What surface signalling kit?

[mikecsmith]

Just wondering what kit people recommended getting for situations where you get separated from the boat or caught in heavy swell and are hard to spot?

Doing some of my first UK boat dives in the coming months and I'd like to have at least something which makes me easier to see if probs happen.

Mike

[yazzyfooty]

Personally I use a large DSMB when diving from a boat, however some members of my club also carry a foldaway flag that fits somewhere along their cylinder.

[Kent Tooling]

Originally Posted by yazzyfooty

Personally I use a large DSMB when diving from a boat, however some members of my club also carry a foldaway flag that fits somewhere along their cylinder.

This is me personally I carry the following:-

A SMALL MIRROR OR OLD CD FOR SIGNALING

WHISTLE /AIR HORN

EPIRB (PERSONAL LOCATING BEACON)

RED/SMOKE FLAIR in a water proof container.

The last two are if the situation has gone TITS UP then i will se them.

[e14724]

Large SMB
Whistle
PLB
Yellow Flag
Jotron Strobe
Colour Dye (question over how effective in large swell) Handy for holidays though and its cheap
A large forehead
Making sure the skipper knows what bits i have and at what points they will be used

[nigelH]

I had a go a couple of years ago with reflective things but they were totally useless. (CDs and mirrors) I carried them for half a season waiting for a sunny day and then discovered that even when people were looking for me to test them they never got a flash. It's easy enough to stand in your garden and move a spot about on the back of your house but in the water you haven't a clue where it's going and you can't hold still anyway.

I pretty much always have a DSMB or three about my person and all my rigs have a whistle blown by back gas as the ordinary ones make a nice gurgly noise when full of water and even your buddy doesn't here it. (My son discovered this when being swept out of the harbour mouth at Portland one stormy day)

I have an EPIRB but the problem with them is you don't know they're dead until they don't work.

[PeeBee]

DSMB
Back up smb
Flag
whistle
Milar radar reflective kite (only any use if the chopper is looking for you, few boats have radar)
and always have a chat with the skipper so he knows what colour, markings and kit I have.

Every skipper I have ever spoken to says they love flags, for them they are the easist to spot although they don't show so well to ASR guys.

[Snash]

Dont forget, as well as all the usual stuff, your torch is also a useful signalling device. Used it on a few occassions to signal the boat - works well.

Snash

[Helen F H]

This might be of interest to you - done on one of the boats up here a few years ago. Diver location trials and Diver location trials: Contents

Personally i carry with me a chuffing great Halcyon SMB (six foot i think) which has SOLAS tape on the top so is radar reflective. My torch and a small tornado whistle tucked away in my pocket also help hugely.

Main problems i have seen are when people use those tiny SMB's. They work great if you are part of a group where everyone is coming up together at the same time - pants if you aint! Sorry to say but round SMB's are not good as they look exactly like a lobster pot buoy, esp from a distance.

Situations where you are more likely to get seperated from your surface cover such as strong tidal streams, drift dives, long deco or possibly poor surface vis due to fog or a rough sea all mean you need to do as you are told by your skipper/cox.

[mikecsmith]

Time to buy myself one of those fold away yellow flags.