Safety sausages and other essential safety gear

[koozemani]

Don't encourage him

---------- Post added January 29th, 2013 at 11:03 AM ----------

But yes, that was a colorfully illustrated example.

 

[MeraSonnet]

You should have been a writer!

No doubt! Mike, are you really a ghost avatar for Mike Ange (Diver Down's author, previously mentioned in this thread)?!!!

BTW, thanks for the moderators in allowing this equipment discussion to reside in the New Divers' section, assuming they will continue to let it reside here over time. Placing it here was intentional, in sharing an experience as a relatively new diver that may be fairly common -- focusing so much on the bouyancy and air reg and other prominant issues with being new under the water, that you overlong neglect addressing the safety side. Hope this benefits others who are new new new and looking at drift diving and other scenarios in line with the discussions in this thread. The consolidation of the esentials lists here, as well as hearing the divers talk about the WHYs behind their choices, is very good discussion. Thanks all.

 

[nimoh]

A whistle can be heard quite far away, not to mention that it's a big ocean for the observers to detect and hope that they'd see an SMB. You deploy your SMB then you use the whistle to get their attention.

I just think that a mirror would be more effective for getting their attention

 

[Mike]

I just think that a mirror would be more effective for getting their attention

If the sun is shining... if it's daytime and not night time.... if they are on deck, and looking in your general direction....

A mirror is just about irreplaceable as a long distance signaling device, especially to an aircraft.

 

[nimoh]

If the sun is shining... if it's daytime and not night time.... if they are on deck, and looking in your general direction....

A mirror is just about irreplaceable as a long distance signaling device, especially to an aircraft.

good point, didn't think of cloudy days. Night time, I have my lights, but of course the batteries will run out eventually. if they are not on deck, they are unlikely to hear a whistle either, but that is probably moot, since the cloudy days issue already answers my question.

might not be a bad idea to determine an effective range of a whistle, if I ever get around to this, I'll post back

thanks.

 

[dbulmer]

I carry an smb, mirror, primary and backup lights.

I have thought about the whistle, and I am not sold on it being all that useful. I mean, if a boat is close enough to hear the whistle, wouldn't they be close enough to see the smb, or mirror?

Does anyone have a particular scenario where it would be crucial to carry a whistle. Obviously, it is not a big device, and can fit in a pocket out of the way quite easily, but I prefer to carry only equipment I need (or might need).

Fog might be a scenario where a whistle could come in handy.

 

[Mike]

good point, didn't think of cloudy days. Night time, I have my lights, but of course the batteries will run out eventually. if they are not on deck, they are unlikely to hear a whistle either, but that is probably moot, since the cloudy days issue already answers my question.

might not be a bad idea to determine an effective range of a whistle, if I ever get around to this, I'll post back

thanks.

Bottom line is if you keep protesting against getting a whistle we are going to have to kick you out of the male dive club and search you for a mangina, as resisting the accumulation of gobs of dive equipment whether you need it or not is a direct violation of the man club rules. - you've been warned...

 

[nimoh]

Fog might be a scenario where a whistle could come in handy.

another good one....I'm sold the whistle is not a waste of space in a pocket

 

[Lorenzoid]

This is an obvious one, but safety gear is only useful if you remember to use it. On a night dive in Cozumel the DM instructed us to shine our lights on ourselves when we surfaced. A sub-group of us surfaced without the DM and waited almost 10 minutes for the boat to pick us up while they picked up the main group. It occurred to me afterwards that I should have deployed my SMB and illuminated it with my light--a lot more visible than shining a light on myself. Others in my group similarly left their SMBs stowed. I guess we got so hung up on the DM's instructions that we neglected to think about the equipment we had with us.

 

[koozemani]

Bottom line is if you keep protesting against getting a whistle we are going to have to kick you out of the male dive club and search you for a mangina, as resisting the accumulation of gobs of dive equipment whether you need it or not is a direct violation of the man club rules. - you've been warned...

To steal a quote from splitlip's sig line

"They called themselves Guerrilla Divers.
Composed of elite divers with Macho mentalities, back when men were men, and FEAR was a lispy companion of the common Man. It was a time before insurance liabilities, lawsuits or beauracratic regulation of the "sport". Guerrilla divers didn't need "Buoyancy Compensator Vests". In fact, "Anyone who needs a BC deserves to drown" was a popular adage. Exploration and the Hunt came first, excitement and fun followed. Safety was the stepchild of fitness, good reflexes and a cool head.
This was a time of great Adventure."