Thalassamania:
Ahh, I gotchya. Interesting.
Happy diving....
Hand signals for tank pressure
- Thread starter ciki
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Ahh, I gotchya. Interesting.
Happy diving....
Packhorse
Contributor
I never bother signaling my air pressure remaining. I just show my gauge. Its quicker and avoids confusion.
Shaka Doug
Contributor
This thread is really getting crazy. Why don't you guys just start showing each other your guages and forget about all this confusion??? Stay close, stay safe. Keep it simple. We're only talking about air supply here. Good, bad, or ugly!
dsteding
Contributor
I got to page 8 of the thread, then fast forwarded-so forgive me if this isn't perfectly on point.
I dove with a much more experienced diver a while back, I'm a relative newbie. We briefed pre-dive, agreed I'd signal at 1700, I asked which signals, she said either the one handed fingers up for 1-5, fingers together and sideways for 6-10 or the blocks of fives method. For reference, I'm diving an HP 120, on a slightly short fill, she is on a 95, but I consume probably three times the air she does because of our different experience level. I am for sure the limiting factor despite the bigger tank.
I get to 1700, get her attention with my light, and give her the first type of signal . . .
I saw her turn and look, and I thought she got it. We are at this point in 60 fsw, I know the route we are doing, and figured we would turn back to the beach and work our way back to the surface at this point. We don't. So, I get to 1500, I signal the five fingers up to her three times. Later, she told me she saw this as a hold sign-I think she may not have seen all three fives. We are shallowing at this point. I then showed her my SPG at 1200, but am not too worried because we are at 20 feet at this point, already have done our one minute at 30, and I know we are going to come up to 15 feet, do our safety stop and finish the dive real soon. We monkey around in the shallows for a bit and finish the dive.
I finish the dive at around 900 or so. In the debrief after the dive, this was the first thing we discussed. It was clear our wires were crossed, she never got any of my signals. Moving forward my lessons are to (1) be clearer about signals in the brief before I dive with a new diver, and (2) make sure the signals get across. I was in error in not doing these two things, and I probably shouldn't have switched signals mid-dive. We are diving again next week, and you can bet the pre-dive brief will be clearer about this.
So, decide a signal protocol, stick to it, and make sure it is clearly briefed. I personally like the one handed method with fingers up or to the side. Just make sure people see all the signals.
I was never worried about my gas consumption because I was aware of both what I needed to finish the dive, and the route we were taking (so I had a good idea of what I needed at what point). But, it is a bit embarrassing to not be clearer when you are diving with a new, more experienced diver and trying to at least not make a bad impression.
I dove with a much more experienced diver a while back, I'm a relative newbie. We briefed pre-dive, agreed I'd signal at 1700, I asked which signals, she said either the one handed fingers up for 1-5, fingers together and sideways for 6-10 or the blocks of fives method. For reference, I'm diving an HP 120, on a slightly short fill, she is on a 95, but I consume probably three times the air she does because of our different experience level. I am for sure the limiting factor despite the bigger tank.
I get to 1700, get her attention with my light, and give her the first type of signal . . .
I saw her turn and look, and I thought she got it. We are at this point in 60 fsw, I know the route we are doing, and figured we would turn back to the beach and work our way back to the surface at this point. We don't. So, I get to 1500, I signal the five fingers up to her three times. Later, she told me she saw this as a hold sign-I think she may not have seen all three fives. We are shallowing at this point. I then showed her my SPG at 1200, but am not too worried because we are at 20 feet at this point, already have done our one minute at 30, and I know we are going to come up to 15 feet, do our safety stop and finish the dive real soon. We monkey around in the shallows for a bit and finish the dive.
I finish the dive at around 900 or so. In the debrief after the dive, this was the first thing we discussed. It was clear our wires were crossed, she never got any of my signals. Moving forward my lessons are to (1) be clearer about signals in the brief before I dive with a new diver, and (2) make sure the signals get across. I was in error in not doing these two things, and I probably shouldn't have switched signals mid-dive. We are diving again next week, and you can bet the pre-dive brief will be clearer about this.
So, decide a signal protocol, stick to it, and make sure it is clearly briefed. I personally like the one handed method with fingers up or to the side. Just make sure people see all the signals.
I was never worried about my gas consumption because I was aware of both what I needed to finish the dive, and the route we were taking (so I had a good idea of what I needed at what point). But, it is a bit embarrassing to not be clearer when you are diving with a new, more experienced diver and trying to at least not make a bad impression.
nolatom
Contributor
All I can surmise is that divers must just show each other their pressure gauges, or agree on what signals to use because with all the different methods (at least 7 or 8 different ones mentioned here) there obviously hasn't been enough need, or tragic problems, to create a truly universal signal system.
I used to use two hands, so 1800 was one finger, followed by eight. "Wrong", I guess, but seemed to work okay with different buddies, and at night I just shined my light on my gauge and showed it to buddy. I've changed to "5-5-5-3" now for 1800 because it seems the simplest and most idiot-proof way, and I point to my gauge first so buddy will know what I'm signalling with all those fingers.
I've also learned that if you look at buddy's SPG in the boat, you don't have to get that close to read it, because you know the layout of the dial. I guess looking at buddy's gauges should fit into the pre-dive check, so that if he shows you something on his computer, you'll know what you're seeing.
I suppose I'm stating the obvious here, but I usually dive with pick-up buddies, so this is what I've picked up as I've gone along. I usually want to know early on how our air usage compares, so I'll usually signal 2000 or even 2500 to see how we compare.
I used to use two hands, so 1800 was one finger, followed by eight. "Wrong", I guess, but seemed to work okay with different buddies, and at night I just shined my light on my gauge and showed it to buddy. I've changed to "5-5-5-3" now for 1800 because it seems the simplest and most idiot-proof way, and I point to my gauge first so buddy will know what I'm signalling with all those fingers.
I've also learned that if you look at buddy's SPG in the boat, you don't have to get that close to read it, because you know the layout of the dial. I guess looking at buddy's gauges should fit into the pre-dive check, so that if he shows you something on his computer, you'll know what you're seeing.
I suppose I'm stating the obvious here, but I usually dive with pick-up buddies, so this is what I've picked up as I've gone along. I usually want to know early on how our air usage compares, so I'll usually signal 2000 or even 2500 to see how we compare.
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