Launching a DSMB

[Dan]

I just came back from Flower Garden Banks (in Gulf of Mexico, 110 miles off Galveston coast, TX), Fling Charters yesterday. They prohibit us to carry DSMB, but an SMB is a must have.

I asked the DM why. He said those string is a hazard. An incident happened when a group of 4 divers just swam above the guy holding DSMB, through the string & got tangled up pretty bad, creating such a hazard from not being able to swim & had to cut the line in several places.

From then on, their rule is: You must launch it at the surface. Most of the time we follow a rope, tied to a buoy & down to an anchor line. As long as you hold on to the line during descend & ascend, you won’t get lost at sea.

 

[Diver0001]

Seems like killing a mosquito with a shot gun to me.

 

[Topper133]

All depends on the dive, if the current is running and I've had to come off the wreck or miss the shot or whatever it gets deployed ASAP, deepest I've deployed from is ~76m (250 feet), shallow simple rec dive, will deploy from 21m or shallower if that is the bottom.

 

[Diver0001]

The point of posting this in "basic" was not to create a pissing match between technical divers but to demonstrate how it can be done in a recreational context.

R..

 

[Kermit98]

Tend to deploy a single DSMB per pair on leaving the bottom unless we have a reason not to.

We do a lot of diving from RIBs so a diver getting to the surface in any sort of swell can be a PITA to spot, add in any sort of current moving them off the site and finding divers could really be a problem.

A nice 2m orange/red blob allows the boat to follow/keep an eye on where you are. To make it even easier for surface cover, stick your name or initials on it!

 

[kmarks]

not like the demonstration videos done with perfect buoyancy

I love how you say this, and then you move all of about 2 cm up and down in that video. It looks like your buoyancy is about as perfect as it gets.

After all I read about how hard it is to launch a DSMB, when I first tried it, at about 18 ft/6 m four years ago, I was blown away by how simple it was. Granted, I didn't have a reel that first time, and just had 40 feet of rope, which made a big mess that I had to wrangle back together, but I expected to be pulled to the surface, dropp to the bottom, drown in a cave two counties over, or anything else horrible that Scubaboard had assured me would happen. Once I got a reel, everything cleaned up very nicely and I made several successful launches for myself and my buddy a few months later in the current in Cozumel.

 

[shoredivr]

I just came back from Flower Garden Banks (in Gulf of Mexico, 110 miles off Galveston coast, TX), Fling Charters yesterday. They prohibit us to carry DSMB, but an SMB is a must have.

I asked the DM why. He said those string is a hazard. An incident happened when a group of 4 divers just swam above the guy holding DSMB, through the string & got tangled up pretty bad, creating such a hazard from not being able to swim & had to cut the line in several places.

From then on, their rule is: You must launch it at the surface. Most of the time we follow a rope, tied to a buoy & down to an anchor line. As long as you hold on to the line during descend & ascend, you won’t get lost at sea.

So because somebody once got tangled up and had to cut the line they came up with this blanket rule? If a diver is out in the open ocean and there is a current, or they get swept off the buoy line, the diver can be some distance away before they get to the surface to inflate their smb. Whereas if the diver launches their blob from below, when they first are ascending or at 30 or 40 ft the boat can track them easily.

Sounds poorly thought out by the charter if that’s the actual case.

 

[Searcaigh]

From then on, their rule is: You must launch it at the surface. Most of the time we follow a rope, tied to a buoy & down to an anchor line. As long as you hold on to the line during descend & ascend, you won’t get lost at sea.

A problem can occur when in low vis or in current and relocating the anchor / shot line for ascent is not possible.

I much prefer deploying the DSMB prior to surfacing in order that the boat crew know where I'm drifting off to as I'd hate to find myself 100m away from a small boat in choppy weather and hope that somebody spots me as soon as I inflate the sausage.

 

[Diver0001]

I love how you say this, and then you move all of about 2 cm up and down in that video. It looks like your buoyancy is about as perfect as it gets.

It's a matter of perspective. Just like when you listen to yourself singing it never sounds as good to you as it does to other people. When I look at that video it embarrasses me. I almost didn't post it because I just see myself flailing around in a current and making all kinds of unnecessary corrections. I wanted it ti be instructive and I wasn't sure it's good enough for that. xD

After all I read about how hard it is to launch a DSMB, when I first tried it, at about 18 ft/6 m four years ago, I was blown away by how simple it was. Granted, I didn't have a reel that first time, and just had 40 feet of rope, which made a big mess that I had to wrangle back together, but I expected to be pulled to the surface, dropp to the bottom, drown in a cave two counties over, or anything else horrible that Scubaboard had assured me would happen. Once I got a reel, everything cleaned up very nicely and I made several successful launches for myself and my buddy a few months later in the current in Cozumel.

This is what I hope to accomplish here. I'm hoping people will see this and feel motivated to practice the skill for themselves.

R..

 

[Dan]

So because somebody once got tangled up and had to cut the line they came up with this blanket rule? If a diver is out in the open ocean and there is a current, or they get swept off the buoy line, the diver can be some distance away before they get to the surface to inflate their smb. Whereas if the diver launches their blob from below, when they first are ascending or at 30 or 40 ft the boat can track them easily.

Sounds poorly thought out by the charter if that’s the actual case.

Haven’t happened again since (diver lost at sea after getting blown away by current). If it did, they would have changed the rule. The SMBs they issued to anyone that don’t bring one are those 2” dia. 3’ long one. With a 2-4’ waves that are commonly occurring in the area, they would have a hard time spotting those lost at sea divers. I bought my 3” dia x 6’ long. I had to leave my 100’-line spool at home.

Surface current was stiff with limited visibility (~ 10-15’ & greenish water) yesterday & I made sure to hang on to the rope & drag myself down to the anchor line or up to the boat. Once I was at the bottom the visibility was much better (~80’) with clear blue water. This is definitely not a dive site for beginners.