Janos(Offline)

I was wondering if there were formal DIR communication procedures when diving in a three?

For example, three divers are diving in open water in 1m to 2m of viz. Alf is leading, followed, by Betty, then Cedric

Something happens to Alf, perhaps he nicks his drysuit and gets a tiny leak, not serious, but bad enough for him not to want to run up a big deco commitment. How is this communicated across the team?

Does Alf tell Betty, get acknowledgement [1], then tell Cedric himself? Or should Alf tell Betty, wait for Betty to tell Cedric? Or should Alf try and position himself so that both Betty and Cedric can see his set of signals? What's preferred?

And how does it differ in an overhead enviroment?

I know what my procedures are, but am curious what the DIR way of doing it is.

Janos

[1] - And what are the procedures for acknowledgement - is a simple ok sufficient or should the message be repeated back?

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NickB(Offline)

Cedric's gone DIR?

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GLOC (Online)

Personally, I would get my wetnotes out if there was time or just thumb the dive and explain why I thumbed it on deco if I was going to markedly extend the deco by sitting on the bottom

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Bob Cooper(Offline)

Janos - it's only really the command signals that have to be repeated back and there are only 3 of them. "OK", "hold" and "thumb".

In the real world, all this communicating underwater stuff doesn't really work (why do you think there are only 3 command signals?) so if I was Alf, I would either thumb the dive (if the problem warranted it) or carry on and talk about it on the surface, there is no halfway measure.

Bob

rjack(Offline)

When the team is oriented linearly (like along the line in a cave):
#1 thumbs to #2
#2 returns thumb to #1 and simultaneously turns around communicating thumb to #3
#3 returns thumb to #2

At least that's how me and my buddies work best.

In OW things can be a bit looser with #1 communicating to both #2 and #3 simultaneously. But this is mostly a function of their formation and lack of needing to reference the line the same way. If the formation is linear or #3 is not seeing/with #1 for whatever reason, its #2's job to thumb it to #3. (or whatever else needs communicating like "go that way")

Being #2 requires alot of communication relaying.

Richard

wilbo(Offline)

there is also the quicker method of pointing out the equipment failure (if it is not already apparent) by pointing to the equipent and flipping the bird - meaning this kit is no longer operating at optimum efficiency - i.e. my drysuit is F*cked - up we go..

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Devon Rob(Offline)

Communications should be kept to a minimum as confusion is usually the end result! Wet notes are there for a reason but require just as much care as to when and where they should be deployed. Situational and team awareness are usually of higher priority. In the example, I´d just thumb the dive. HTH Rob

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TobyFish(Offline)

This makes sense. But to me, what appears to be a minor issue to the diver experiencing it can go one of two ways... it can indeed be a minor issue, or it can be one of the innocuous looking steps down into the incident pit.

The problem here is that if the diver with the problem gets a second problem then a third, he knows that things are starting to get FUBAR, but if each diver just keeps a catalog of their own "minor issues", then noone has the complete picture of the team's status. I would personally wetnote the issue - whether I thumbed or continued.

Toby

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Martin Burnard(Offline)

That's why we have such big pockets. It enables a budgie to be carried in the left pocket (esssential positioning), when all goes slightly wrong, extract the budgie (gently) from the pocket, place in standing position on palm of right hand (do not blind with torch), then toss (flip) gently upwards ensuring a full rotation (hence clear that one is flipping the bird), to indicate there is a problem. One may in extreme circumstances toss the bird high enough for multiple rotations to indicate that the situation is rather more serious.

Stowing of the budgie before beginning the ascent is essential as they are known to have poor control of thier ascent rates when left to thier own devices. This gentle restowing will ensure that no harm comes to the budgie.

Now Janos it is important that you keep this DIR secret to yourself, we will take a very dim view of you should you explaiin this to your fellow rebreather divers.


At this point I have finished my coffee and shall return to my accounts.....

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Clare Gledhill(Offline)

It depends.

Too much comunication leads to confusion - as does not enough. It is up to the individual diver concerned to make sure that his team has the necessary information to complete the dive.

I'll try an example. When I was ill on a dive in mexico, I was in position 2. I signaled to number 1 to slow down and suggested that I was a little out of sorts and needed him to slow down. He immediately thumbed the dive.

It turned out talking later that he was approaching turn pressure and we were unlikely to complete the planned circuit. He had added my wish to slow down to his gas status and decided to thumb. I had no need to know why.

When I turned back to number 3, all I said was thumb. At that stage he did not need to know that I felt unwell as it was not affecting my performance, nor did he need to know that 3 had turned the dive. All he needed to know was that we were leaving.

As we swam out, I felt a little worse and drew out my wetnotes to write that I was feeling sick, whilst I remained OK to swim. I wrote this whilst swimming so it didn't get in the way of our exit, but did ensure that both of team members were aware of a potential problem.


In your example, if I were the diver who had a slow leak in my drysuit, I would gauge my level of comfort on the dive and thumb if I felt that there was any likelihood that my state would have an adverse effect on my ability to do the dive or assist my team. It's the same as being cold - we don't need to talk about it unless it is an issue - if it is an issue or has the potential to become one then thumb the dive at the appropriate time and don't hang around to discuss why underwater - unless you may require assistance.

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