Safety Sausage and Ascents

rossjc · Jun 23, 2005

Hypothetically...

If your on a dive charter and not as good a navigator as you might want to be and you are forced to do an open water ascent/safety stop, is it considered acceptable practice to deploy a safety sausage when making the stop just to show the boat where you are and where you might be drifting to with the current? Ultimately I was wondering if this would be interpreted as a sign of distress if it was deployed in this instance.

Spoon · Jun 23, 2005

rossjc:
Hypothetically...

If your on a dive charter and not as good a navigator as you might want to be and you are forced to do an open water ascent/safety stop, is it considered acceptable practice to deploy a safety sausage when making the stop just to show the boat where you are and where you might be drifting to with the current? Ultimately I was wondering if this would be interpreted as a sign of distress if it was deployed in this instance.

i wouldnt know but in the philippines we occasionally deploy our markers to show the boat where we are or to alerts other boaters that there are divers below.

TostitoBandito · Jun 23, 2005

rossjc:
Hypothetically...

If your on a dive charter and not as good a navigator as you might want to be and you are forced to do an open water ascent/safety stop, is it considered acceptable practice to deploy a safety sausage when making the stop just to show the boat where you are and where you might be drifting to with the current? Ultimately I was wondering if this would be interpreted as a sign of distress if it was deployed in this instance.

I can't say for sure whether it is an "acceptable" practice or not but I can say that I have seen DM's from several dive ops use them while at safety stops, or even maybe 5 min before the safety stop, to let their boat know where the group is. Makes sense to me, especially for drift diving.

Spoon · Jun 23, 2005

TostitoBandito:
I can't say for sure whether it is an "acceptable" practice or not but I can say that I have seen DM's from several dive ops use them while at safety stops, or even maybe 5 min before the safety stop, to let their boat know where the group is. Makes sense to me, especially for drift diving.

yup yup! most of the times we have used em is when we drifted far from the boat during our drift dives. oh i forgot to mention i also use a small spool with my markers to prevent em from drifting further.

Scuba · Jun 23, 2005

This is something to discuss with the charter. Different charters will have different pratices on this matter.

djkpsu · Jun 23, 2005

On the liveaboards I have done in Thailand, it was the normal routine at the end of the dive to deploy a saftey sausage during the safety stop.

Also, if you mark the line at 5m you don't have to stare at your depth gauge/computer the whole time.

But, like Scuba said you should probably discuss it with the charter to find out if they would view it as a distress signal.

SCUBAMedicBill · Jun 23, 2005

If your doing a drift dive, then you can usually just do you ascent and safety stop and when you come up, the boat should be on the look out for you. At that point you can inflate your sausage and await pick up.

It also depends on the type of sausage. Most sausages (oral inflation) if you attach a line to them and send them to the surface, are not waited properly and just lie on the surface. Others (regulator inflation) will have lines attached to them and are waited so they keep themself vertical, and have a line that you can use as an ascent line. This sausages sometimes will have "Biver Blow" written on them and can be used as a surface marker for a boat to follow.

Hope this helps.

jiveturkey · Jun 23, 2005

I always deploy a sausage during a safety stop. Like you said, it lets people know where you are. It's not a sign of distress as far as I know. More like a surface marker that says "don't drive your boat over me".

Xizang · Jun 23, 2005

As divemaster I always deploy a safety sausage when diving with clients and usually ask everyone to ascent as close to the safety sausage as possible. For me this is for safety reasons considering the boat traffic and anchoring practice here in the Philippines. I also sometimes find it useful when a diver has having problems hovering at 15 feet, I have him hold the spool so he or she could hang on it while I watch over the rest of the group.

Spoon · Jun 23, 2005

Axua:
As divemaster I always deploy a safety sausage when diving with clients and usually ask everyone to ascent as close to the safety sausage as possible. For me this is for safety reasons considering the boat traffic and anchoring practice here in the Philippines. I also sometimes find it useful when a diver has having problems hovering at 15 feet, I have him hold the spool so he or she could hang on it while I watch over the rest of the group.

thats exactly what i we were instructed to do when i first got certified

Safety Sausage and Ascents

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