Deco hand signal?

[Dominik_E]

Should maybe have quoted, yes. I did not expect something this trivial to trigger such a strong reaction...

 

[tursiops]

(Should maybe have quoted)

Bingo!

 

[Fastmarc]

I try not to use the 'thumbs up' above the water because I find so instinctive to use it generally that I've caught myself about to use it in situations like if someone showed me something pretty cool under water. I'm now trying to use 'shaka' instead above water to get that to be the habit.
Hopefully that won't lead me to 'shaka-ing' if I need to abort a dive....

 

[Bagoose]

I developed a special signal for that and am waiting for the trademark before I openly release it to the public. In the interim, I'll hide in under a spoiler...

Spoiler

View attachment 558777

I like it and I think it might catch on

But depending on the situation there are more ways to handle an emergency/urgency. If you get a cramp on a voluntary safety stop you might wanna surface, while on a deco stop you should probably stay put

 

[The Chairman]

Tursiops, I was actually replying directly to

"I can't see it catching on."

by Graeme Fraser...

Use the Quote; that might help, otherwise there is no way to know to whom you are replying, other than to the post immediately above.

Ooh, ooh. ooh, there's a signal for that...

 

[Storker]

Since diving conditions here in Sweden usually mandates using a flashlight it's pretty useful to have one-handed signals. The traditional two-handed safety stop signal is pretty weird to do with a flashlight in one hand. Therefore I've been trying to introduce the pinky as a signal not only for deco stops but for safety stops as well.

Let me guess: you and your buddies use drygloves or 5-finger wetgloves, not 3-fingers. Amirite?

Around here, almost everybody dives dry. I'd guess that about half use neoprene drysuits. Neoprene drysuits are generally not very suitable for drygloves (or at least dryglove ring systems), so the majority of the neo DS divers I've met use wetgloves. Almost all of them use 3-fingers, because the water hardly ever gets warmer than some 15 degrees C, and may be as cold as 4-ish degrees C. If you're wearing 3-fingers, any hand signal which requires the use of the middle, ring or pinky finger has to be abandoned or modified. So, naturally, we all tend to avoid signals that require you to use the middle, ring or pinky finger.

It's one, two, five. Never three or four. Five is a closed fist, palm towards your buddy, since a splayed hand could mean either three or five. Numbers between five and ten are signaled as "five plus whatever". The pinky for deco/safety stop can't be given, so we have to find other ways to signal deco/safety stop.

Of course, the tech crowd usually use trilam suits and drygloves, which allow the use of all five fingers for signaling.

 

[Bagoose]

Let me guess: you and your buddies use drygloves or 5-finger wetgloves, not 3-fingers. Amirite?

Around here, almost everybody dives dry. I'd guess that about half use neoprene drysuits. Neoprene drysuits are generally not very suitable for drygloves (or at least dryglove ring systems), so the majority of the neo DS divers I've met use wetgloves. Almost all of them use 3-fingers, because the water hardly ever gets warmer than some 15 degrees C, and may be as cold as 4-ish degrees C. If you're wearing 3-fingers, any hand signal which requires the use of the middle, ring or pinky finger has to be abandoned or modified. So, naturally, we all tend to avoid signals that require you to use the middle, ring or pinky finger.

It's one, two, five. Never three or four. Five is a closed fist, palm towards your buddy, since a splayed hand could mean either three or five. Numbers between five and ten are signaled as "five plus whatever". The pinky for deco/safety stop can't be given, so we have to find other ways to signal deco/safety stop.

Of course, the tech crowd usually use trilam suits and drygloves, which allow the use of all five fingers for signaling.

Yep. I use wet gloves in the summer, but only when teaching (for flexibility). All other dives are dry gloves. Haven't seen many neoprene DS lately. But being flexible with which signals one can actually use is necessary. I know some who use the fist for 5 (or 50)... But it's not widely adopted around here. And some use it to signal 10, which makes it confusing

 

[Firebar]

The other is a two handed signal, up, with the thumb, in contact with a flat palm from the second hand. Followed with the depth.
A variation of the second with one hand is up, followed by stop, followed by depth.

Maybe this is a UK thing? I can't remember being taught a specific deco sign, maybe as it should be expected, but the "ascent thumb" with the other hand over it as a ceiling was definitely something I was taught, and we used it a lot for safety stops. Along with signalling the time or the depth under the same ceiling.

 

[84CJ7]

I don't recall learning a hand signal. I point to my computer, indicate I'm ascending a little bit and leveling off (thumbs up, hand flat - if you get my meaning). But maybe the pinky thing is the way to go? Throwing a shaka is how I indicate I'm super excited in Hawaii! Sorry - don't have time to read the entire thread.

I second that whole statement as exactly what I do, (even the I don't have time for 10 pages of crap part).

I also can't remember any more than the out of air signal. That's what you get when you try to teach a whole pile of signals in one class session and then never use them.

I don't tech dive, so the only people I see signalling correctly on dives are people in some sort of an official capacity trying to make sure their flock isn't dying or wandering off. Everyone else just makes up their own signals for the most part and I have seen what I quoted above used for safety stops quite often too.
Tapping your computer and making finger numbers gives your air as well though nobody seems to do it in quite the right way (its supposed to be on your arm or something isn't it?)

Actually since computers became the norm, the new made up point at the computer based language seems to be all I see.