Insane hand signals Thumbs Up = Bad

[Walter]

I'm sorry. This is not correct. There are contexts in diving where a thumb absolutely DOES mean end the dive and surface.

It is correct. It only means end the dive if you are unable to speak in complete sentences. Everything must be taken in context.

 

[PerroneFord]

Ok Walter.

 

[RICHinNC]

Hmmm... my first thought had to do with "stand up/hook up," then serial slapping of your buddy on the butt... er, thigh.

But for 40 years??

Actually when I was throwing myself out of perfectly good airplanes (yea, right) our "OK" sign was the circled fingers....as taught in dive classes.

But with every other aspect of training or actual mission, the thumbs up sign was always used to signify OK. As for 40 years......20+ in the military and the rest as a military contractor.

 

[doghouse]

True, as with everything context is important.

I.E. DI and I are doing air share drills. He signals to start the next drill and I will be the Low Air person.

I signal Thumbs up, then waive that off signal OK, he signals OK, we start the drill I signal Low Air, we air share. DI signals OK, I signal Thumbs up waive Ok , ok. I look like I am having a seizure under water rather than signaling .

I just had to get that off my chest.

 

[Marek K]

Actually when I was throwing myself out of perfectly good airplanes (yea, right) our "OK" sign was the circled fingers....as taught in dive classes.

Hmmm... yeah... I couldn't remember if "OK" and "All OK" was a thumbs up or circled fingers. But now that you mention it, it was circled fingers.

Brings back memories... horrible acrophobic memories...

 

[RICHinNC]

Yep, the last guy in the jump stick (the first guy in the door) gave the "ALL OK" sign when the guy behind him slapped his butt and screamed in his ear OK. It was the last jumper in the stick (again, first in the door) to give the final clearance to the Jump Master that all were ready to jump. That occured on each side of the plane.

Just noticed you live in Poland. I am heading to Germany this Saturday to train up some units in the Mannheim area. Cant wait until we start training units out side of Germany that now welcome our troops.

 

[riguerin]

I like the "shaka," brah! That works!! I'll be incorporating that into my u/w repertoire of signs.

Fly it proudly, brah !:14:

On a slightly serious note ... like any UW signal, it's important that everyone is on the same page. You and your buddies really should discuss and agree on signals and use ahead of time.

Incorporating a shaka sign is a fairly reasonable thing to do here in So Cal. The surfing culture is so highly integrated in the mainstream culture, pretty much everyone is familiar with it. That may not be the case in other parts of the country or world.

We like to use it instead of the OK sign when trying to convey stoke (i.e. feelings of joy, excitement, or exhilaration). We tend to reserve the OK sign for communicating more important information regarding dive/diver status - Q: "Are you OK ?", A: "Yes, everything is OK ... proceed as planned".

Good luck and dive safe.

 

[HowardE]

Fly it proudly, brah !:14:

Michelle and I use the shaka to sign that we're sighted a turtle (a la "Finding Nemo")

 

[do it easy]

Yeah it's a little confusing at first but thumbs up means "let's go up". What you probably want to convey is something like "cool".

No worries, dude ... here's what we do in So Cal. Start with your basic thumbs up sign, then extend your pinkie. Now you're sport'n a shaka sign.

Everytime I see a shaka, I think it's a combination of "problem" and the thumb. No worries- I know what what it means, I just don't use it myself.

 

[Marek K]

Yep, the last guy in the jump stick (the first guy in the door) gave the "ALL OK" sign when the guy behind him slapped his butt and screamed in his ear OK.

No. Jeez. It wasn't a slap on the butt... That would be so... so... un-Airborne. It was a slap on the thigh.

Really. Those chute packs came down so far that you couldn't get to the guy's butt if you tried. Right?

(I'm sure someone will find a punch-line here.)