Orange / Yellow DSMBs - and their use as signals in Tech Dives?

[scubadada]

THANK YOU RJP! I was trying to get this into words.


What surprises me is that nobody has yet said anything about marking the bag with your initials etc. When a bag appears on the surface the binoculars come out, and the user announces "That's xxxxxxxxx".

If I'm diving in the NE, my initials will be on the bag/sausage. If I'm elsewhere, I'm perfectly willing to follow local color (colour) norms.

I have my name prominently marked at the top of my 6 foot orange SMB. The most common use of the SMB for me is ascending at the end of a drift dive in South Florida away from the dive flag. This is certainly not an emergency and requires no extraordinary activity.

Best, Craig

 

[joystershell]

What Color is Your Parachute Bag?

Studies done in the transportation sector prove the best color for high visibility worker clothing is fluorescent safety orange because that color is the most visible from the greatest distance. A fluorescent yellow-green color, while not as visible at distance, offers better night visibility and is also a better choice for signage because it provides more contrast for lettering.
Recently some some groups of divers have informally assigned meaning to bag color. Shooting an orange bag or marker is supposed to indicate a normal situation to surface support. The appearance of a yellow color may mean that the diver has an abnormal situation and requires assistance from the surface. However, there is absolutely no color standard along with considerable confusion about color and we've even seen bags that were yellow on one side and orange on the other.
Our recommendations: If visibility is most important, then orange is proven by far to be the best color choice for distance visibility during daylight hours. Choose yellow for night visibility or if you intend to use it for some form of signaling or identification. We respectfully suggest reconsidering any dive plan which depends on the color of the bag to signal for help.

 

[Charlie99]

We respectfully suggest reconsidering any dive plan which depends on the color of the bag to signal for help.

Why?

Any color works as long as all parties involved are aware of the meaning.

If your dive plan depends upon some unknown stranger responding to your bag, that's when I'd suggest reconsidering the dive plan.

 

[Wookie]

A lift bag means that there is something on the end of the line that needs to be hauled up on the boat. Flooded scooter, bell from the Andrea Doria, stoned stringer of fish. If a diver is on a lift bag, well, they are coming up or letting go of their reel.

An orange SMB means I am on deco, and I'm away from the up line. There is no emergency, but please send someone to monitor me. If a surface support diver is available, send them on down to find out how I am.

A Yellow SMB (I still think they are safety green) means I need gas of some variety, so send a support diver with a 40 of O2 and a 40 of 50%. Make sure the regulators have a LP inflator hose on them in case I am a rebreather diver.

Yes, we brief the SMB rules before the dive. Yes, we make sure all divers are properly equipped with enough junk.

I respectfully suggest that if you can't arrange for immediate support from the surface by deploying a previously briefed emergency signal, then prepare to die. But then, I carry an awful lot of tech divers.

 

[String]

Most inland sites here have the yellow for emergency rules. For example, worded like this:

Yellows SMBs should only be used in emergencies.

Its taught on most core 2nd level or higher diving courses as well and in the student notes:

DSMB used to indicate an emergency
Orange/Red deployed under normal conditions
Yellow deployment indicates a problem (Surface support to initiate emergency protocol)

All tech agencies and can think of teach yellow for emergency as well. Europe its an emergency signal, ditto Egypt.

 

[lowviz]

Some of the guys down here in SOCAL are starting to use this system; however, they are using a yellow DSMB for ascent and an orange one to indicate a problem. ........................

Why is the US color code the reverse? Problem with Orange for OK is both Orange and Red have a less than "all is OK" history in the US.

We grew up with: hospital 'code red' meaning fire, then there are brake lights, road flares, police lights, terrorist threat color code, finances in the red, the Cold War 'red phone'.

-skip the last one, there are only about six people left who know what that meant. Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb (1964) - IMDb (if I'm forced to back up my assertation with an authoritative reference)

 

[DevonDiver]

Why is the US color code the reverse?

I don't know. Why do you also drive on the wrong side of the road?

Recently some some groups of divers have informally assigned meaning to bag color.

The system has been around for decades and is 'formal' in many regions.... but is new to the USA.

 

[Kern]

Why is the US color code the reverse? Problem with Orange for OK is both Orange and Red have a less than "all is OK" history in the US.

We grew up with: hospital 'code red' meaning fire, then there are brake lights, road flares, police lights, terrorist threat color code, finances in the red, the Cold War 'red phone'.

-skip the last one, there are only about six people left who know what that meant. Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb (1964) - IMDb (if I'm forced to back up my assertation with an authoritative reference)

Come on, tell the truth, you're just a bunch of cantankerous, ornery, curmudgeons, & probably drongos to boot. Come on, admit it, you guys have been doing this sort of stuff for ever.

"Hey mate, give us a gallon of XXXX"
"There ya go"
"Just a minute, this isn't a gallon"
"Nah, we didn't like those gallons, so we invented our own"

"I'v just invented a dive flag"
"Doesn't everyone use the Alpha flag for that all ready"
"We don't care about international conventions, we want one of our own"
"But it doesn't meet the 1st rule of signal flags"
"I just told ya, we don't care about conventions"

"Are you sure thats how its spelt"
"We don't care what everyone else does, & whats a cereal crop got to do with this anyway"

"Pardon me, what do dove's have to do with diving"
"You're foreign, aren't ya"

"Lets invent a colour coded DSMB scheme"
bang, bang, bang.
"I was geten real sick of that guy"


I can understand about driving on the right side of the road though. I started a campaign to have it changed over here in my youth. Unfortunately, all the ten pound Poms banded together & conspired to defeat the motion. Bloody "White Australia Policy."

 

[scadreau]

I think some sort of agreement among divers would be a great thing. If you are diving an area and another boat is also diving the site, that boat may see the bag. If they weren't at the briefing, they will not know its meaning. If there is a consensus, they would know that if they see bag/smb ZYX, send help no matter what.

Just thinking out loud...

 

[lowviz]

Come on, tell the truth, you're just a bunch of cantankerous, ornery, curmudgeons, & probably drongos to boot. Come on, admit it, you guys have been doing this sort of stuff for ever........................

-could be another explanation.