Pressure left hand signals

[Brett Hatch]

Whatever the guide requests, for guided — which IME varies wildly around the world and gets further confused in mixed psi/bar groups.

psi:
-thousands on the arm, hundreds out front (one, seven = 1700)
-hundreds on one hand (five five five two = 1700)
-digits on one hand cave/aviation ( one finger up palm out, two fingers sideways back out = 1700)
-digits on one hand ASL (hard to articulate, look it up)

Also, usually only use those below half a (rec) tank; OK above half, two-handed T at half.

With my regular buddy and no guide: hundreds on one hand, just ‘cause we’re used to it.

This is exactly right. The right answer, of course, is that it depends. I have used the first 3 you described here. Have never used the ASL one... seems like few people would, since "9" looks like "OK". However I have never dived with a deaf person, so maybe my experience on this will change some day

The most important thing is that all parties understand what is meant, and when this information needs to be communicated (early and often? just when close the turn pressure? every 10 minutes or so? etc). The one and only way to ensure that everyone is on the same page is to discuss it verbally before the dive. Good DMs are always proactive about this, and good dive buddies should strive to do the same

The most important information to discuss pre-dive are: what is our good-case-scenario expected turn pressure, and what is our bad-case-scenario bailout pressure?

BTW, one advantage to using an air-integrated computer is that you can change the units from psi to bar, or vice versa, to match your buddy's / DM's units. I did exactly this in the Philippines in February when my buddy used rental gear from different shops throughout the trip. 2 dive shops used bar, 1 dive shop used psi. Matching units here means you don't have to remember 2 different quantities for an hour

 

[Badger7]

BTW, one advantage to using an air-integrated computer is that you can change the units from psi to bar, or vice versa, to match your buddy's / DM's units. Matching units here means you don't have to remember 2 different quantities for an hour

Couldn't agree more, even in an analog sense. I use this SPG so I don't ever have to do the math when diving with new metric friends.

 

[ofg-1]

If your buddy swims up to you grabs your tank, rips your mouthpiece out of your mouth, knocks your mask off in the process, does that count as a hand signal?

 

[NothingClever]

If your buddy swims up to you grabs your tank, rips your mouthpiece out of your mouth, knocks your mask off in the process, does that count as a hand signal?

Most definitely.

That signal is for “I didn’t check my SPG like I was trained to. Now I have zero PSI (bar) and would like to share my panic with you while you try to figure out what’s wrong with me and save my lame a$$.”

 

[lowwall]

Whatever the guide requests, for guided — which IME varies wildly around the world and gets further confused in mixed psi/bar groups.

psi:
-thousands on the arm, hundreds out front (one, seven = 1700)
-hundreds on one hand (five five five two = 1700)
-digits on one hand cave/aviation ( one finger up palm out, two fingers sideways back out = 1700)
-digits on one hand ASL (hard to articulate, look it up)

Also, usually only use those below half a (rec) tank; OK above half, two-handed T at half.

With my regular buddy and no guide: hundreds on one hand, just ‘cause we’re used to it.

Same here.

Except it's just possible that on one or two occasions I threw in an exaggerated T when I hit half on a safety stop because some numpty who should have known better wouldn't pay for the larger tank they clearly needed.

 

[Brett Hatch]

If your buddy swims up to you grabs your tank, rips your mouthpiece out of your mouth, knocks your mask off in the process, does that count as a hand signal?

That there's a hand-to-hand combat signal

 

[tmassey]

digits on one hand ASL (hard to articulate, look it up)

I know a little bit of ASL, including the numbers, but I wouldn’t use this one, because it is confusing for people who don’t actually know it: somebody already mentioned the similarity to the OK, plus the 3/6 confusion. I would use the hand up/hand down to avoid confusion and to be consistent with most other divers.

However, I think everyone who SCUBA dives should learn the ASL finger alphabet. It’s so much easier to sign even a single word than it is to try to play charades underwater.

I miss diving with my daughter, who also knew a little bit of ASL. We could actually have a very simple and brief conversation clearly and easily. Something like: “Where do you want to go?” “Let’s go back to the sunken boat.“ “OK, five more minutes and then let’s be done.“ “Sounds good let’s go!“

It doesn’t take much effort to learn that level of sign language, especially when you can use finger spelling to fill-in for words you may not know or remember.

 

[NW Dive Dawg]

We use one hand flashing with the total counted fingers indicating the total PSI in hundreds. So for example......1300psi remaining would simply be: 5 -5 - 3. 1800psi would be 5-5-5-3. 800psi would be 5-3.

 

[OTF]

If there is ANY doubt, risk, or possible cause for miscommunication I prefer to look at their gauge or show them mine. It's simple enough to do.

 

[stiebs]

I try to always use the 1-5 vertical, 6-9 horizontal. It's what I teach, and if I'm diving with new buddies that use something else will try to steer them that way. I'm not in the US so I use bar. Teaching students, I'll ask for all digits, eg "1" "7" "0". But with my buddies, the first two digits are sufficient.

I advise *against* using ASL, especially if you intend on traveling. In Aus, we use Auslan, not ASL. And they are very different. The point of scuba hand signals is that they are universal across languages and countries. Using ASL breaks that.