Safety Equipment for Diving – What You Need
Safety Equipment For In The Water
Safety equipment for diving is often one of the most overlooked areas of dive gear. It usually takes a diver having a close call before they prioritize the safety of them and their dive buddies. The reality is that safety should be every diver’s priority in the water. There are a few pieces of gear that every diver should carry with them to ensure they are able to deal with common hazards in the water.
Dive Knife as Safety Equipment
A dive knife is one of the most important pieces of equipment that divers need to ensure their safety. Many new divers assume that dive knifes are important for defense against sharks or other predators. This is simply not the case. The reality is that entanglement hazards are one of the greatest risks a diver faces in the water. Monofilament, nets, or a diver’s own shooting line are the greatest immediate risks in the water. Every diver should carry at least one knife with them in an accessible place to cut away entanglements.
Weight Belts
Most divers quickly get a weight belt for the buoyancy benefits. Many divers don’t even think of weight belts as safety equipment. As a diver, you should think of weight belts as almost disposable pieces of gear. They are great for getting a diver into sink phase on a dive, but they are just as important for being able to get to the surface. If you are struggling on a dive and don’t think you will be able to reach the surface it is better to loose your belt than for your dive buddies to find you on the bottom. You should regularly practice being able to ditch your weight belt so the motion becomes second nature.
Other ways weight belts can be safety equipment is by choosing a color belt that helps your dive buddy see you at depth. White weight belts are great, because they are easy to see in the water from the surface. This is because white does fall away with the color spectrum at depth.
Whistles and Other Signaling Devices
An often overlooked pieces of safety equipment is some kind of visual or auditory signaling device. Auditory signaling can be a simple whistle that works when wet. Some wetsuits, like the Neptonics Quantum Stealth Wetsuit, have a built in safety whistle and pocket. Visual Signals can be a bit trickier for freediving. One of the most effective visual signals is orange custom bands. They have a similar effect to the a safety signal inflatable float, but it is constantly attached to the speargun.
