Hand signals for tank pressure

[xiSkiGuy]

It does not mean abort the dive, it means ascend. If I repeat it rapidly, I'm being adamant about it and it means the dive is over.

Often the thumbs up is a question. You're swimming around with your buddy, you both have plenty of air, but you're not exactly thrilled with the dive, so you ask your buddy if he wants to ascend by simply casually giving the thumbs up while inclining your head and lifting your eyebrows. Raised eyebrows and an inclined head turns any sign into a question.

So we've got the "rapid, adamant" thumb and the "raised eyebrow" thumb. Clear as mud.

If I point to my ear, then hold my spread hand out palm down and wiggle it side to side, I've told you I'm having problems equalizing the pressure in my ear(s). If I then signal a thumbs up, followed by a open hand palm down moving horizontally back and forth, it should be obvious that I intend to ascend and stop at a shallower depth to work on equalization.

In my world you just aborted a dive, felt the need to tell me why, and began a deep or safety stop.

Just because the thumb has only one meaning to several of us, doesn't mean we all communicate in an overly simplistic manner. We can string together signals, too.

Walter, I agree with do it easy that if we were to dive together we would get it figured out pretty easily. That's what the pre-dive discussion is for: To sort out some regional, training, or dive clique differences.

 

[Walter]

So we've got the "rapid, adamant" thumb and the "raised eyebrow" thumb. Clear as mud.

Well, come diving with me, I'll show you. You'll have no trouble seeing the difference.

In my world you just aborted a dive, felt the need to tell me why, and began a deep or safety stop.

Nope. I have not aborted the dive. You might abort it because of a misunderstanding, but I did not.

Just because the thumb has only one meaning to several of us, doesn't mean we all communicate in an overly simplistic manner. We can string together signals, too.

It has only one meaning to me as well - ascend. I know you don't, I was making a point that words are used in context, you didn't seem to understand the point before, so I elaborated. As for my comment about going off half cocked - that referred to aborting a dive rather than paying attention to the entire sentence. It did not refer to the conversation here on the board.

 

[Azotino]

Where do you put your light while doing this? How does your buddy see both hands at night?
Rick

the light....oh yeah I'm banging his head......normaly my buddy is a smart guy.
we are always close just a touch and the light are in direction of the hands.
:11doh:

 

[Rick Murchison]

Whenever I'm diving with a new buddy I go over critical hand signals with them before the dive. Where there are differences, if there is any objection to any of my hand signals, or if there's any doubt in my mind that the new buddy can remember mine... I don't argue the point - I use my new buddy's signals for that dive.
Bottom line: I ain't missing a dive over a hand signal.
Rick

 

[minnesota01r6]

Walter, I wasn't saying Rick's "aviation" method was confusing, but for some reason I have a tendancy to omit or add 500 psi to my pressure. I have screwed up reporting my air to a DM probably once every 5 dives or so, so it was a practical question for me to ask. I actually think it will be easier to report with the aviation method, because usually my problem is flashing 5's too quick, and I overshoot or undershoot my mark by one!

 

[Halthron]

Whenever I dive with a new buddy, we talk about "the thumb". From talking with some of the new divers, they like the ability to call a dive for any reason depending on comfort. I specifically say that they shouldn't worry about my preference. Since I can't experience what they think/feel, they can feel free to call a dive for any reason without fear of critisism.

A thumb is the end of the dive here (I always repeat the signal back and wait a second or two in case the person meant something else). If we want to go up, we point up with the index finger.

 

[PacketSniffer]

LOL....<shaking head laughing at this thread>


Guys & gals,

Communication is a very important aspect in any relationship, especially one involving our sport. Regarding this thread, we have the agencies to blame for this mess we all find ourselves in. There should be one and only one system for signaling worldwide.

There is a very good book put out by the National Association for Cave Diving. It's titled Hand Signals for Scuba Diving. Several chapters cover body positioning, problems, equipment, environment, counting, buddy teams as well as the basics. It costs $12 and is about 40 pages of meat. It also covers those divers who are wearing two fingered mitts. The counting method is the cave diver method; one handed signaling such as "Rick" has described. It's a very good little book. I would rate it as the second best thing you could obtain right behind Stress/Rescue training.

Get on the same page and get it here: http://www.safecavediving.com/products.asp

"Hand Signals for Scuba Diving. It's just not for cave divers anymore."


Richard

 

[Thalassamania]

While I'd hardly recommend this for everyone and I've no idea who started it, within our group counting on our fingers in binary has really taken off, fist is zero, thumb out is one, pointer is two, middle is four, ring is eight, pinky is sixteen, so one hand takes you to thirty-one (all fingers up) and you can add zeros with additional "fists." Kind of an esoteric "in-group" thing that diving nerds do to set themselves apart.

 

[PacketSniffer]

While I'd hardly recommend this for everyone and I've no idea who started it, within our group counting on our fingers in binary has really taken off, fist is zero, thumb out is one, pointer is two, middle is four, ring is eight, pinky is sixteen, so one hand takes you to thirty-one (all fingers up) and you can add zeros with additional "fists." Kind of an esoteric "in-group" thing that diving nerds do to set themselves apart.

That's nice that you have created your own system that works for you guys. What happens when you dive around the globe and are not diving with your usual buddies?

Ack, who needs standards anyway...

 

[Thalassamania]

1) We don't, we tend to dive abound the world with each other or other individuals who pick up on binary quickly because they now it in other contexts (that how we started using it).

2) You alway need to know your audience, there are common hand signals that we share, the are regional accents, if you will, and there is occupational jargon. This falls squarely in the last category, I just thought you might find it amusing.