Orange / Yellow DSMBs - and their use as signals in Tech Dives?

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In Britain/Europe, it is commonplace for technical divers to equip with both yellow and orange DSMBs. The orange DSMB is used for ascents. The yellow DSMB is deployed in emergencies, as a signal for 'support needed'.

I've recently discovered (in the Basic Scuba forum) that this system is not widely used in the USA. Furthermore, some divers seemed to have objections to it.

I'm interested to hear what other tech divers, from a variety of locations, felt about this system...and the reasons why they would use it or not.


From my own perspective: I do use color coded DSMBs when tech diving. On many occasions there have been support divers available, and popping a yellow DSMB has meant the swift arrival of a support diver - usually bearing extra deco gas. When support divers were not present, it has usually meant that a pre-prepared cylinder of deco gas has been lowered from the boat to a pre-arranged depth and/or a slate has been lowered for communication.

I've actually used this system 'for real' only once... where I had lost my buddy on the wreck... and a support diver came down and reassured me that he had ascended and was doing a floating deco hang nearby. It was a big reassurance. To date, I've not suffered a loss of deco gas... but I do like the option of calling for more as a last ditch contingency. Likewise... if I had to deal with a tox'd diver or any other sort of problem... I like that I can call support if needed.

Thoughts?
 
As you note, at least with the groups I've dived with here in the US, color coded SMB use isn't employed. There are a few reasons (as I see) for this.

For the most part (here in the US) there are no support divers topside. It's just the captain up there. If support divers are used, they're going to be meeting us in the water at a prearranged stop depth/time (almost always on a fixed ascent line). There going to be there even if we don't shoot a bag. There's no need to signal them to come. For the most part, though, we simply take enough (deco) gas with us to deal with any issues in the water within the team. Where I've done most of my "tech" dives (Southern California and the Northeast), we're basically only shooting SMBs if we've lost the fixed ascent line (for various reasons, we tend to dive off anchored/moored boats). In that case, having different color bags makes no difference.

Again, the main reason, however, for not needing a color coded system is that topside support isn't in place to actually respond to such messages. We simply prepare and dive knowing we have to serve as our own support in the water.

And if you have to deal with a toxing diver at depth, good luck also getting up a (correctly colored!) SMB! :)
 
I think the color coded system makes sense, but its use in the US would require pre-arranging with the captain/crew to ensure there's an understanding of what the system means.

Here in NJ a lift-bag coming up could mean...

- I'm off the wreck drifting
- I'm on the wreck but off the line
- My bag of scallops is too heavy to carry
- I'm sending up the bell of the Andrea Doria

We've started to employ a system on our boat that a lift bag is a bag for lifting things and a safety sausage means "help." We provide a sausage and a spool for anyone who doesn't have one.
 
............We've started to employ a system on our boat that a lift bag is a bag for lifting things and a safety sausage means "help." ..................

THANK YOU RJP! I was trying to get this into words.


What surprises me is that nobody has yet said anything about marking the bag with your initials etc. When a bag appears on the surface the binoculars come out, and the user announces "That's xxxxxxxxx".

If I'm diving in the NE, my initials will be on the bag/sausage. If I'm elsewhere, I'm perfectly willing to follow local color (colour) norms.
 
Just echoing my post in Basic: Surface support isn't common for non-expedition diving around here. As such, having multiple SMB colors can really only tell the captain something, and most often all he can do is wait (or call the coasties).

- I'm sending up the bell of the Andrea Doria

I use that one regularly.
 
Again, the main reason, however, for not needing a color coded system is that topside support isn't in place to actually respond to such messages. We simply prepare and dive knowing we have to serve as our own support in the water.

In Thailand we dived in buddy pairs, but those pairs staggered their entries. There was always a pair on the boat ready to go, a pair on the bottom and a pair on deco.

If a yellow DSMB went up, the divers waiting to dive are in a position to come down and help. By the time the last buddy pair are entering the water, the first pair have sufficiently off-gassed to be able to drop back in again to deco depths.

6-8 divers gives you a nice rotation, without having to have specifically tasked support divers.

I can understand how that system wouldn't be optimal in locations where diving was restricted by high tidal flows though.

And if you have to deal with a toxing diver at depth, good luck also getting up a (correctly colored!) SMB! :)

Good luck indeed. I hope I never have to deal with this.

My thoughts are that it would attract attention quicker, should I decide to let him float up (bolt snapped to that line below the yellow DSMB)... Otherwise, I would bring him up to shallowest stop depth, under the DSMB, and hopefully be met by divers there who could take him to the surface.
 
In Thailand we dived in buddy pairs, but those pairs staggered their entries. There was always a pair on the boat ready to go, a pair on the bottom and a pair on deco.

That's certainly a method that could be made to work. It does have some drawbacks, though. First, it means a long day on just the one site (as opposed to dropping all teams within short order). Second, it leaves the last team in a weaker position (depending on how deep they are, it might not be feasible for the first team to drop back down after having just completed their own dive). Third, it makes extraction a lot more difficult when you have a problem with one of the earlier teams and now one of the later teams is just starting deco (as opposed to all teams having more similar schedules). Fourth, it seems to foster the sense that you're relying on others to help deal with lost deco gas issues. Sure, for some really big dives, support might be needed/desirable, but for most tech dives (at least the stuff I'm doing and seeing locally), such issues can be dealt with in the team with proper planning.

For the dives I'm doing, I just can't see what else I'd want to tell the boat other than "here I am drifting, come follow me". Given our lack of topside support, even if I could get a "specific" message up, there isn't a means to respond in-water.
 
On our "big dives" we arrange for support to meet us regardless of SMB (color or not at all). If its a dive we don't need support for, we don't "sorta" have support if we were to shoot a yellow bag.

I'm not against this signalling system per se, its just we either have in water support or we don't. Lowering gas from the boat, we'd never find or see it.

We sometimes stagger our dives and boat tend for each other, but those tend to be relatively basic dives (recreational to at most ~20mins deco) where in-water support isn't necessary but (live or at least attended) boat support is.
 
Some of the guys down here in SOCAL are starting to use this system; however, they are using a yellow DSMB for ascent and an orange one to indicate a problem. I think the end result is that they are trying to create a system that the lifeguards can recognize at LaJolla Shores to alert them of an issue.
 
In Oz, some use the yellow for emergencies, some don't. Most operators in Sydney just have 1 person on the boat so don't use it. I know of 1 in Perth who does, but he has a DM on board to respond to such situations; from his mandatory list of requirements-"YELLOW Secondary lift bag /SMB and reel to suit, including prewritten slate for emergency situations".
 
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