What's the hand signal for "you all" or "we all"

Please register or login

Welcome to ScubaBoard, the world's largest scuba diving community. Registration is not required to read the forums, but we encourage you to join. Joining has its benefits and enables you to participate in the discussions.

Benefits of registering include

  • Ability to post and comment on topics and discussions.
  • A Free photo gallery to share your dive photos with the world.
  • You can make this box go away

Joining is quick and easy. Log in or Register now!

...//... I think underwater discussion should be kept to a comfortable minimum ...
Yes.

...//... I am a big fan of one hand signals. My second hand almost always has something else to do, so I'm glad when I meet another diver with one hand signals.
Only need single hand signals, more than enough of them. We are talking about single channel communication. Talking or listening, can't do both effectively at the same time.

The whole single-channel communications problem was solved years ago.

Everyone is a listener. A 'talker' asserts him/herself with an 'attention' signal. Talker then transmits message and falls off-line back to listener status. Another 'talker' asserts. Answers message and immediately falls off-line as a listener.

The problem is that the needy diver often assumes that control of the line is always his/hers. This needs to be hammered out topside.
 
We're moving so I have no time to read all posts. Tell your buddy (or everyone that may be in group) what the signals will be. Jeez.
 
Today I needed to say "You two stay here, I'm going there and coming back in two minutes, ok?"

I would need to chain this as follows:

You, you, stop. me, that way, clock, 2, back.

or something to that effect. With inexperienced divers I wouldn't expect them to follow that beyond "you, stop, me blah-blah-blah".

I would never end a chain like that with "OK" because the student would respond with OK. I train my OW students to repeat the same sign back again so I can get a sense if they understood what they were told. I would give THEM an OK if they repeated the signs back correctly.

R..
 
As an example, you can look here Les signes en plongée at "je suis narcosé", nowhere near "i am narced" on the other sign list Arborfield Amphibians SAC - Underwater Signals - during dive 3
That AASAC page is one of the few places I've seen the fist for fifty. Up here, we use that all the time, and we might often give the fist twice for a hundred, since you need both hands to make the T.

And in cold water, more fingers than two can be either confusing or impossible unless you're wearing drygloves. Wetgloves for cold water are often three-fingers (thumb, forefinger and then a mitten for the three last fingers). When I hold up all three, am I signaling three or five? So we use the fist for five as well. Whether it's five or fifty is usually evident from the context.
 
Today I needed to say "You two stay here, I'm going there and coming back in two minutes, ok?"

That's a finger waving point to both, a closed fist hold sign. A point to me, a point where I'm going. A loopy circle. A point to my wrist and circling. Showing two fingers. Two fingers together for join up (stay together) Followed by a level off, here. And a OK?


...it worked. I think underwater discussion should be kept to a comfortable minimum and anything we intend to say needs discussed topside so we're on the same language underwater.

At some point, a slate or wetnotes seems like the best way to avoid misunderstandings.
 
That AASAC page is one of the few places I've seen the fist for fifty. Up here, we use that all the time, and we might often give the fist twice for a hundred, since you need both hands to make the T.

And in cold water, more fingers than two can be either confusing or impossible unless you're wearing drygloves. Wetgloves for cold water are often three-fingers (thumb, forefinger and then a mitten for the three last fingers). When I hold up all three, am I signaling three or five? So we use the fist for five as well. Whether it's five or fifty is usually evident from the context.

lobster mitts was the one that I was waiting to hear on why you would use signals like that vs. signing out your actual pressure btw
 

Back
Top Bottom