Have you ever deployed a delayed surface marker buoy or been taught how to?

[boulderjohn]

folks use those "kite reels" for float/flag use around here. I prefer the cheap ratchet reels for that. DSMB is on a spool. Lift bag (deco) on a reel.

This is a diversion, but I thought someone might be amused by a story that combines both. I was holding just such a kite reel attached to the dive flag on the surface on a lazy drift dive in South Florida. Suddenly I felt it jerking in my hand, which I at first attributed to wave action. Than the flag started pulling me to the surface. I looked up and saw that the line led to a motorboat that was starting to speed away at full throttle. I wasn't sure what was going on, but I did not think I would win that battle, so I let go of the flag.

I got out my DSMB and a spool and sent it to the surface in place of the flag. Seconds later I saw a boat that was clearly the one I was using pull up, inspect the situation, and then take off.

Back on the boat, I learned that another boat (non-commercial) had had a solo diver in the water hunting. He had hooked the flag on the reef and gone off in search of prey. He had eventually surfaced far from the flag. His boat picked him up and then returned to get the flag. Of course, they mistook my flag for theirs. When their initial tugs did not pull it loose, they gunned the engine to break off the part of the reef to which they thought it was attached. All this time my boat was speeding toward them, blowing its horn and shouting at them over the loudspeaker. When they saw my DSMB and saw that I was OK, they went after the other boat to retrieve their flag.

 

[Dan]

That's what I prefer, too, but AFAIU that basically requires an open-bottom sausage. Which has its downsides, as it makes the sausage less suitable as a signaling device when you're on the surface.....

Looks like I need to change my open-bottom sausage to the closed-bottom one with mouthpiece to make sure it stays upright at the surface. My concern is as I launch the sausage from depth, the open-bottom one would tend to deflate as the bottom part shoot up and break over the surface.

 

[Kevrumbo]

I just added a 100’ (30m) yellow-line spool onto my existing 20’ (6m) black-line DSMB to keep the whole kit compact & fit in my BCD waist pocket. I use heavy-duty blue rubber-band over the spool to keep the yellow line from unraveling while sitting in the BCD pocket. A stainless-steel figure-8 caribiner is clipped around the rubber band as a tab to pull the rubber band off the spool for quick deployment.

View attachment 439152

In an easy drift dive, near safety stop depth, I just use the 20’ black line part of the DSMB kit, by unraveling the black line off the tube spool, leaving the yellow-line spool alone & dangling at the end of the black line, as shown below.

View attachment 439153

When I encounter a ripping current, requiring quick deployment at depth, up to 120’ (36m) depth, I would unravel the black line completely, then pull the rubber band off the yellow line spool, as shown below.

View attachment 439154

Let the yellow line unwind until the SMB reaching the surface.

Would that work?

Just add and have a double-ender boltsnap ready to secure the yellow spooline length that pays out when the DSMB finally surfaces. Otherwise looks like a workable solution especially if you have to deploy it by yourself without the aid of a buddy. . .

Pay special attention to your dive guides' briefing with regards to down currents, and take notice if they mention anything about incoming/outgoing tides & times coinciding along with New & Full Moon Phases (i.e. ripping current).

--Have a great time in Palau!

 

[Ayisha]

No, not at all. I spool it in, I just don’t worry about how cleanly my line is laying in the spool. Once The spool is clean and dried, I unspool however much I used and wrap it cleanly around the spool so it will not get tangled on my next deployment.

Yes, it's so important to ensure the line is wrapped cleanly before stowing or at least before the next time. Last summer in the St Lawrence river, we were drifting around Refugee Island and we were getting dangerously close to the "toilet bowl" of converging currents. The captain had asked us to deploy one of our DSMB's when we were at a certain location. A friend of mine, one of the divers in another buddy pair, took out her SMB on a spool and I saw that it was already messed up before coming out of her pocket. As she started to blow, it immediately started unwinding and wrapping around her and wrapped around her tank valve a few times in the whipping currents. I motioned my buddy to get closer and we went over to her and I pulled the line off her valve easily and freed that clear of her to go straight up with the SMB, but the rest was more complicated to unravel around her in the current. Her buddy took over helping her and I kept the line clear of all of us and makeshift wrapped it to the surface. Then with some of the line still on her, we had to face the captain when we surfaced, who said he's seen it so many times in that area of the river...

I think everyone learned that day how important it is to have a cleanly wrapped spool and to have minimal line out at any time, and how quickly converging currents can make a bad situation worse.

 

[Storker]

My concern is as I launch the sausage from depth, the open-bottom one would tend to deflate as the bottom part shoot up and break over the surface.

That's never been an issue for me. It's just that I can't lift it out of the water and wave it around.

 

[Steve_C]

I am always looking for opportunities to keep my bag shooting skills semi-sharp, but the irony is that when everything is going well on a dive (for instance, when I locate the anchor line for my ascent) then I have no chance to shoot a bag for practice.

However, if I miss the anchor line, especially in a wicked current, I better have my bag shooting skills down...

Perfect use of quarries. Practicing on a "real dive from a boat" has its issues. I dive some in local quarries and often shoot a bag on those dives.

It is not an identical skill but there is some crossover. In "Search and Recovery" there are dives and working with lift bags.

 

[Kharon]

When doing milfoil remediation and clean the lake dives it's a necessary skill. When marking mats to be rolled or one's that have been rolled and are ready for pickup it's very common to shoot a SMB and tie it off to the mat.

When doing a clean the lake dive you shoot one and tie it off to the bag when it's full so the surface crew can pick it up without you having to surface. I usually bring 3-4 so I can spend more bottom time before I have to surface to recover my empty bags and markers.

In both kinds of dives I've found it neccessary, on occasion, to inflate one or more lift bags. Similar skill but with my side exhaust Hollis 500SE I don't need to remove my reg to inflate it.

Added: And, no - I was never given instruction on how to do it in OW or any other course. Self taught (not rocket surgery).

 

[Bob DBF]

If you are out on any of the day boats from Ventura (Raptor, Peace, Spectre, Explorer), which I am guessing you might be due to your location, don't hesitate to let the DM or deckhand know before you dive that you are planning to deploy your SMB from depth on your safety stop for practice and that they shouldn't be alarmed when they see it. They will have no problem with you doing that.

I do that, and I make it clear that I will be close to the boat when practicing. No sense giving mixed signals.

After observing a situation that a DSMB was necessary, I purchaced one and taught myself to use one in a day, however I had been using lift bags for ages.


Bob

 

[boulderjohn]

however I had been using lift bags for ages.

When I first started doing ocean tech dives, lift bags were used pretty much 100% of the time to mark ascents. Only a few years later, the man who had been my trimix instructor back then told me that boat captains were telling him that people were starting to switch to DSMBs, and they could see them better. Those were the standard sizes most recreational divers use today. When I am doing an ocean tech dive today, I see nothing but DSMBs, and they are big hummers. I have one myself now.

One of the first times I saw one of those really big DSMBs, I saw something unusual about it, and during the 10 foot stop I drifted over by it to get a better look. The owner had written a message on it telling boats to stay away. A boat would have had to be within 10 feet to be able to read the message, and it was completely under water at the bottom of the bag.

 

[PfcAJ]

Lift bags are for lifting.

Surface markers are for marking.

You can tell because of the name.