Shooting an SMB

[Rich Keller]

I would be interested in what people think about shooting a SMB. I have seen more then a few people say this is a good idea if you need to come up in an area where there are boats present. This sounded reasonable until I started thinking about it. In my experience not many boaters either know or care what a dive flag is and I think far less would have any idea what a SMB is for. I think if you shoot this thing up in an area with boats at least one of those boaters is going to come over to get a closer look. Do you think using a SMB for this reason is a good idea? Has anyone ever done this with boats present? If so what was the end result?

 

[chrpai]

I'm very curious also. Where I dive the general feeling is a damned if you do and damned if you don't. It really seems to put a target on you and make them aim straight for you.

I was diving in Lake Travis yesterday with a boat flying the diver down flag and the alpha flag and yet jet skies were buzzing past the boat within 25' of the bow.

 

[Lorenzoid]

Not to hijack this thread, but does anyone know of a resource that teaches in a step-by-step fashion the proper way to deploy an SMB using a spool? I requested instruction on this in a Deep Diver course I took recently, but the boat captain wouldn't allow my instructor to do it because of the possibility of confusing it with a real emergency. Even more recently, my wife took the Rescue Diver course and requested her instructor teach this skill. But her dives were not in water deep enough to do it to any reasonable effect, so the best she could do was learn to inflate it on the surface. Maybe there's a video out there that shows how to do it? I've seen divemasters do it on drift dives, but I never really paid attention to exactly what they were doing. Moreover, I don't know if they were doing it in the most widely recommended way. I've been told the only way to really learn to do it is to practice it, but it is apparently difficult for some of us to find a place to do that.

 

[rongoodman]

There are lots of demonstations on the Web. Here's one.

 

[Diver0001]

Has anyone ever done this with boats present? If so what was the end result?

I use the DSMB every time I'm being picked up by a zodiac so they can *keep the hell away* from where I'm about to surface. The result is that I'm still here and so far I haven't had anything chopped off by a zodiac.

R..

---------- Post Merged at 08:05 PM ---------- Previous Post was at 08:01 PM ----------

There a lots of demonstations on the Web. Here's one.

That's a pretty good demo. The old demo they had made my toes curl.

Incidentally if you can't blow air into the dsmb with the inflator thingy they have on the halcyon then you can usually open up the bottom of them, cover one side of the opening in the exhaust vent from the regulator with your thumb, tilt your head up and exhale into the bag. I liked how controlled that inflator thing looked though. I may look into getting one of those.

R..

 

[Frosty]

dunno about you guys but if I'm not just going up the anchor line I shoot my smb as Im starting my safety stop.
I'm hanging around for 3 minutes after the smb has surfaced. This serves a bunch of purposes. One-Because Ive got a little bright colored fishing weight tied on at 5.5m it gives me a visible reference point for my safety stop if in clear water. Two it increases my chances that the dive boat will be close by when I come up.Three I have a better chance of being seen by other boaties. Im never surfacing "blind" so I can see a boat above me.
In fairness I don't dive in crowded waters

 

[DivemasterDennis]

First, if we are diving where boats are, we have a dive flag. We might tie it off and retrieve it, but on balance, it's always better to have a flag. There is no doubt in my mind on that, based upon Debbie and I having over 200 shore dives in boat infested waters. The SMB is not a substitute for a dive flag, but is better than nothing. I have rarely deployed one surfacing from a boat dive, but have on drift dives. Earlier this year, because of some threads here on SB I inquired into what course teaches the skill and talks about when to use it. I found no requirement for it. However, when I am teaching/assisting with AOW classes now, as of last May we do this skill. Not all instructors on staff do it, but I do. I will incorporate it on the search and recovery dive, or sometimes just add it to the altitude dive we do here as one of the dive planning dives. First you have to find soemone who has done the skill enough to teach it. Ask at dive shops in your area.
DivemasterDennis

 

[TomZ]

There are lots of demonstations on the Web. Here's one.

There doesn't seem to be nearly enough air in that SMB. If that deployed from 15' it would lie on the surface limp. I've found the oral inflate is good for getting enough air into the bag to "unfurl" it and get just a tiny bit of lift, enabling you to get it out of your way. From that point I use my alternate to inflate it more. My SMB has an OPV, so it can't over-inflate. A full bag will stand upright with just a bit of pull. A little bit of up and down action will make your SMB more noticeable. Deployed from depth a SMB can provide a good bit of controllable buoyancy in an emergency. I sent mine up from 71' after getting caught in a downwelling in Coz, two months ago. Once the SMB was on the surface, the current would have needed to pull it down along with me and my BC. Had I fully inflated my BC, a rapid ascent may have ensued. The downwelling was at 90' and I was mostly out of it when the SMB was deployed, but if sure made me feel better to send it up. I asked the DM to rate the event's seriousness on a scale of 1-10. He gave it a 7. It was my first downwelling experience in 50 Coz dives, and it really got my attention.

The most important tips I can offer are to make sure the bag is unfurled fully, above you, and no slack line is present prior to inflation. Always have a cutting tool available just in case of entanglement.

 

[Lorenzoid]

There are lots of demonstations on the Web. Here's one.

Thanks. I still have a lot of questions. For example, it begins with him already holding the SMB and spool in his hand, and I'd like to figure out the best way to stow it and retrieve it without losing it, what hand to use for what step of the process, how not to get tangled up, etc. He's also got perfect buoyancy, which may not be the reality for me. That YouTube reveals a few other similar demos, so I'll review them before asking for help here. I also found a thread or two on SB discussing the topic (of course).

 

[MXGratefulDiver]

I teach SMB deployment in my AOW class ... where I live it's an essential skill. Coming up in boater traffic is one legitimate time to use it, but more frequently it's for coming up in a situation where you need to give the dive boat a visual reference of where you are. This is especially important if you're diving in an area where waves or wind will obscure a visual on your bubbles ... or where current can sweep you away from the dive site.

Another important consideration is that if you're making a blue-water ascent, using the SMB gives you a visual reference of depth ... which is very useful for holding stops.

I'm curious why a boat captain would construe an SMB deployment as an emergency ... I don't think any of our local dive ops would view it as such. Our typical vis here usually makes finding the anchor line improbable ... and often our boats are live boats, which means there isn't an anchor line. Shooting a bag helps them keep track of where their divers are.

... Bob (Grateful Diver)