Divers Found Drifting Way Offshore

[Soloist]

Deploying at 15' is harder than at 30' (I do it at about 45').

The deeper you deploy, the less you need to inflate it.

Agreed. I manually inflate my DSMB at depth (roughly 60 feet) while heading up for my safety stop. Typically the current is stronger at the surface, so if it’s ripping I want the captain to spot my marker sooner rather than later. To me it’s easier and safer to deploy at depth especially when slinging a pony and carrying loads of hunting gear.

 

[ggunn]

That's what a proper open water course teaches. Unfortunately, proper open water courses are the exception, not the rule.

My OW course did not include SMB deployment, but it was in 1994, so that might have been before they were invented.

 

[brsnow]

I might do it wrong but I put some air in from my regulator and let it go up with a finger spool. Seems to work but I didn’t get formal training

 

[ReefHound]

I might do it wrong but I put some air in from my regulator and let it go up with a finger spool. Seems to work but I didn’t get formal training

Some SMBs cannot be inflated that way.

 

[ggunn]

I might do it wrong but I put some air in from my regulator and let it go up with a finger spool. Seems to work but I didn’t get formal training

BTW, when you buy a finger spool the first thing you should do is strip all the line off and make sure the other end of the line is secured to the spool. You'd think they would come that way, but mine didn't.

 

[wetb4igetinthewater]

My OW course did not include SMB deployment, but it was in 1994, so that might have been before they were invented.

I believe you were also certified before fire was invented.

 

[tursiops]

The first Tropical Storm in both oceans.

Nope, not the first. See, for example: List of Atlantic–Pacific crossover hurricanes - Wikipedia

 

[DandyDon]

Nope, not the first. See, for example: List of Atlantic–Pacific crossover hurricanes - Wikipedia

Yeah, I meant for this year. I remember others in past years.

 

[pauldw]

Since in Florida, a smb is not proper dive equipment (only a flag with the red stripe is adequate by law) their use is often not included in scuba classes. The use of a flag, however, was covered in my class, my wife's class, and my daughter's class.

SMBs are covered in AOW and other courses because they are proper dive equipment, useful for a variety of reasons, regardless of jurisdictional lines. Saying they aren't proper equipment just because there isn't a law that requires them, is just silly.

Dive flags exists to keep boats away from dive spots. In reality, they frequently do just the opposite, but YMMV. With regard to boats, SMBs exist to get a boat to come to you (a boat that should already be flying dive flags).

 

[deepsea21]

The first time you have to surface for whatever reason before the dive group or a DM can accompany you with DSMB's... Well, you'll learn the hard way why you want to carry one and know how to deploy it. Having to surface just once with sound of whirring props and boats running around that you can't see but can hear is not a happy place to be. That last 5' to the surface really sucks and once you surface you're just a little bobbing head that sits maybe 1' above the water at best between the waves you can't see over and no boat captain can see you bobbing in between... Raising and waving your arm may add another foot to that. Get a DSMB and learn how to deploy it.