Lost Yooper asked about touch communication in the light-doubling note. Since its another topic I figured I'd start another base note.
LY, you're going to make me write an entire book in here, aren't you?
Ill give you a straight cave answer. Im going to also assume that its a three-man team and the entire team is on the line. For each diver one hand is on the line and the other is holding the preceding divers UPPER leg. You dont want to hold the lower leg because thats needed for kicking. Youre also all on the same side of the line.
If youre all stopped, the tail diver initiates forward motion by shoving forward on the leg of the middle diver. The middle diver in turn shoves forward on the leg of the lead diver and then and only then, the lead diver starts forward. If the middle or tail diver needs to stop, you squeeze the leg of the diver in front of you. If youre the middle diver and your leg is squeezed, you pass the message on. Of course if youre the lead and you need to stop, you stop and the folks behind you will get the message.
If you need to back up, you pull back on the leg of the diver in front of you. So if for instance youre the tail diver and you get entangled in the line and need to back up, first youd squeeze the leg of the middle diver and theyd squeeze the leg of the lead and you all stop. Youd then pull back on the middle divers leg and theyd pull back on the lead and youd all back up until you squeezed again to stop everyone. You solve the entanglement and give the middle diver a shove and youre off again.
On the way back if the lead diver needs to switch sides of the line (quite common) you stop, slide your line hand back until it encounters the line hand of the middle diver, grasp it and twist it over to the side they need to move to. The middle diver passes this signal back to the tail diver and you let go of each other (the line hand is going to become the diver contact hand and visa versa) and switch sides. You then regain touch contact and wait for the tail diver to start up again via a shove forward.
About the only thing left is an entanglement problem you cant solve alone. The hand signal for line is crossed fingers, like youre wishing for good luck or youre going to promise something to someone but you really arent going to follow through.
If you can see, entanglement is the line hand signal moved in a figure 8. But in zero visibility you cant signal that way, so you take your crossed fingers and jam them into the line hand of the diver that could help you most. Then, by touch the other diver does the best they can.
Oh, one more thing. Out of air. Easy. You go to the nearest diver, find their head, then their mouth and simply take the regulator from their mouth. They have their backup slung around their neck and its snap for them to go to their backup.
This single OOA example is why the golden triangle of having your octo somewhere on your chest is a horrible solution for OOA emergencies.
Hope this helps.
Roak
LY, you're going to make me write an entire book in here, aren't you?
Ill give you a straight cave answer. Im going to also assume that its a three-man team and the entire team is on the line. For each diver one hand is on the line and the other is holding the preceding divers UPPER leg. You dont want to hold the lower leg because thats needed for kicking. Youre also all on the same side of the line.
If youre all stopped, the tail diver initiates forward motion by shoving forward on the leg of the middle diver. The middle diver in turn shoves forward on the leg of the lead diver and then and only then, the lead diver starts forward. If the middle or tail diver needs to stop, you squeeze the leg of the diver in front of you. If youre the middle diver and your leg is squeezed, you pass the message on. Of course if youre the lead and you need to stop, you stop and the folks behind you will get the message.
If you need to back up, you pull back on the leg of the diver in front of you. So if for instance youre the tail diver and you get entangled in the line and need to back up, first youd squeeze the leg of the middle diver and theyd squeeze the leg of the lead and you all stop. Youd then pull back on the middle divers leg and theyd pull back on the lead and youd all back up until you squeezed again to stop everyone. You solve the entanglement and give the middle diver a shove and youre off again.
On the way back if the lead diver needs to switch sides of the line (quite common) you stop, slide your line hand back until it encounters the line hand of the middle diver, grasp it and twist it over to the side they need to move to. The middle diver passes this signal back to the tail diver and you let go of each other (the line hand is going to become the diver contact hand and visa versa) and switch sides. You then regain touch contact and wait for the tail diver to start up again via a shove forward.
About the only thing left is an entanglement problem you cant solve alone. The hand signal for line is crossed fingers, like youre wishing for good luck or youre going to promise something to someone but you really arent going to follow through.
If you can see, entanglement is the line hand signal moved in a figure 8. But in zero visibility you cant signal that way, so you take your crossed fingers and jam them into the line hand of the diver that could help you most. Then, by touch the other diver does the best they can.
Oh, one more thing. Out of air. Easy. You go to the nearest diver, find their head, then their mouth and simply take the regulator from their mouth. They have their backup slung around their neck and its snap for them to go to their backup.
This single OOA example is why the golden triangle of having your octo somewhere on your chest is a horrible solution for OOA emergencies.
Hope this helps.
Roak