Deploying DSMB

[phoenix31tt]

I like bag shooting, but I didn't when I was learning! It took a while to figure out how to manage the whole buoyancy shift thing. So, if other people reading this don't get the OP's immediate success, don't despair -- you WILL figure it out.

true that... I've read the stories... which is part of why it came natural... read read read, look at videos etc to me it helps alot... i don't have an instructor or experienced buddy on hand most times to teach me these things so I do my best to gather information via sources like this forum.

Or you hand the spool to your buddy, then you have both hands free to quickly inflate the thing with your octo and just let it go...

i'd prefer for us to be able to shoot without each others help as we should be able to shoot if we're separated

 

[dfx]

i'd prefer for us to be able to shoot without each others help as we should be able to shoot if we're separated

I don't know about you, but if I lose my buddy, I'd worry about other things than popping a sausage...

 

[phoenix31tt]

I don't know about you, but if I lose my buddy, I'd worry about other things than popping a sausage...

well let me explain it to you a little better...

in the unlikely event that i lose my buddy, standard operating procedure is search for 1 min then surface... drift diving in 3-6 foot swells this would mean shooting a bag...

not to mention, our diving philosophy (me and my wife/buddy) is that you should be fully self sufficient under the water and not rely on your buddy for anything, but be able to render assistance when needed, so that's how we practice... while losing a buddy should not happen, it can and you should be prepared to surface without buddy assistance

 

[dfx]

well let me explain it to you a little better...

in the unlikely event that i lose my buddy, standard operating procedure is search for 1 min then surface... drift diving in 3-6 foot swells this would mean shooting a bag...

It does? How so? If I can't find my buddy after a minute of searching under water, I'd just head to the surface ASAP and hopefully find her there. If I still need to be found by my boat afterwards, I can inflate the sausage at the surface.

not to mention, our diving philosophy (me and my wife/buddy) is that you should be fully self sufficient under the water and not rely on your buddy for anything, but be able to render assistance when needed, so that's how we practice... while losing a buddy should not happen, it can and you should be prepared to surface without buddy assistance

Yes, and when you pop the SMB, you could need some assistance.

I'm not saying that you shouldn't be able to deploy the SMB yourself without assistance, but since most of the time (hopefully) you'll have your buddy around when you do so, why not use another hand if it makes things easier? And like I said, if I lose my buddy, I really wouldn't want to waste any time with popping my sausage...

 

[phoenix31tt]

It does? How so? If I can't find my buddy after a minute of searching under water, I'd just head to the surface ASAP and hopefully find her there. If I still need to be found by my boat afterwards, I can inflate the sausage at the surface.

it's better for us to immediately shoot for two reasons...

1. to minimize the chances of being run over by a boat (shooting after surfacing does not help that)...

2. it'd make more sense to let the boat know as soon as possible that he has two targets to look out for (the buddy with the float and the smb that came up).. i see no reason in delaying

Yes, and when you pop the SMB, you could need some assistance.

I'm not saying that you shouldn't be able to deploy the SMB yourself without assistance, but since most of the time (hopefully) you'll have your buddy around when you do so, why not use another hand if it makes things easier? And like I said, if I lose my buddy, I really wouldn't want to waste any time with popping my sausage...

that's why we practice as we do... so we wont need assistance...

it's like valve drills, its much easier for a buddy to switch on/off ur valve.. but will you practice that way?

And like I said, if I lose my buddy, I really wouldn't want to waste any time with popping my sausage...

and another point as to practicing self sufficiency... i wouldn't have that problem if it happens because i would already be proficient in deploying on my own and thus the time would be insignificant .. but more importantly.. see my answer above... i'd much rather the safer option

 

[TSandM]

I think shooting a bag if you get separated is an excellent idea -- it makes the diver much more visible, and if the buddy ends up on the surface first, he can see the bag and know where his companion is going to come up. The only caveat is that you have to be able to do it quickly.

I'll tell a story on me and my favorite dive buddy: The first dive we did together was at a site called Edmonds Underwater Park here in Seattle. It's a very shallow site, with a max depth of about 40 feet at high tide . . . which means much of the site is about 10 to 15 feet deep at low tide, which is when we decided to dive it (big mistake!). We were practicing skills, both having recently gotten provisional ratings from Fundies, and I can't remember which skill I was doing, but I corked. We were, therefore, by definition separated.

My buddy remembered the "search for a minute and then surface" rule, but decided to shoot a bag to come up. (Don't ask me why, in ten feet of water, but he did.) However, since both of us were very new to bag shooting, it took him about six minutes to get the bag shot and begin his ascent. We'd gotten quite thoroughly separated by wind and surface current by the time his head poked out of the water.

Nowadays, that would be about a one-minute exercise, but we've practiced a bit in the intervening years . . .

 

[rivers]

It does? How so? If I can't find my buddy after a minute of searching under water, I'd just head to the surface ASAP and hopefully find her there. If I still need to be found by my boat afterwards, I can inflate the sausage at the surface.

i lost my buddy on a drift once (I hit a cross current or something and just stopped. He kept going). He had the blob. In the UK, you don't surface without a dsmb. Far too much boat traffic, swells, etc. I had no choice but to put my blob up to surface. Luckily, my torch lit up my dsmb like a Christmas tree, and he saw it, positioned himself in the direction I was headed, and we found each other.

 

[fdog]

If the vis is bad enough that I've lost my buddy, yes, I'll send a bag. I have enough confidence in my buoyancy skills to do my ascent (with the appropriate stops and rate of ascent) in free water without references, but why? Make it easy and launch a bag.

Besides, the other diver may surface first. It's a nice fuzzy for them to surface, see your bag, and both know where you are, and, know that you are doing the same thing.


All the best, James

 

[EMiles]

I am ashamed to tell the story but I had to shoot a bag due to buddy separation. We were doing a deep trimix scooter dive and were decoding out while scootering back to shore. We screwed up our navigation just a little bit and end up in some chutes/channels that were insane when the swell came through. We were tumbled around and separated. He was on a rebreather so his deco was clear but mine wasnt. After getting my self under control I looked up (maybe 20-30 feet) and could see him surface scootering around. I could have ascended but figured why run the risk of cutting my deco short. I quickly shot a bag and within a minute he was there. We laugh now but it was seriously scary at the time


Anyway, my opinion is you need to be able to quickly shoot a bag by yourself.

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[phoenix31tt]

Wow, learned something new on my last bag deploy..
Depth is not the only thing to take into consideration when deciding how much spool line you need.

Deploying from 60' on a drift with 100' of line... The surface current was so strong it pulled out all the extra 40' of line and started pulling me along!!

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