Deco hand signal?

[The Chairman]

Now that we're discussing using inappropriate signals, I hate, hate, hate the overuse of the OK sign. Give me the "Y" to tell me everything is cool, or the ASL "Hi", a mini salute, to say "Hi". While you're thinking about this, learn the ASL sign for yes and no before your next dive. Your right fist bobbing up and down for "yes" and wagging side to side for "no". I've never really dove much with gloves, so I can't comment on how that will mitigate things. However, I've adopted a lot of ASL into my signing whenever possible. Yes, I should learn more of it as all of us should.

 

[giovyledzep]

40 votes for pinky.

1 vote for shaka.

Next.

I don’t understand your perspective.
Are you suggesting that pinky should become the only standard or that Hawaiian is not relatively commonly taught and accepted?
Because if it’s the second you’re only adding to the problem you know.

 

[1atm]

Fun fact: many chinese people (non-divers) use the hang loose to mean the number 6

 

[Storker]

I hate, hate, hate the overuse of the OK sign.

What's "overuse"? I - and my regular buddies use it in two different situations.

1. The standard "You Ok?" "I'm Ok!" exchange
2. When one of us spot something cool. That "Ok" is usually accompanied by a grin so wide that the mouthpiece is leaking, so pretty easy to distinguish from 1.

 

[AfterDark]

Now that we're discussing using inappropriate signals, I hate, hate, hate the overuse of the OK sign. Give me the "Y" to tell me everything is cool, or the ASL "Hi", a mini salute, to say "Hi". While you're thinking about this, learn the ASL sign for yes and no before your next dive. Your right fist bobbing up and down for "yes" and wagging side to side for "no". I've never really dove much with gloves, so I can't comment on how that will mitigate things. However, I've adopted a lot of ASL into my signing whenever possible. Yes, I should learn more of it as all of us should.

So some divers do extract useful signals from sign. Here in the states the OK signal is now a white supremacy sign, WTF?

 

[tursiops]

in the states the OK signal is now a white supremacy sign, WTF?

Only if you use it that way.

 

[Storker]

Only if you use it that way.

It also depends on how you hold your hand. Straight up vs slanted downwards.

Like the two-fingered salute which holds quite different meanings in the UK, depending on whether your palm is towards you or towards the other person.

 

[tbone1004]

I'm with @The Chairman
since the OK sign is a command signal and must be returned, when you initiate an OK sign you are actually asking a question to the other diver of "are you OK?". When we are cave diving, often times because of the lights and how annoying it can be to have hand signals with oncoming teams, I'll usually just wait until I'm fairly close to the dive team and just half salute or wave as they go by. I try to avoid using the OK sign unless I am actually trying to ask that question, which is only if I sense something is not right. The one exception to that is when cave diving in single file and you only get a limited number of light signals you can use.

Pete, I've never seen ASL "no" as a fist to the side, it's always been index and middle finger together pinching the air with the thumb for no.

 

[NothingClever]

I definitely stand for the second and continue to assert that the Hawaiian shaka is not commonly taught and accepted as a hand signal for decompression stop.

I understand you think I’m contributing to the confusion.

If you want to use the shaka to indicate to someone you’re conducting a deco stop, that’s your choice and something you can work out with your dive buddies pre-splash to ensure you don’t have a miscommunication like you indicated you had with your instructor.

 

[tomcatbubba]

What do you use? Pinky or Hawaiian hang loose?

I ask because the other day I went into deco and did a Hawaiian to my instructor. It took him a minute to understand I was doing deco and not trying to tell him that I was really excited (which I was actually, so... I guess 2 birds with a stone?)

Silly question, but why was there confusion? Did your instructor not cover hand signals before the dive. To answer your question, I use and brief the pinky signal. But I suppose if we wanted to use hang loose we could do that too. Brief the dive; dive the brief. Every time.