How to Communicate Air Level

[Rainer]

I like people to show me the gauge, it's quicker. The divers you really have to keep an eye on sometimes don't read it right anyway, I find.

It never fails I get the pilots doing all the side ways hand stuff...so I just figure, "you're a pilot, so hopefully I can trust you to watch your air"

I personally don't find it quicker, but I do agree that if I were ever diving with my non-regular buddies, I'd just ask to see it. I trust my two regular buddies, but couldn't say the same about a stranger.

 

[Dan Gibson]

Looks like he might need to dig through the bottom of the pool to hit his defined ss

You're right, what's some people's **** is others gold.....looks like otherS beside me pass it(little pinky up) along as a SS..............click the link, 5th down on the right side........

http://www.scubadiver.cc/handsignals/uwbasic.htm

 

[Dan Gibson]

Depends on the buddy

KISS method.

 

[diver 85]

Because it requires my forearm be in front of me. What if I'm dumping gas at the same time, or reattaching my SPG, or a dozen other things that could be occupying my left arm as I flash with my right? Do you seriously think it takes significantly MORE time to flash extra 5s as opposed to reaching over to your other forearm? For us, it's such a rare thing to need to check each other's gas (we either know, or just go by signals for "turn" and "ascend") that its never been a concern to shave off one second from a dive. There's also less chance for confusion using 5s (e.g. take 2000PSI, for you I need to notice the difference between one and two fingers across your forearm, both of which might be in black neoprene, versus catching four flashes).

I would think even more importantly is you'll now be prepared when your left arm is severed @ the elbow up.....You'll be able to flash those 1000 lbers(with one hand)........

 

[dlndavid]

KISS method.

You can determine tank reserves from a KISS ?

 

[diver 85]

Looks like he might need to dig through the bottom of the pool to hit his defined ss

Why you think he has that shovel strapped across his privates, to prevent shark bites???...btw, it's work correctly over 300 times @ 120 feet+ in Roatan, but, maybe that's only good @ 'the Island of de Roatan'.....

 

[Dan Gibson]

I'll be at CCV in June, so we shall see.

Why you think he has that shovel strapped across his privates, to prevent shark bites???...btw, it's work correctly over 300 times @ 120 feet+ in Roatan, but, maybe that's only good @ 'the Island of de Roatan'.....

 

[ClayJar]

Why not use another symbol for 1k psi???....The one I've seen used more & the one I use is your index finger over your forearm, 2 fingers for 2k etc etc........sort of like the pinky up for 15'/3 min SS.....short & sweet.....

You know, the situation is, in fact, rather parallel to ideogrammic versus alphabetic written languages.

Having particular signals for half pressure, kpsi, safety stop, etc. is similar to the way Kanji functions. You end up having to memorize a larger set of signals, but anything within that vocabulary can be signaled directly without "spelling it out".

On the other hand, using one handed numbers for digits and signals for generic things (such as one signal "level" for the depth to swim along a wall, the depth of your deep or safety stops, etc.) means you have a much smaller vocabulary, but instead of saying "safety stop" as a single signal, you end up saying something like "ascend-level-1-5". It would be similar to how our alphabet works.

With the "alphabetic" signaling methods, you trade longer sentences for flexibility and simplicity. If you want to say, "let's do a 5-minute safety stop", you just signal "ascend-level-1-5-hold-5-minutes", for example, which would be exactly the same sentence as a deep stop, just with different digits (e.g. "ascend-level-7-5-hold-2-minutes").

I taught the basic signals to my buddy's dad on the ride to a dive. All he needed was "pressure", "depth", "NDL", "time", and the digits, and he was able to communicate all the pertinent dive information we like to share. He had no idea what deep stops were, and he wasn't that interested in air consumption (other than our rock-bottom plan), but we incorporated all that without any difficulty. That pretty much sold me on the "alphabetic" manner of primary dive information communication. For things like flora and fauna, sure, we have a signal for each, but for "buddy/plan management information", we're solidly in the "simple words in sentences" camp.

 

[Dan Gibson]

You lost me in the first sentence, but I got it by the end.

You know, the situation is, in fact, rather parallel to ideogrammic versus alphabetic written languages.

Having particular signals for half pressure, kpsi, safety stop, etc. is similar to the way Kanji functions. You end up having to memorize a larger set of signals, but anything within that vocabulary can be signaled directly without "spelling it out".

On the other hand, using one handed numbers for digits and signals for generic things (such as one signal "level" for the depth to swim along a wall, the depth of your deep or safety stops, etc.) means you have a much smaller vocabulary, but instead of saying "safety stop" as a single signal, you end up saying something like "ascend-level-1-5". It would be similar to how our alphabet works.

With the "alphabetic" signaling methods, you trade longer sentences for flexibility and simplicity. If you want to say, "let's do a 5-minute safety stop", you just signal "ascend-level-1-5-hold-5-minutes", for example, which would be exactly the same sentence as a deep stop, just with different digits (e.g. "ascend-level-7-5-hold-2-minutes").

I taught the basic signals to my buddy's dad on the ride to a dive. All he needed was "pressure", "depth", "NDL", "time", and the digits, and he was able to communicate all the pertinent dive information we like to share. He had no idea what deep stops were, and he wasn't that interested in air consumption (other than our rock-bottom plan), but we incorporated all that without any difficulty. That pretty much sold me on the "alphabetic" manner of primary dive information communication. For things like flora and fauna, sure, we have a signal for each, but for "buddy/plan management information", we're solidly in the "simple words in sentences" camp.

 

[Thalassamania]

I guess it must be an insta-buddy thing, someone reminds me to look at my SPG fine, but they should be able to trust my ability to decide if it's alright. An OK should be a sufficient answer.