Is there a standard "Emergency" signal?
- Thread starter LottaBeachNoOcean
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DiverGirl1972
Contributor
Dang it, you beat me to posting this!! lol
blue sky
Contributor
Nothing to do with diving, but to a mariner Five (or more) short, rapid blasts are used to signal danger or to signal that you do not understand or you disagree with the other boater's intentions.
Mike
Contributor
Three of anything is the universal distress signal.
3 fires on a beach, 3 sets of crossed sticks or X's made in the sand on a beach for a plane to see, 3 flashes from a mirror, 3 gun shots in the air, 3 blasts from a whistle, 3 schuelches on a radio...
The old joke of the hunter who got lost in the woods for 2 weeks, when finally somebody answered his distress call on the radio they said " I think we are near you, you said you are a hunter, shoot 3 times in the air so we can figure out where you are at..." another day goes by and the rescue team finally stumbles on the hunter, they ask him, why didn't you follow our request of shooting 3 times in the air? The hunter says I did, I did it a number of times until I finally ran out of arrows...
I agree with everyone else. I'll let Team America explain the emergency signal I know of:
[video=youtube;92d1xtjXf8E]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=92d1xtjXf8E[/video]
[video=youtube;92d1xtjXf8E]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=92d1xtjXf8E[/video]
The Chairman
Chairman of the Board
When I teach rescue, we substitute "peanuts" for "help!". That way, we don't scare the touristas on the beach. At some point I always make sure that I point out that if there was a real emergency, that screaming "help!" at the top of your lungs would be the appropriate thing to do. Every now and then, I'll hear an "Oh!?!" from someone letting me know that they thought that peanut was the thing to say. 
When you find yourself in a bad situation, do whatever it takes to get everyone's attention. Make noise, wave hands or combine the two in a "Come help me now!" dance.
When you find yourself in a bad situation, do whatever it takes to get everyone's attention. Make noise, wave hands or combine the two in a "Come help me now!" dance.
OP
LottaBeachNoOcean
Registered
Thanks! If 3 is truly pretty universal, then this is the signal I will set with my buddies - 3 tank bangs (or sets of 3), 3 divealert blasts, 3 bell rings... means get it in gear, call EMS, send the Marines, get to me and help. NOW!
Are there any other noise conventions that would be good to know about? Like, are there standard/set noise signals for "look here!", "I'm looking for you/where are you/please respond", "I can't find you and am headed for the surface/meet me there if you hear this and if you can" ???
When using noise makers underwater, the universal convention is don't. Proper buddy awareness and a pre-dive briefing that includes your team separation plan should mitigate the need for using noise makers underwater that spoil the dive for other divers and could potentially harm or disrupt marine life.
novasquid
Contributor
i thought about getting tank bangers for myself and the wife, so that we could use them in emergencies. the kind of "turn around and come to me because i'm about to die" kind of emergencies, not just to get each other's attention.
Since the only true emergency during a dive is when you take that last breath of air (everything else is only an inconvenience), the slash across the throat is it.
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