Kit Configuration

When you go diving, are you free to concentrate on the dive and enjoy the experience? Does all your equipment fall to hand when you need it? Can you operate all your kit without a second thought, smoothly and efficiently? Or...do you spend half the dive adjusting your buoyancy, clearing your mask, bashing your torch to make it work or re-clipping that dangling hose? Is the whole dive more of a kit battle than a serene meander through a majestic underwater landscape? Worse still, do you enter the water already exhausted from the struggle to get into all that kit? If so, then perhaps you should take a long hard look at your kit and it's configuration to see what you can do to make life easier for yourself. After all, we dive for fun not as a precursor to entering Gladiators!

As an example, take a used an Ikelite RCD50 pistol style torch. Whenever a memeber of the club did a stride entry,they were concerned that it would swing up and bash them. The problem is that this torch has only one place to attach a lanyard/clip so it always swings around from its d-ring.They put up with this for years before finally deciding "enough is enough". Sitting down with my harness and the torch, they thought, "what would be the ideal attachment". It soon became apparent that all theyI needed was an extra clip somewhere. The lanyard would clip to the chest d-ring and another clip to the waistband d-ring.

So, they added an extra snap bolt which is tied to a cable-tie around the top of the handle as you can see on the left. This clips to their waistband whilst the original lanyard clips to the shoulder. As a side effect, if the torch is turned on accidentally, they can see the beam in the water due to the way it hangs.

So, what's the moral of this? It's that you don't need to put up with less than ideal kit configurations especially if they are spoiling your dives. Sit down with your kit at home and think about which bits of it cause you problems in the water. Here's another example and it's a classic.

Do you find that your BC inflator hose disappears up over your left shoulder during the dive making it difficult to find when you need to adjust your buoyancy or start your ascent? Normally, this is annoying but it could prove dangerous. If you can't dump air you could end up with an uncontrolled ascent. Here's whatyou can do about it....

A piece of bungee elastic is fixed to the shoulder strap and the direct feed corrugated hose is passed through it. This maintains the inflator in a position where youI can always reach it but at the same time allows it to be raised above the head for dumping. If you look carefully at the picture, you'll also notice in the picture that the direct feed hose is connected to the corrugated hose using a couple of pieces of bicycle inner tube. Keeps it tidy and reduces the risk of its snagging on a bit of wreckage.

So, why not take a look at your kit, think about your diving and see if there isn't something simple you can do to make your diving easier and more enjoyable? Of course, you need to be careful modifying your kit, you don't want to compromise its purpose or make the situation worse. If you're not sure about anything, please ask someone in the club. The seniorclub memeberswill be happy to discuss kit configuration issues or put you on to someone who is better able to help.

As a final note something you may like to consider...The dive knife - where is yours when you're diving? Could you reach it easily if you get entangled in some fishing line? Have you ever tried? If you can reach it in a stressful entanglement situation, what happens if you do manage to get it out only to drop it? And, if it is within reach and secured to your kit with a line, will it cut monofilament line? When was the last time you tried it? If you carry scissors or sea-snips, when did you last check that the hinge hadn't corroded away - it's happened!

The DSMB

Hopefully everyone in the club has seen a Delayed Surface Marker Buoy (DSMB). If not, you should ask another member to show you theirs(!). The DSMB is used to indicate your position in the water to your surface cover. This allows them to a) follow you as you drift or swim along and b) not run you over when you surface. I'm sure we all realise the advantages in this! When you've done a bit of diving you'll realise that it also means that the boat is on hand when you surface meaning you don't have to bob around in the water for ages waiting to be picked up - definitely a plus point in my book! 

(I should know more than anyone - Fishguard experience!)

This piece of kit is known as "delayed" because you only deploy it (send it up) towards the end of the dive. It is inflated using air from your cylinder (usually from your octopus). Sounds like a good idea so what's the big deal? you ask.

Normally one person in a buddy pair needs to carry a DSMB. Even if you plan to come back up the shot line, one of you should have a DSMB. Why? Well, in case you can't find your way back to the shot, you can send it up to indicate your position. Sometimes, you get back on to the shot and find that there is quite a current running. In this case, it might be more comfortable to send up the DSMB and then "let go" of the shot line to drift free in the current. In this case the boat needs to know where you are. Often, the skipper will ask you to come up on a "delayed". This might be because he wants to recover his valuable shot line once everyone is safely down or beacuse he knows there will be a current running at the end of the dive and he cares about your comfort. In this case, all divers should do the same otherwise some end up drifting with the current and others remain static on the shot - a boat handler's nightmare!

Your webmaster's pet rant right now is that all divers should carry their own DSMB and know how to use it. One per buddy pair is not enough! This means buying more kit and learning how to use it in the pool - but that's not a bad thing eh? It could prove invaluable on your dive or even save your life! I've been in the situation where being able to wave a long orange object above the swell has been the only way to attract the attention of the dive boat...!

Plus, consider this. Your dive turns into a swim through sludge - the vis is less than perfect and, through no fault of your own, you loose sight of your buddy. What do you do? Well, as per your training, you spend a short amount of time looking round for your buddy before surfacing alone. In this case, suppose your buddy was carrying the DSMB! How do you surface safely without being run over by a RIB and without drifting off and not being spotted? You guessed it! You deploy your own spanking new DSMB which you purchased for exactly this eventuality!

You may think this is overkill and that you will not become separated from your buddy. Rest assured, one day it will happen and it's best to be prepared for this. If you're currently training, your instructor will not let you out of his sight so it's not too much of a problem at this stage (this is one of the reasons why your instructor may cancel a dive - if he/she thinks there is a risk you could become separated). However, once you are qualified you need to think much more about taking responsibility for your safety. As ever, speak to a more experienced member of the club if you are in any doubt whatsoever.

Oh! And bear in mind that, if you do need to deploy your DSMB as a "reserve" you could be mid-water. So practise deploying when you're not conveniently kneeling in the sea bed.

There are various types of DSMB - again, ask others to see what they like and use. Most of them are orange or red sausages which are open at the bottom to receive air. Some have a self-sealing mechanism which stops them deflating on the surface. Still others come with their own small (0.1L) bottle which is filled from your cylinder before the dive. They are much easier and quicker to deploy and remain inflated on the surface. Obviously they cost a bit more.

Your Webmaster carries three DSMBs - just in case one fails (or becomes snagged on something and has to be jettisoned).