Surface Support

[David G]

Hi All,
Following on from my thread on Dive Planning which is still gaining quite a few comments, I would be interested in your thoughts on Surface Support and how this actually fits with the statements some of you have been making about your 'planning' or lack of it!

How well informed do you think your Surface Support are about what you are doing?
Does it actually matter?

I suspect I know how the Poll will pan out but would like to see it in Black and White (OK, blue, red.......etc)

Cheers,

David.

[Simon TW]

If I'm on my own I telephone someone and tell them I'm diving and where I'm diving and what time they should ring the emergency services if I fail to call back.

[Finless]

I trust the charter boat skippers implicitly to know where I will drift to once I have left the wreck + I ALWAYS send my DSMB up from the wreck and then drift off.

On occasion, when diving from my friends boat if it is slack water we send a DSMB up immediately if we are off/leave the mark or the DSMB is up from the very beginning on a drift dive.

NOTE: Do not go for one of those round or rugby ball shaped SMBs for diving in the sea! Get a decent sized upright DSMB and make sure you can fill it so it is erect on the surface! Do not save £ss by getting a dinky little thing unless you only dive in perfect conditions.

[chrisch]

just depends. Mostly though we are diving in the lake and have no cover. If there is a skipper fine, though in the Med its often the case the boat is left unattended.

Chris

[NeilB]

Club boats, usually two or more with at least a Boat Handler/Diver Leader on each. One oxygen kit, E size cylinder of O2, fire extinguisher and first aid kit on each boat as well.
The marina is informed when we leave and when they should expect us back. The boat handler/diver leader is informed of the dive plan for each buddy pair.

[mythic]

I think this is a good place to bring up somthing i have noticed while doing courses. I often help out as a technical dive master of tec courses in my area and when we do dives we make a point of informing other divers of what we are doing examples of this are

1. (non tec divers are around) Hi guys just to let you know we will be doing a deep deco dive today and will be staging some tanks containing deco gas if you happen to spot them please leave them alone as we will be using them on the way back up !!
2. (other tec divers are around) Hi guys we will be diving here in a bit here is a copy of our dive plan and if you spot any bright yellow smb's it means we could need some help we will be using red ones as standard so dont panic if you spot red smb's)

it often amazes me how many tec divers are to proud to say if we have trouble we may need help etc.. after all i would rather have a problem when i know there are a couple of divers who have my dive plan and could recognise a yellow smb as a problem and pop down to see if they could help

As for genral surface support i usally dive with people that are rescue divers and above anyway but most boat trips i have planned i have insured i have a min of a dive master, emergancy plan o2kit and full med kit

Mythic

[nigelH]

If I dive from a hard boat there's a skipper on it.
If I dive from a club RIB there is a boat handler in it.

I don't shore dive if I can possibly help it.

[Kirstie]

Originally Posted by nigelH

I don't shore dive if I can possibly help it.

Why's that? Is it not worth the faff for you, or do you just not enjoy it?

[Finless]

Originally Posted by Kirstie

Why's that? Is it not worth the faff for you, or do you just not enjoy it?

Shore diving is for girls ........ or poor people.

Us real men go wreck diving! I'd go twice a year ..... if my Mum would let me!

[nigelH]

Originally Posted by Kirstie

Why's that? Is it not worth the faff for you, or do you just not enjoy it?

I live in Sussex.
If you could get to decent depth, I'm talking about not being able to stand up, we wouldn't have great long piers every few miles up the coast to handle 1800s shipping.

We dived the pier last night. About a mile out on a high and we got 9 meters. At that depth the surge still reaches you and everything is trashed. Compare this with Lanzarote where I did a trimix course where it slopes down at about 30 degrees and you can dial up virtually any depth you want by just swimming further out. You can be in still water, well current but no surge, 30 horizontal meters from where you put your fins on.