Reversing divers should shout BEEP BEEP.

[Colin Marriott]

Here ya go . . . bottom of the page

Gloves

ColinM

[Finless]

Originally Posted by Colin Marriott

Here ya go . . . bottom of the page

Gloves

ColinM

Perhps they are intended for disabled divers?

[shippy]

Bodyboarders use them and disabled people use them to,

[dry suit diver]

surely its onl breather divers that go beep when going backwards

[Finless]

Originally Posted by dry suit diver

surely its onl breather divers that go beep when going backwards

I think they beep going in any direction and sound is more of a "beep, f*ck, beep, aaarrghhhh, beep, OMG, beep, where's that bail out cylinder"?

[MATTBIN]

Its a poseur skill, if you spend your dive time hooking out lobbies and hacking off portholes whilst kneeling on the wreck who needs to fin backwards.

Matt

[Letz]

Originally Posted by thehappychappy

I'm going to abstain from voting.
I don't think its essential but I do think its a nice to have.
Any skill that helps you in the water is a good to have.

I would consider it essential if I was in the habit of going into tight spaces that meant turning around would be nigh on impossible or would involve silting out the location.
To this end I think its essential if you do dive in those situations, if you don't then its a nice to have.

I'm inclined to agree with this and your poll doesn't cover "not essential but rather useful" I don't think "not essential" or "cool" covers that.
It should be remembered though that there are some skills which many would consider "essential" and it would be foolhardy to be pushing people to work on other skills when these should be improved, practised etc.

As for "beep beep" we could start with some brake lights and indicators !!!

[uwila]

I do it all the time when taking piccies. A warning beep-beeper would make no difference as I invariably find my buddy has f*cked off and left me to it long before I back away from the flash-traumatized fishy

[Gareth Burrows]

I find it a very useful skill

useful on the bottom when you want to swim into a hole in a wreck and then just reverse out without all that turning around nonsense
useful on deco for station keeping if your buddy drifts towards you or you towards them
useful for initiating an ascent between stops - drop slightly heads down and do a back kick and then flatten out and you will start going up.
Very useful in drills - if someone is stressed in a valve drill they inevitably kick towards you - you can just back away without having to get out of the way or push off them
Obviously useful if you are using a camera or video

It's just one of those things that doesn't seem important until you can do it, and then you wonder how you managed without it.

[ratcliffe]

I agree with Garf

I voted that it wasn't an essential skill, mainly because there wasn't a "useful or desirable" option. I can do it a little bit and wouldn't mind being able to do it better, especially as I am starting to play with a camera little bit.