Ask your instructor to show you how to use the DSMB!

[tbone1004]

PADI definitely doesn't require it in their basic OW program.... No way. They have enough problems getting people not to shoot to the surface in OWT heaven forbid trying to shoot an SMB properly. The reality is very few divers need to know how to use them. One diver per group is about all that is actually needed, and if you are doing guided dives then that can be the DM and all is well. I agree it is a good skill to be proficient at, but it isn't an easy one to do properly and isn't useful in a lot of diving scenarios. We don't use them often, so it is one of those things that you have to practice regularly on your own because using them is rare for a lot of us. Even if I was in that area, I would tow something like the Mako buoy, but I wouldn't shoot my DSMB unless I absolutely had to.

If diving in kelp that would obviously change things, but if I was doing those types of dives I would rather kick in and out then surface. I hate being at the surface for any longer than I have to...

 

[Hawkwood]

T...
But it can be just done on the surface (SMB).

That is true, hence "SMB (or DSMB)" in my Post.

PADI Open Water skill requirement:

• Inflatable Signal Tube Use — Deploy an inflatable signal tube at the surface, or deploy a delayed surface marker buoy (DSMB) from underwater.

 

[mselenaous]

PADI definitely doesn't require it in their basic OW program.... No way.

Actually it does as of the latest OW Update last Fall. It's on page 60 of the latest Instructor Manual.

Inflatable Signal Tube Use — Deploy an inflatablesignal tube at the surface, or deploy a delayed surface
marker buoy (DSMB) from underwater.​

The reality is very few divers need to know how to use them. One diver per group is about all that is actually needed, and if you are doing guided dives then that can be the DM and all is well.

Every diver needs to know how to use them. Divers become separated from groups all the time. You don't know where an individual diver will have the opportunity to dive, so better to be prepared than surprised or worse...lost.

I recall a thread about a group in Cozumel with a DM that the boat captain lost. They swam for several hours to make it back to shore...only 2 of the 9 divers had SMBs. Imagine if all 9 had deployed them on the surface the big cluster of bright orange would have made it easier to be found.

 

[boulderjohn]

I recall a thread about a group in Cozumel with a DM that the boat captain lost. They swam for several hours to make it back to shore...only 2 of the 9 divers had SMBs. Image if all 9 had deployed them on the surface the big cluster of bright orange would have made it easier to be found.

I have said this before--I cannot believe SMBs are not required for every diver in Cozumel. It is just to easy to arrive on the surface unnoticed. More than a few have drifted away never to be found over the years. If I owned a dive shop there, I would require every diver to carry one. If they don't own one, they could buy one from me or rent one at a minor cost. When I was diving in Australia last year, we were not only required to carry one, we were required to carry Nautilus Lifelines.

 

[macado]

I teach it as a surface skill with my PADI open water students and make sure everyone is familiar with their usage and purpose. As others have already stated, with the updated PADI open water course material it is a required skill that can be either be taught on surface or a depth.

For my advanced students, I require them to shoot a dSMB at depth.

 

[DoubleAA]

Our instructor showed us how to shoot a DSMB during our last open water dive and had me tow it during our safety stop. While the boat was anchored she wanted us to get the experience of doing a free ascent every time rather than coming up the anchor line everytime or hanging on the bar and wanted us to maintain depth/position during the safety stop in the slight current.

 

[Lorenzoid]

I would think towing a dive flag for the most part in CA would be difficult because of kelp. DSMB is much better.

Ah, I forgot about the kelp. That makes sense.

 

[dberry]

In our PADI OWC we "checked off" that skill by inflating a 4' SMB while floating on the surface with inflated BCDs. Other than showing us that an SMB exists and has a little tube into which one blows, it was fairly useless.

OTOH, after taking advice from SBers and then watching some YouTube videos of DSMB deployments gone wrong, I set up a reel and 6' sausage, and then practiced a few times on recent boat dives. Not exactly pretty. None were complete successes in terms of holding a constant depth safety stop, and I did manage to end up on the surface at the same time as the sausage on one occasion (no propellor marks down my back, fortunately.) I'll just have to practice more next month in Cozumel (after checking with the DM / captain.)

And yes, I totally agree this a skill that every (ocean?) diver needs to have in their "tool box".

-Don

 

[decompression]

I seem to recall that at depth deployment of an SMB isn't required but optional. Inflation at the surface is. Current PADI instructors correct?


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[Hawkwood]

I seem to recall that at depth deployment of an SMB isn't required but optional. Inflation at the surface is. Current PADI instructors correct?


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