You're Lost At Sea!! What Signal Devices Do You Have To Use - and Why Not?

[mruseless]

I carried a storm whistle until I bought a Dive Alert. But I suppose I should put the whistle back in my BCD as a backup. Other than that, I carry a safety sausage, and 8-AA cell light. I didn't used to carry a sausage either, but on the one liveaboard we did they required it.

 

[Charlie59]

After my dive alert I have "DANed" out with their combo of dive sausage, whistle and chemical lite and the name tag combo with surface mirror. My DAN number and the DAN hot line number are tatooed on my back.

OK, that last one is a lie.

 

[on_two_wheels]

I'm going to start carrying an inflatable raft with weights attached to make it neutral at depth. I just haven't figured out the oars, yet. Kidding, of course.

Put my vote in....whistle, backup light, and SMB on every dive. Night dives you can add a couple more safety features. Light cannon, spare glow stick

 

[BMR]

Breitling makes a watch that, when activated, will transmit an emergency broadcast signal, for up to 48 hrs. I wonder why they dont make something like this into more of a dive-specific wath, seems like it'd be a great idea.

 

[lyonsce]

I carry most of the above (Dive Alert, whistle, DAN SMB, glo-toob, and I just added a rescue streamer (RescueStreamer® - Emergency Distress Signaling Device). The rescue streamer is small and fits easily in a thigh pocket. I have considered the VHF radio, but haven't done that yet.....

 

[under water]

Just found a good write-up on signaling devices at EQUIPPED TO SURVIVE (tm) - SIGNALING GROUP
They talk a bit about how effective/ineffective CDs are for signaling (not very) among other things.
The rest of the web site has some good information on survival equipment in general.

 

[D_B]

I carry a ... SMB, light, whistle, mirror, on every dive, and I'm going to use my two unused trim pouches on my BC to carry ? Strobe? Water? Sunscreen? ???
... and thanks DD, I now have the DAN hotline numbers in my cellphone

Thanks Frank & Hickdive, those two plus I have one other site that I've saved from these threads on SB ...

EVERYONE ... you need to save this, a very good, if long, read on rescue trials conducted in real world conditions in the Scapa Flow ... How far can you see me? ... http://www.jeanelaine.co.uk/diveraids/intro.htm

And this .. Surface Survival Primer ... http://www.tabula-international.com/DIV/SMB3.html

And this .. Equipped to Survive ... http://www.equipped.com/signal.htm and the rest of the website is a treasure trove of info ... [URL]http://www.equipped.com/toc.htm[/URL]

 

[Noboundaries]

I've never had a problem selling myself on the need for something involving safety. Back in my Navy pilot days I remember all the training we received telling us how impossible we were to spot floating in the open ocean even if the rescue helo was within a mile of our location. We wore a survival vest attached to our ejection seat harness. Lets see If I can remember everything in that vest; signal mirror, day smoke and night red flare combo, a pen-sized launcher that fired starburst flares 150 feet high, 6 starburst flares, 16 ounces of water, a cigarette-sized handheld UHF radio/locator beacon with flashing night strobe, handgun, survival knife, dye marker, whistle, mylar survival blanket, about 8 feet of cord, some candy bar-like edibles, and our helmets were 100% covered with reflective tape. I'm sure there were a few more things, but that's all I can remember.

We were trained to use the radio sparingly to save the battery. Once communication was established and rescue less than 30 minutes away, we were to deploy the dye marker. Once the helo was within sight or ear shot, we were to use the signal mirror (if sunny), pop the smoke (day), or activate the red flare (night). And if they still lost us within the 3 mile rescue bubble, we were to start popping off starburst flares.

Divers get lost at sea a lot more than pilots do based upon what I've read during my two months of SB membership. Seems there are three big things missing from our survival gear options; radios, flares, and smoke. The options that are available are ad hoc at best, not designed for depth. Someone fix that.

My wife and I carry a 6' SMB with reflective SOLAS tape, 100' finger spool, signal mirror, Storm Whistle, Dive Alert (just recently purchased), 8 oz of water, 30 hour strobe light, battery powered glo-stick, chemical glo-stick, and backup light. At night we'd also have our main light.

I've been researching dye packs, radios, smoke and flares, but haven't found anything that I would have confidence would work for depth or not inadvertently deploy. Seems there would be a market for diver specific products. Tough to travel with the smoke and flares, but I bet dive boats would be happy to rent them for a small charge.

Extensive survival training should be taught as part of certification process.

 

[Thalassamania]

I've never had a problem selling myself on the need for something involving safety. Back in my Navy pilot days I remember all the training we received telling us how impossible we were to spot floating in the open ocean even if the rescue helo was within a mile of our location. We wore a survival vest attached to our ejection seat harness. Lets see If I can remember everything in that vest; signal mirror, day smoke and night red flare combo, a pen-sized launcher that fired starburst flares 150 feet high, 6 starburst flares, 16 ounces of water, a cigarette-sized handheld UHF radio/locator beacon with flashing night strobe, handgun, survival knife, dye marker, whistle, mylar survival blanket, about 8 feet of cord, some candy bar-like edibles, and our helmets were 100% covered with reflective tape. I'm sure there were a few more things, but that's all I can remember.

We were trained to use the radio sparingly to save the battery. Once communication was established and rescue less than 30 minutes away, we were to deploy the dye marker. Once the helo was within sight or ear shot, we were to use the signal mirror (if sunny), pop the smoke (day), or activate the red flare (night). And if they still lost us within the 3 mile rescue bubble, we were to start popping off starburst flares.

Divers get lost at sea a lot more than pilots do based upon what I've read during my two months of SB membership. Seems there are three big things missing from our survival gear options; radios, flares, and smoke. The options that are available are ad hoc at best, not designed for depth. Someone fix that.

My wife and I carry a 6' SMB with reflective SOLAS tape, 100' finger spool, signal mirror, Storm Whistle, Dive Alert (just recently purchased), 8 oz of water, 30 hour strobe light, battery powered glo-stick, chemical glo-stick, and backup light. At night we'd also have our main light.

I've been researching dye packs, radios, smoke and flares, but haven't found anything that I would have confidence would work for depth or not inadvertently deploy. Seems there would be a market for diver specific products. Tough to travel with the smoke and flares, but I bet dive boats would be happy to rent them for a small charge.

Extensive survival training should be taught as part of certification process.

Here's an old picture of my safety kit:

Everything in my emergency kit is "standard." It goes on every dive with me.

Currently I use the same pouch and it contains: strobe, small flashlight, 2 x red rocket flare, 2 x hand flare, 2 x red smoke, 2 x dye packs, signal mirror, safety sausage, and whistle.

The pouch is about 8 x 4 inches that I hang on the bottom of backpack. I currently have two Skyblazer Diver's Flares

I've wrapped them top and bottom with 3M Self Vulcanizing Tape, an arrangement that I've tested down to 200 feet. I also have two similarly packaged hand held flares and smokes. Here are the dye packs I use. I keep them in doubled up heavy duty ziplocks:

Add a compass, two glowsticks, a little flashlight, a strobe, a whistle, a mirror and a thin safety sausage finishes it out.

There are some waterproof lasers out now that I'm considering, but they are only rated to 80 feet.

And if I can get one to test, I'd consider a little pressure housing for a Aquafix 406 GPS I/O Personal Locater Beacon:

which would replace all the duplicate stuff in the bag.


Here's a commercially prepared pack

You'd still need to do some waterproofing.

I think I'll be adding a radio soon.

Problems flying are a good point. I frankly had not thought about it. The flares in their pouch, attached to my BC, in a gear bag, have flown, quite literally, hundreds of times and never been questioned (but then I did not bring them up either).

 

[DandyDon]

Problems flying are a good point. I frankly had not thought about it. The flares in their pouch, attached to my BC, in a gear bag, have flown, quite literally, hundreds of times and never been questioned (but then I did not bring them up either).

I would think flares and smoke generators would be fire hazards on a plane? From TSA: Camping

Flares - You may not bring flares in either your carry-on bag or checked luggage.