching it over (for a very not-DIR reason that's not worth getting into ). How does the left hand work in practice?

(P.S. yes, I know DIR divers use the light on the left hand because the right hand drives the scooter. I don't have a scooter so that's not a good enough reason for me to switch)

It works just fine in the left hand. Having a scooter is not the only reason to have the light in the left hand. Having the right hand free to donate your primary with out being hindered by it or blinding the person you are donating to is worth consideration. The light cord is about perfectly sized for the left hand, and putting it in the right hand causes extra slack, which I have seen people try to take up by wrapping the cord around their arm. A little bit of practice with the light in the left hand and it is a piece of cake. Just grab the top or side of the handle with your right hand, vent, and slide your hand right back in the handle, no big deal. If you are going to be writing you are going to need 2 hands anyway, and if there is not enough ambient light, you can clip off the lighthead pointing down to give you some light to write with. Like Jeff pointed out, you can always move the light to your right hand if you need to.

 

[Reg Braithwaite]

Check out this thread.

I remember that thread fondly. Please correct any deficiencies in my understanding:

1. Dump and inflators are on the left,
2. Therefore the depth gauge is on the right so you can monitor depth while dumping/adding gas,
3. Therefore light is on the left so you can shine the light on the depth gauge.

And:

1. Offer gas to OOG diver with right,
2. Therefore light is on the left so you don't blind the stricken diver while offering them gas.

As noted, the answer about blinding someone following you while you adjust buoyancy is in the quoted thread. If you are in the middle of your dive, you "top hold" the light with your right hand while adjusting buoyancy with your left.

 

[imasinker]

Thanks for the post..

I read on earlier post and asked the same question and it does make sense. One would tend to think that wearing the computer wrist mount on your left would be proper since we have our spg and AI computers configured on the left of our gear. I knew a long time ago something wasn't good about the left wrist for computers, since you use this arm to hold the inflator for ascending and descending. This just seemed to confuse the hell out of me untill I read on about it. I can totally understand why some divers rearrange the configuration of thier gear from the way we were taught in basic open water. A good forum topic for sure.

 

[JeffG]

Like Jeff pointed out, you can always move the light to your right hand if you need to.

I did?

I was just trying to keep certain internet myths alive.

 

[divestoclimb]

Ah yes, I remember reading the beginning of that thread but I think I tuned it out before that post got made. That's a good point that the light can be handed off temporarily.

Another thing to try: hand off the light from right to left instead. I'll have to try that and using the light on the left to see what works well for me. Thanks!

 

[Jasonmh]

I did?

I was just trying to keep certain internet myths alive.

Haha, maybe I read you wrong:

"Yes...you need to staple the light to your left hand. It should never...ever leave the left hand."

I suppose it is possible you were really trying to see if you could get someone to staple the light to a hand

 

[imasinker]

OUCH! why did you tell me to do that.....