Bright Orange and Yellow Wings and Thermal Suits

[highflowdiver]

It is not a gap in the evolution of safer diving. Do not rely on the color of your wet suit
for location while bobbing in the ocean. Use appropriate gear for that:sausage,gps,dye
marker, whistle, mirror, etc. Kal

 

[Teamcasa]

In other words, a properly trained diver does not need high visibility gear to function safely. The color of your gear should make no difference regarding your safety.

Properly trained divers never experience emergencies? Fewer maybe but never?

properly trained divers don't need brightly colored gear because properly trained divers don't get separated from their buddy.

Never?

The yellow hoses reportedly float and thus drift out of position, causing problems not alleviating problems.

I’m sorry, but this statement negates any credibility in your reply.

Do not rely on the color of your wet suit
for location while bobbing in the ocean. Use appropriate gear for that:sausage,gps,dye
marker, whistle, mirror, etc. Kal

It’s not relying on, it's just another visual aid, like a SMB, mirror or dye with the benifit that I don’t have to remember to bring it with me.
No one has posted one single quality or safety reason to support a 100% black setup other than it just looks good. Reason enough for many and I’m cool with that but it’s not enough to justify disparaging comments about other colors.

 

[Nemrod]

When (and hopefully not) you get run over by one of these it is usually fatal:

Gear used to be available in safety colors, it is rare now:

Fashion drives the industry, not function.

N

 

[Bismark]

Properly trained divers never experience emergencies? Fewer maybe but never?

Never?

I’m sorry, but this statement negates any credibility in your reply.

It’s not relying on, it's just another visual aid, like a SMB, mirror or dye with the benifit that I don’t have to remember to bring it with me.
No one has posted one single quality or safety reason to support a 100% black setup other than it just looks good. Reason enough for many and I’m cool with that but it’s not enough to justify disparaging comments about other colors.

I just read the post and didn't see anyone suggesting that anyone adopt a 100% black gear setup. Further, you are perpetuating a myth about "DIR gear needs to be black" that I thought had been beaten to death here on SB. Let me say it again: there is no colour "requirement" for gear in order to adopt a DIR approach to diving. As I posted on another thread, why are the strongest critiqes of DIR the ones nearly always the ones whose knowledge of DIR comes from the internet or what they heard from "a friend". Take a GUE class, ask as many questions as you like, then come back and speak from experience.

Further, the yellow hoses I am familiar with are most definitely more buoyant and they do cause issues in that they tend to come out of position from behind your neck. If you don't believe that, I have three to sell to you that we tried and no longer use for this reason.

 

[Bismark]

When (and hopefully not) you get run over by one of these it is usually fatal:

Gear used to be available in safety colors, it is rare now:

Fashion drives the industry, not function.

N

Absolutely. Let's just hope that pink is not the new black. BTW, the ladies snorkel is on the wrong side.......

Very nice boat. Is that a Scottish flag by the ladder?.......

 

[Web Monkey]

Regarding your search in Cancun -- properly trained divers don't need brightly colored gear because properly trained divers don't get separated from their buddy.

I'm not worried about losing my buddy, I'm worried about losing the boat.

My buddy and I drifted for almost an hour down the coast of Florida when we surfaced and found that the boat that was supposedly following our drift dive wasn't there.

Terry

 

[TSandM]

As Bismark says, there really isn't any DIR preference for black. In fact, you'll see a lot of WKPP folks diving DUI drysuits with the red inlays! I used to have a blue and white dry suit, and I dive a bright orange wing, and nobody has ever said anything to me about my motley outfit.

You have a good question, though, about why DIR DOESN'T recommend or standardize on high visibility colors, because one would think that such a safety-oriented agency would. We do, however, carry SMBs routinely for open ocean diving, and they're orange and very visible. I suspect the reason yellow isn't mandated is that, with the training we get, separation and searches are rare. That's not to say they're unknown, but it simply isn't enough of a problem to motivate a standards change.

I am starting to be "sold" but wondering if I could pass the fundies.

Lots of us don't pass . . . the first time. The value of the class is what it teaches you, and how your diving subsequently changes. Passing is necessary only for going on to GUE tech or cave classes.

 

[Teamcasa]

I just read the post and didn't see anyone suggesting that anyone adopt a 100% black gear setup. Further, you are perpetuating a myth about "DIR gear needs to be black" that I thought had been beaten to death here on SB. Let me say it again: there is no colour "requirement" for gear in order to adopt a DIR approach to diving. As I posted on another thread, why are the strongest critiqes of DIR the ones nearly always the ones whose knowledge of DIR comes from the internet or what they heard from "a friend". Take a GUE class, ask as many questions as you like, then come back and speak from experience.

I never mentioned DIR, GUE, ABC, CBS, NBC or any other TLA (three letter acronym). I do know and have dived many times with real serious, technically trained divers, the color of their gear was never a topic of concern. Like I've said many times, use whatever gear that makes your heart go pitter-patter.

Further, the yellow hoses I am familiar with are most definitely more buoyant and they do cause issues in that they tend to come out of position from behind your neck. If you don't believe that, I have three to sell to you that we tried and no longer use for this reason.

BTW, If your hose comes out of position, either it was routed incorrectly, is too buoyant under pressure or it needs to be replaced – regardless of it’s color. I’d go into a long explanation on hose buoyancy, micro holes, inner and outer jackets but that’s for another thread.

Cute boat Nemrod.

 

[Bismark]

As Bismark says, there really isn't any DIR preference for black. In fact, you'll see a lot of WKPP folks diving DUI drysuits with the red inlays! I used to have a blue and white dry suit, and I dive a bright orange wing, and nobody has ever said anything to me about my motley outfit.

You have a good question, though, about why DIR DOESN'T recommend or standardize on high visibility colors, because one would think that such a safety-oriented agency would. We do, however, carry SMBs routinely for open ocean diving, and they're orange and very visible. I suspect the reason yellow isn't mandated is that, with the training we get, separation and searches are rare. That's not to say they're unknown, but it simply isn't enough of a problem to motivate a standards change.



Lots of us don't pass . . . the first time. The value of the class is what it teaches you, and how your diving subsequently changes. Passing is necessary only for going on to GUE tech or cave classes.

Of all the DIR people I dive with, only one person has a black suit. Most of us have colours because, well, black is kind of boring........ and doesn't look good on camera. Like Lynne says, while emergencies can happen, by the time you are trained to the point of doing drifting blue water deco, you are a pretty switched on
as a diver and the odds of getting lost have become slimmer than say, for the average OW diver.......

Maybe we don't need bright coloured drysuits because our gloves are bright blue......

 

[Bismark]

BTW, If your hose comes out of position, either it was routed incorrectly, is too buoyant under pressure or it needs to be replaced – regardless of it’s color. I’d go into a long explanation on hose buoyancy, micro holes, inner and outer jackets but that’s for another thread.

Cute boat Nimrod.

You might have to go into your long explanation then; not sure how many divers use a long hose not under pressure. Seems to me if it being underpressure causes it to be too buoyant....I did think we were talking about using it diving and I don't know about you, but my 7' hose is usually pressurized.

Again, from experience, the yellow hoses I have seen have also been slightly larger in diameter than the black hoses sold by most shops and they are more buoyant. When manipulating the hoses, this buoyancy has caused enough of a problem for us to get rid of the hoses. Probably only a few thousand dives between us with this gear though, so I guess you can take that with a grain of salt..............