Have you ever deployed a delayed surface marker buoy or been taught how to?
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That's the only way I have deployed a SMB. What I never understood is where the word "delayed" came from. It seemed to me that waiting until you are on the surface would be delayed.
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Remove what we think of as a "SMB" being the safety sausages, and think about it is a general marker of your position on the surface.
A "surface marker buoy" is something like a dive flag that you are toting around during the whole dive to mark your position on the surface. It is deployed immediately and for the entire duration of the dive
a "delayed surface marker buoy" is one that has its deployment "delayed" until some point later in the dive
On a related note, I'm rarely heavy enough near the end of a dive to make the buoy stand up. It just lays on the surface until I get the the surface and get my head out of the water. I usually wrap the line (1" webbing in my case) under my fin to make it easy to keep vertical.
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This is a great question
I was self-taught when I started drift diving in SE Florida about 10 years ago. Prior to that, I carried a surface inflated marker and never had to use it. Deploying a SMB was not taught in my OW or AOW class, but that was quite a while ago. I was required to deploy a SMB twice during my SDI Solo Diver course, once from the primary and once from the pony. By the time I took this class, I had been deploying a SMB periodically for 5 or 6 years. I use a spool rather than a reel.
Much of my drift diving is solo and I have my flag on a reel and no need to routinely deploy a marker. When I have others with me, I generally carry the flag also. As they say, the person with the flag is never lost
. I dive with some operators who put a DM in the water with a flag. As you are not required to stay and ascend with the DM, not infrequently, I send up my marker. On a few occasions, the line to a wreck has been "mistakenly" removed before I finished my dive and I made my ascent on my SMB. This is particularly important when there is brisk current as you can cover a lot of territory between the ascent and the safety stop. I used my SMB several times in the Red Sea and was prepared to use it in Cocos, but never had to.
Deploying a SMB is an important, perhaps even a critical skill, if one dives in situations where it would be needed. Many divers probably never dive in those situations. Deploying a SMB should probably be taught in AOW with a couple of observed deployments, perhaps once on the deep dive and once on the navigation dive. Divers who need the skill will continue to use it, others never will, but will at least know about it.
I was self-taught when I started drift diving in SE Florida about 10 years ago. Prior to that, I carried a surface inflated marker and never had to use it. Deploying a SMB was not taught in my OW or AOW class, but that was quite a while ago. I was required to deploy a SMB twice during my SDI Solo Diver course, once from the primary and once from the pony. By the time I took this class, I had been deploying a SMB periodically for 5 or 6 years. I use a spool rather than a reel.
Much of my drift diving is solo and I have my flag on a reel and no need to routinely deploy a marker. When I have others with me, I generally carry the flag also. As they say, the person with the flag is never lost
. I dive with some operators who put a DM in the water with a flag. As you are not required to stay and ascend with the DM, not infrequently, I send up my marker. On a few occasions, the line to a wreck has been "mistakenly" removed before I finished my dive and I made my ascent on my SMB. This is particularly important when there is brisk current as you can cover a lot of territory between the ascent and the safety stop. I used my SMB several times in the Red Sea and was prepared to use it in Cocos, but never had to.Deploying a SMB is an important, perhaps even a critical skill, if one dives in situations where it would be needed. Many divers probably never dive in those situations. Deploying a SMB should probably be taught in AOW with a couple of observed deployments, perhaps once on the deep dive and once on the navigation dive. Divers who need the skill will continue to use it, others never will, but will at least know about it.
I thought the "delayed" part was intended to differentiate between a marker deployed after a diver had reached the surface and a marker deployed by a diver whose surfacing will be further delayed for some reason.
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I have heard both reasons, however I remember hearing the "delayed" vs. something like a dive flag from one of the real old timers, but I think either is applicable
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