Football players wear them. So do people competing in hockey, baseball, cycling and a myriad of other sports.
But divers wearing helmets? And being supplied with compressed air via a hose at the water surface that connects to their helmets? Who would have thought it?
During a recent Caribbean cruise I experienced this interesting twist on underwater exploration during a stop at Coral World Ocean Park in St. Thomas in the U.S. Virgin Islands. It is called “helmet diving.”
We boarded a bus in St. Thomas and were taken on a 40-minute drive on the wrong side of the road – at least what North Americans consider the wrong side — to our destination, which they called “the cove.” Among the other attractions at this facility are snorkelling, scuba diving and encounters with sea lions, sharks or turtles, to name a few. Equipment can be rented or purchased there.
The helmet diving base is a large round covered area. After a brief introduction that included instructions and the usual signing of a waiver absolving the facility of liability, gloves and water shoes were provided. We descended a ladder three steps into the water, where a white helmet was placed over our heads, resting on the shoulders. It was the receptacle for the compressed air that was pumped down from the surface.
The helmet, which featured a clear mask, was large enough to enable us to wear our glasses. That was a bonus in clear water where the visibility ranged from 30 to 40 feet. We were told to stay upright to prevent water from entering the helmet. Breathing was normal, but we had to purge our ears. The helmet weighed 70 pounds, but with the buoyancy created by the water we experienced a weight of just 15 pounds when we were below the surface.
Descending the final steps of the ladder to the ocean floor 20 feet beneath the surface in 81-degree Fahrenheit (27.2 Celsius) water, we began our helmet dive walk. Two scuba divers guided us on the 30-minute trip. An added safety measure was a chain along the route; we were told to hang on to because the water was fast moving.Unfortunately, one of our helmet divers had to leave the water after experiencing breathing difficulty. While it should not be a problem for most people, those who have breathing difficulties or who suffer from claustrophobia might not want to try it.
Of the five of us taking part in the helmet dive, I was the only one who scuba dives. It struck me that helmet diving is an excellent opportunity for those who do not wish to go the scuba route to see some of the underwater world that thrills divers. But in exposing helmet divers to that same visual experience – especially in the clear waters of the Caribbean – it is also a vehicle to attract new people to scuba.
I would highly recommend helmet diving to anyone thinking of getting into scuba diving, or to those who just want a glimpse into a diver`s world.
Buoyancy is one of the most critical skills in a Scuba divers’ training regimen. It is more art than science. Continuing to build on the skills with the right training is essential. Following are ten tips to help you develop better buoyancy!
The SMB is for marking the location of something or someone. This could be marking the location of an object on the sea floor or marking the position of divers in the water. Lift bags are just that, they are made to lift objects. Many people use lift bags as marking devices, but as we will discuss, this is not the most optimal use for them.
Many SMBs will have different features. The biggest feature that a SMB can have is an over-pressure relief valve (OPV). The primary difference between a SMB and safety sausage is that a SMB will be deployed from depth. Whereas the safety sausage is deployed at the surface for signaling. As the SMB rises from depth, the gas trapped inside will expand. As the gas expands it will stress the stitching that holds the SMB together. If there isn’t some sort of mechanism to release this gas, then the expanding gas will rip apart the stitching of the SMB and releasing all of the gas. Thus rendering the SMB useless.
A device called HELP (Handheld Emergency Location Pinpointer)
The H.E.L.P. is the revolutionary dive flag that will give you that advantage and will be with you for all your dive seasons to come, providing an edge and peace of mind.
It’s easy to use, lightweight and strong and can be stored safely and easy accessed in your BCD or lifejacket and is extended to over 1500mm in a matter of seconds. No more fumbling on the tank to look for the dive flag that needs assembling (providing it hasn’t fallen off in the ascent).
Weighing less than 150 grams, the help can be waived for long period of times, seen from afar and rugged enough to take the pounding that dive equipment can be subjected to, the H.E.L.P. is the perfect addition to your safety equipment.
Using lift bags for marking have many different problems. I will discuss the three of the biggest problems. First, lift bags do not stand out of the water as SMBs do (on the surface). This limits how boats/surface support can see the bag. Second, most lift bags are open at the bottom. As SMBs and bags rise to the surface, they do not go straight up. Instead the twist and turn as the gas moves/expands inside them. With the open end on lift bags, this can cause the bag to lose gas as it twists and turns on the way up. If it loses enough gas, it will sink back down or it will not provide enough lift stay at the surface. The third big problem of using lift bags for marking is that once the bag gets to the surface, a large amount of gas will cause it to ride high in the water. As it does this, if not enough tension is put on the line, then the bag can fall on it’s side. This will cause the gas trapped inside the bag to escape out the open bottom. This can cause the bag to sink back down or not provide enough lift to properly mark the diver’s location. SMBs are closed, that is they do not have an open bottom. Therefore, it is not possible to lose gas out of the marker.
Other features of SMBs that are important are oral/power inflate and radar reflective tape. The inflation mechanism for SMBs should be orally inflated or inflated with a drysuit/wing inflation hose. If the SMB does allow for LP hose inflation, there should not be a locking mechanism (like on BCD or dry suit inflation nipples) on the SMB inflation nipple. This way if the SMB quickly starts to ascend, it will not be locked to the diver causing a runaway ascent for the diver and the hose will just pull away from the inflation nipple.
Radar reflective tape is also important. When the Coast Guard looks for lost divers in the water (both by boat and helicopter) they will have their radar going. Radar reflective tape is a piece of tape on the top of the SMB that will reflect a radar signal back to the source. Thus showing up on the Coast Guard’s radar screens. This will help the Coast Guard find the lost diver more quickly. Lastly, SMBs should provide enough lift such that divers cannot easily pull it back down to depth. Generally 25 lbs or more of lift is plenty.
As with many diving activities, deploying a SMB is a team effort. At a minimum, there should be at least one SMB per dive team. It is a good rule of thumb for every diver to carry a SMB. The steps to deploy a SMB as a team are below.
1) The dive leader will signal who should deploy the SMB.
2) The diver will signal to the team to watch them deploy the SMB
3) The diver shooting the SMB will pull the SMB and finger spool from their storage locations, generally in a diver’s dry suit pocket.
4) If the spool isn’t already attached to the SMB, the diver must attach it. Generally, most SMBs will have a small d-ring located on the bottom of them. Using the double ender of the finger spool as a weight, the diver will feed the double ender snap (with line attached) through the d-ring. Once through, the diver can pass the entire spool through loop of line at the end of the spool. Remove the double ender from the line and keep it on the right chest d-ring.
5) The diver should signal to a member of the team to look up to make sure that the SMB will not come into contact with another diver, boat, or other obstruction.
6) Once cleared to deploy, the diver should wrap up the spool, line and any access SMB material into one hand. Making sure that no materials, line, etc. are wrapped around fingers, dive gear, etc.
7) The diver should move into a slightly head down position. This makes recovering from a runaway SMB much easier as the diver will need to swim down to control the SMB.
8.) Holding the SMB and spool with the left hand, inflate the SMB till about half full. If you are orally inflating the SMB, take a normal breath, remove the regulator from your mouth with the right hand, blow a half breath into the SMB, repeat until the SMB is half full. You will want to avoid taking to deep of a breath or exhaling to much as it will change your buoyancy. If you are using a LP inflator, use the right hand to hold the LP hose and connect the SMB to the inflator hose. Pay careful attention to how fast the SMB is filling up so that you can remove the inflation hose to prevent the SMB from getting too full. I tend to avoid holding anything with the right had just in case I need to deploy the long hose in an emergency.
9) Once gas is in the SMB, hold the SMB in the left hand and the finger spool in the right hand. Verify that the knot/line attachment to the SMB (from the spool) is in place.
10) Let go of the SMB. As it rises, be careful as to not squeeze the finger spool to tightly. This could lead to a possible runaway ascent. The finger spool should gently unwind between the grasp of your fingers.
11) Once the SMB reaches the surface, extra tension should be put on the line in order to make the SMB stand straight up. To do this, wrap up the line on the finger spool 3 or 4 times.
12) You can lock the spool in place by removing the double ender snap from your right d-ring and clipping the line inside the double ender snap and through a hole in the spool. This will stop the line from unwinding from the spool.
As you move up the water column, you will need to wrap up the line on the spool till you get to the surface. Making sure you are keeping enough tension on the line to keep the SMB standing up out of the water, but not to much tension such that you pull the SMB back down. Due to the presence of line in the water. Diver awareness must be heightened to prevent any entanglements with the line. Also keep in mind that the diver who is managing the line now has only one hand free to respond to problems. So team awareness and communication is critical.
Knowing how to deploy a SMB is a critical skill for open water diving as this is a primary way to communicate with the boat/surface support. You should learn this as part of an Open Water class or Advanced Open water class. If you plan to do a lot of open water diving, such as in the Great Lakes or oceans, your proficiency with this skill must be excellent.
Thanks much for reading this far, feel free to post any questions or comments. Dang it, sign up for the newsletter or RSS fee, show us some love. . .
This Post was written by, and seeded from Duane Johnson of Precision Diving On February – 26 – 2009
I recently had a conversation with a potential student about how I teach team diving techniques compared to what is taught in traditional diving classes. It occurred to me that many divers do not know the difference between team diving and buddy diving. They feel that if they stay with their buddy and can air share in an emergency, that is team diving. It is not, team diving is much more than sticking with your buddy and helping out in an emergency.
First, let’s define buddy diving as it is taught in traditional diving classes. When people go through these classes, they are taught to stick with your buddy, do air shares, and some basic buddy rescue skills. While these skills are important, it does not take the place of working as a team. Buddy diving, is simply looking after each other. The buddy is just there. It doesn’t do much for the safety of the team nor the objectives of the dive. One of the biggest areas where buddy diving fails is in the pre-dive planning stage. In traditional PADI diving classes, students are normally taught BWRAF as their pre-dive plan. That is an acronym for: BCD, Weights, Releases, Air, Final OK. There is no discussion as to how they will descend, swim around, communicate, when to thumb the dive and ascend. This is where buddy diving breaks down.
So, what is team diving? Let’s use the analogy of a football team. US football, not soccer that is. In football, the team works together to work their way down the field to score a touchdown. Everyone on the field has a job to do in order to ensure success. If one area of the team fails, then the quarterback gets sacked, the running back fumbles the ball, or the team must punt away the ball. If an offensive lineman does not do his job effectively, then the quarterback or running back can, potentially, get hurt. The same is true for team diving. The team must work together to ensure the safety of all members of the team. Next time you watch a NFL game, watch the offensive linemen. They are always pointing to something, shouting at each other, etc. The quarterback reads the defense and may change the play at the line of scrimmage (i.e. call an audible). This is an excellent demonstration of constant team communication. Each member of the team knows where other teammates are at at all times. Just as in diving, we must be able to effectively communicate to let the team know where we are at, what to look out for, etc. We do this with passive and active light communication.
To ensure team success, the entire team must be on the same page. Not just in knowing what is expected, but in skill and experience level. Inexperienced divers can learn a great deal from experienced divers, but they must learn it at their current experience level before moving on to something more aggressive and out of their level. This is one aspect of diving where people get into trouble. They simply try to do dives, or take classes, that are above what they are really capable of handling. The problem is they don’t know when to put the brakes on their diving and say, I need to get better before moving on. They don’t do a honest assessment of their diving skills. I had to learn this the hard way, see here.
As part of the pre-dive plan, the team must get together and determine how the dive will get done. They must determine what the goal of the dive will be, who will lead, what the gas plan is, etc. For shallow reef dives, this can be very simple and take only a few minutes. For complex decompression dives, it can take days.
The Team that Descends Together, Stays Together
The majority of diving problems occur during the initial descent of the dive. As a team, it is important to stay together during the descent. There are multiple team descent techniques that can be employed, depending on the water conditions. This is where you need to have learned team diving from a good instructor to knows team diving protocols, not reading off the internet.
A good number of diving accidents have occurred when diving alone. Now, that doesn’t only mean solo diving. It includes when buddies lose contact and separate from one another. If the team descends together and gets to the target depth, then the leader can communicate to the team the direction to swim. This helps keep the team together and swimming off in the right direction. In other words, everybody starts the dive together.
Lending a Helping Hand, or Two, or Three
When the proverbial crap hits the fan, I want my team members there to help me out. This shouldn’t be confused with being self-sufficient. If I’m having a problem with a gas leak, my teammates can see my valves where I cannot. They can tell me which one to shut down, or just do it for me if I am dealing with another problem. They are there to provide me gas, if for some reason I need it. In other words, my teammates must be on the same page as me so that we can prevent small issues/problems from becoming larger (i.e. the incident pit). When diving as a team, all resources become team resources. This includes equipment, gas, etc. But it also includes that person’s experience. This is where solo diving courses fail because the diver solely relies on their own, possibly limited, experience. When I’m diving with less experienced divers, I’m able to prevent or foresee potential problems they may have based on my past diving experiences. A diver’s education and experience level is a big resource one can bring to the table in the team environment.
The bottom line is that divers shouldn’t be fooled by instructors/dive stores who are claiming to teach team diving. Nine times out of ten, they are only talking about buddy diving and not team diving. Do your homework and ask the all important question, “How?”. An instructor who truly teaches team diving will be able to teach more than just the “buddy system” and teach how the team can achieve it’s goals, including teams with more than 2 or 3 people.
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Join Technical and Advanced Wreck Dive Instructor, Richie Kohler, and Master Instructor John Flanders with the Academy of Scuba as you learn how to wreck dive in San Diego’s World Famous Wreck Alley
Over a two day period (July 25 and 26, 2009), you will be exposed to expert wreck diving instruction and techniques.
You will be doing four world famous wreck dives over two days in Wreck Alley and have over 6 hours of classroom instruction from Kohler and Flanders. You will build a “concrete” foundation in deep, wreck and NITROX diving. At the end of the course, you may qualify for your TDI Nitrox certification and your SDI Wreck Diving Specialty certification.
Best of all, your dive education foundation will be laid by the most progressive wreck divers in the business. Join Richie Kohler, John Flanders and their staff for a weekend of fun and excitement. Folks, this is a chance of a lifetime, and my friends John and Richie will knock your socks off with both personality as well as mad skill!
