Who Uses their SMB and Deploys it At Depth Before Ascending to the surface

[Peter69_56]

Thanks Peter for starting this topic. I didn't know about it until I received the email with the 'July highlights'. I find it very interesting and educational to read through the posts. You already know I won't do one single dive without having an smb with me. And yes, I'll have to use my ears too.

Nathalie.

Nathalie,

You prompted me to help you in this quest, I thank you for your bravery. I believe in the saying

"All it takes for evil to prevail, is for good men to do nothing"

Its so easy to sit back and let the "Others of the world" do all the hard work, time for us all to do our bit, and mine is to make people aware just as you wish to as well, if all this effort saves just one injury and no more, then the effort has been worth it.

Stay well and let us know when you are up and diving again.

Peter

 

[deg]

I just wanted to thank the OP because my girlfriend has been arguing with me because I ordered a 6' SMB. Showed her the thread and the argument was over! I plan to carry it on every dive, even quarries to practice deployment.

 

[Peter69_56]

Safety gear is money you spend that you hope you never have to use ever in an emergency. Sort of like death cover with insurance, do you hope you get good value from it by hoping you have a claim? No, its there for a worst case scenario, and one hopes it will never come to pass.

 

[GrumpyOldGuy]

I get while floating on the surface in the open ocean/lake it is an added maker that is much higher out of the water than 2 diver's heads. But once you have been spotted and the boat that will pick you up approaches, what is proper procedure?

Keep it upright until the last minute and hand it up. My logic is the captain has his hands full trying to get close enough to pick you while also watching for other divers. He may not have a direct line of sight as he approaches you since you are low in the water. Give him every advantage possible with a big target and he will get closer to you rather than standoff a safe distances because he lost sight of you.

The crews always seem helpful to me and grab the smb just like the fins and put them off to the side out of traffic. Just make sure you have the spool clipped off so it does not unwind. The really good ones will bleed the air and roll it up for you. Normally I don't like people touching my gear, but this is ok in my book. The smart ones have found a rail or other boat feature to run it against to get all the air out.

 

[Chocula]

What is protocol when deploying a SMB? I have never seen one deployed outside of a training situation. How to boat captains, dive-masters, lifeguards, other divers, or non-divers respond when they see one? I have read comments about attaching a slate to send a message up, but I am trying to imagine this being useful without some pre-agreed upon protocol, as this is not going to be readable from any distance (or the slate likely to even be seen).

Most of my diving has been in Southern California, some boat, some shore. The boats are anchored and the dive masters don't enter the water unless there is an emergency. Would deployment of an SMB signal indicate an emergency? I would not want a lifeguard or dive master swimming out if I am just doing a safety stop.

 

[dfx]

What is protocol when deploying a SMB? I have never seen one deployed outside of a training situation. How to boat captains, dive-masters, lifeguards, other divers, or non-divers respond when they see one? I have read comments about attaching a slate to send a message up, but I am trying to imagine this being useful without some pre-agreed upon protocol, as this is not going to be readable from any distance (or the slate likely to even be seen).

Most of my diving has been in Southern California, some boat, some shore. The boats are anchored and the dive masters don't enter the water unless there is an emergency. Would deployment of an SMB signal indicate an emergency? I would not want a lifeguard or dive master swimming out if I am just doing a safety stop.

Depends on where you're diving. In a lot of Caribbean places where drift diving is standard, a group of divers which ascends together shoots a sausage to mark their position for boat pickup. This is normally done by the divemaster leading the dive. In other places where you're diving off a moored boat, shooting a sausage may be seen as a distress signal and might summon a rescue attempt. Seen this in Bermuda.

 

[Tigerman]

What is protocol when deploying a SMB? I have never seen one deployed outside of a training situation. How to boat captains, dive-masters, lifeguards, other divers, or non-divers respond when they see one? I have read comments about attaching a slate to send a message up, but I am trying to imagine this being useful without some pre-agreed upon protocol, as this is not going to be readable from any distance (or the slate likely to even be seen).

Most of my diving has been in Southern California, some boat, some shore. The boats are anchored and the dive masters don't enter the water unless there is an emergency. Would deployment of an SMB signal indicate an emergency? I would not want a lifeguard or dive master swimming out if I am just doing a safety stop.

Ive never shot an SMB on a mooring (anchored) dive or a shore dive. On drift dives (in the places I dive) however its SOP to shoot one once you begin the safety stop to let the boats know that;
1. Between the reef and that SMB, there is divers below - go on the OUTSIDE of the SMB.
2. Were over here, were coming up soon and you wont get a tip if we have to wait for too long

 

[RTee]

I always carry a SMB, but deployment will be based on time and place.

On a mooring, never, unlessI cannot get back to it, especially in current and in that case, my intent is to to shoot it early to allow maximum time to the crew to spot it and follow it.

On chartered boat conducting drift dive in rivers, normally the boat captain will have an idea where and when divers will start popping up and will always ensure that there is at least one safety sausage per group (ideally minimum one per two divers) and they will normally get deployed at the beginning of the safety stop or if coming up along the wall or the shore line, at the surface to assist the boat crew in spotting the respective groups.

In lakes and rivers when I do shore dive, I will not normally shoot one unless I am forced to get close to the surface while still at some distance from the shore due to tall weeds, etc. In those situation, I will normally shoot it at the beginning of the safety stop.

 

[cmaha76]

I carry one on all dives but have only used on drift dives if separated from the group. I've never used it on a moored dive except to practice. I don't know if it's necessary or not, but like any practice drills, I let the DM, and in this case the boat crew know that I will be deploying for practice just so they don't assume that there is something else going on.

 

[nimoh]

Depends on where you're diving. In a lot of Caribbean places where drift diving is standard, a group of divers which ascends together shoots a sausage to mark their position for boat pickup. This is normally done by the divemaster leading the dive. In other places where you're diving off a moored boat, shooting a sausage may be seen as a distress signal and might summon a rescue attempt. Seen this in Bermuda.

an added detail is that the DMs (well, ones I have been with anyway) shoot the SMB at the start of the safety stop, letting the boat know that pickup is in 3 minutes (or less).

As for the misinterpretation of a distress signal, if a bag is going to be shot on ascent, it should be part of the dive plan and communicated to the boat crew before the dive, then they will be expecting it.

Also, in some parts of the world, different color bags are used to indicate emergencies which I have always thought to be a good idea, just hasn't seemed to have caught on around here.