Safety Sausage

[Elvistheking]

I don't agree that's it's generally considered the "I'm in the poo" signal. Maybe in the UK it is

Yep some places swap them over (Yellow= I'm coming up. orange= Oh poo), buy the right one for the area you dive in (I'm fairly certain I said just that).

If my boat crew saw another boat approaching my SMB - let alone trying to clip a deco bottle on to it to slide down - they'd tell them to *** off and mind their own business

YMMV

By that logic if a boat saw a diver in trouble on the surface whilst "their" boat was 1/2 a mile off picking up another group then they would leave it to, in an emergency at sea everyone (should) lend a hand!

IMO yellow should only be considered an emergency signal if it has been previously agreed as such. Some people (me, sometimes) carry two, one red and one yellow - but yellow coming up could still mean I lost/broke my red one. If I want a deco bottle sent down, I'll attached a wetnotes page to the SMB with a note asking for it

It has it's a convention, not always followed but it's being striven towards (is that even a word?), hence the small but real chance. I personally carry 2, a main orange and a small backup orange usually, if I'm doing any deco I'll add a third yellow.

Any boat crew that slides bottles down to divers that don't even belong to their boat are running a risk of getting themselves up on a manslaughter charge and should probably rethink their procedures

I think they would be successful in court, especialy on balance of probabilities.
"The convention is Orange means I'm comming up, yellow I'm in trouble, the boat he was diving off was approx. 1/2 a mile away dealing with another group of divers when we spotted a yellow SMB so we did what we could"

 

[Tortuga68]

We're off topic a little, but I think it's still relative to discuss the potential perils or otherwise of using a yellow SMB... although I would note though that since we're in Basic Scuba I would suggest most people won't be doing deco dives

By that logic if a boat saw a diver in trouble on the surface whilst "their" boat was 1/2 a mile off picking up another group then they would leave it to, in an emergency at sea everyone (should) lend a hand!

I agree... the question is, is there an emergency, and what is the appropriate response to it? I don't think sliding deco bottles down the lines of random divers who aren't even from your boat is it. Seeing a diver in trouble on the surface is different to seeing a yellow SMB IMO

...it's a convention, not always followed but it's being striven towards (is that even a word?), hence the small but real chance. I personally carry 2, a main orange and a small backup orange usually, if I'm doing any deco I'll add a third yellow

If you send up the yellow one, what response do you expect?

I think they would be successful in court, especialy on balance of probabilities. "The convention is Orange means I'm comming up, yellow I'm in trouble, the boat he was diving off was approx. 1/2 a mile away dealing with another group of divers when we spotted a yellow SMB so we did what we could"

I can hear the prosecuting attourney now... "So tell me Mr. Presley, what is this convention you speak of? Is it a universally accepted and known practice? No? What made you think the diver needed a deco bottle sent down to him? Was he doing a deco dive? Did he ask for it? Had he discussed this with you prior to the dive? Oh, he wasn't from your boat? Did you attempt to communicate with him, or send a diver/snorkeler down to check on him first?" etc

 

[Elvistheking]

We're off topic a little, but I think it's still relative to discuss the potential perils or otherwise of using a yellow SMB... although I would note though that since we're in Basic Scuba I would suggest most people won't be doing deco dives

I know this may be a surprise but sometimes, people do deco dives on the same sites or near to sites that other do rec dives (I'll for the moment ignore the agencies that teach deco at rec level as well)

I agree... the question is, is there an emergency, and what is the appropriate response to it? I don't think sliding deco bottles down the lines of random divers who aren't even from your boat is it. Seeing a diver in trouble on the surface is different to seeing a yellow SMB IMO

It's not your opion that matters though is it, it's a boat of concerened divers who have just seen a yellow SMB sent up.

If you send up the yellow one, what response do you expect?

I expect my drop tank, if I havn't got one I can hope for someone elses, the boats or maybe someone coming down to find out the problem, but hey if I'm desperate enough to shot a yellow bag, I'll hope for anything.

I can hear the prosecuting attourney now... "So tell me Mr. Presley, what is this convention you speak of? Is it a universally accepted and known practice? No? What made you think the diver needed a deco bottle sent down to him? Was he doing a deco dive? Did he ask for it? Had he discussed this with you prior to the dive? Oh, he wasn't from your boat? Did you attempt to communicate with him, or send a diver/snorkeler down to check on him first?" etc

"Universally accepted enough that only this diver choose to use a yellow SMB to indicate all was well"
"Amongst those who choose to use a yellow SMB to indicate a problem a fairly standard response is to send down a drop tank"
"Due to the high gunwals of the boat it is not possible to see if any slate was on the SMB, and the risk of lifting the smb out of the water to check, could have lead to a runaway ascent for any diver hanging off it"
"Unfortunately all the divers on board had just completed a long dive with significant deco, to send them free diving down or on scuba could have risked serious decompression sickness, in the circumstances we did the best we could"

 

[Tortuga68]

"Universally accepted enough that only this diver choose to use a yellow SMB to indicate all was well"

You said earlier that sometimes the 'convention' is yellow=ok, red=problem, which means it isn't univerally accepted

Anyway, we can agree to disagree Meanwhile I'll look out for bottles hitting me in the head when I happen to be using my yellow SMB

 

[Elvistheking]

You said earlier that sometimes the 'convention' is yellow=ok, red=problem, which means it isn't univerally accepted

Anyway, we can agree to disagree Meanwhile I'll look out for bottles hitting me in the head when I happen to be using my yellow SMB

Better watch out for a slap if anyone jumps in to find out what the emergency was and it turns out it's because you wanted to be different as well.

I've not seen it happen yet but I have seen it come close.

 

[Tortuga68]

Thanks. I'll try to remember that in the unlikely event that I ever dive wherever it is that you dive

 

[Elvistheking]

Thanks. I'll try to remember that in the unlikely event that I ever dive wherever it is that you dive

UK, Croatia, Malta, Holland, thus far. Surely Scapa is not "unlikely"?!?

 

[Tortuga68]

Too cold

Anyway I might accidentally put my mask on my forehead and have to be rescued

 

[Splitlip]

Understood.
I have a 6ft 40# SMB.
I've inflated it with roughly 10# so it stands 13in.
I still have trouble holding a level neutral safety stop at 10ft in the pool when I'm trying to keep my SMB upright on the surface. My trim goes out of wack and I have to deflate to keep my arm from pulling myself up the line as I try to keep tension.

I find that I have to deflate and hang from the line to keep tension to allow the SMB to stand upright. I'd rather be neutral and use only my arm to keep tension on the line to hold my SMB upright (during my safety stop).

Not trying to flame; and you are not the only diver here who has talked about being neutral and having good trim during a hang; but for the life of me, I don't see what is so important about "good trim" when you're under a marker. Maybe it's because I was hit by a boat once, as were a number of other local divers.

I do my weight checks in 15 ft of water w/empty BC and 500PSI as recommended, but add 2 pounds so I can crash dive if needed. When I started with the bigger markers I had to add a couple more pounds to keep them upright.

I just put my 40 # Halcyon in the pool with 2# weights attached. 2# did not stand it up, but 4# had it saluting like Harry Reams. I had no 1# weights but for the ones threaded on my cam straps and I did not want to take them off. In any event, full kit weight checks with the marker are confirmed. I have 4# of extra weight. Actually 2 because as I said, I over weight by 2 in any case.

I dive salt water, but close enough.

 

[g1138]

Not trying to flame; and you are not the only diver here who has talked about being neutral and having good trim during a hang; but for the life of me, I don't see what is so important about "good trim" when you're under a marker. Maybe it's because I was hit by a boat once, as were a number of other local divers.

I do my weight checks in 15 ft of water w/empty BC and 500PSI as recommended, but add 2 pounds so I can crash dive if needed. When I started with the bigger markers I had to add a couple more pounds to keep them upright.

I just put my 40 # Halcyon in the pool with 2# weights attached. 2# did not stand it up, but 4# had it saluting like Harry Reams. I had no 1# weights but for the ones threaded on my cam straps and I did not want to take them off. In any event, full kit weight checks with the marker are confirmed. I have 4# of extra weight. Actually 2 because as I said, I over weight by 2 in any case.

I dive salt water, but close enough.

I guess it's a bragging rights thing, more or less. Personally I don't like the idea of hanging from an SMB for a safety stop. But I also don't agree with the idea that hanging from an SMB is a dangerous idea.
My mind might change as I use it more often. I haven't had a lot of opportunities to launch one.