View Full Version : SAFTY BLACK
northern_diver
09-11-2009, 15:44
Diving for us is mainly a recreational activity, which while involving us travelling into a alien and non life threatening environment, is fairly safe conscience and maintains a fairly good safety record...mainly anyway.
Equipment is designed to be safe, reliable and fit for purpose, stobes are brights, the knife is better at cutting line, the Bouys are extra easy to be seen, we have all sorts of safety features, including protocols on how to react.
So my point is, why is most diving gear black or dark coloured, lots of divers have black dry suits (or mainly black), black stabs/wings, some fins, many hoods etc etc this is especially so in more 'technical' groups. Its incredibly easy to become some sort of dive ninja...without any call for skills though.
Made me laugh when i was talking and thinking about it diving the other day, all the safety, then we have 'safety black' gear to make us really noticable.
Just thoughts and clearly not all gear is black, its nice to see different colours sometimes. I would love say light brown and bone coloured gear (jedi style:p ;) ) or lighter colours, Buddy commandos (older gen) seem to be the only often out standingly coloured gear.
John
Nudibranch
09-11-2009, 15:52
Fashion :rolleyes:
bootneck
09-11-2009, 16:12
Black is the new Black. I used to have florescent orange hood, but I just look like a match and felt a right N**
Rule 6 :D
and it is very slimming ;)
micromouse
09-11-2009, 18:36
Black in terms of materials cost is generally cheaper.
Wayne
Mike Halligan
09-11-2009, 18:55
When wet and in UK waters, black textiles are frequently just about invisible to surface craft - even when they're looking for you.
Stealth divers risk being run over unless they use DSMBs.
mike etheredge
09-11-2009, 19:15
I wonder if black SMBs would sell.....:D
..and tinted mask lenses, like the windscreens on chavvy cars.
Nigel N
Yazzyfooty
09-11-2009, 21:22
I love being a Ninja.........with skills!
northern_diver
10-11-2009, 02:07
A technical instructor i know, whom also has a twin set/rebreather harness system on the market told me that red, would actually be cheaper than black...but wouldnt have sold. I wanted red, would have contrasted nice with the black wing and the black drysuit....would love to see the cost difference.
Black is hard to see, underwater or in the wash at sea, other colours would be easier to see and if mor ecolours were used, buddy identification would be much easier. Put your dSMB's up if you ever lost or nearly lost a buddy in naff viz, due to not been able to clearly see them (torches/buddy lines etc aside)
Me and my buddy (dad) strided off the jetty at capern wray once, followed by 4 other twin sets guys with black wings/suits/gear and guess who followed the wrong diver ;) ...it was me, but i have in the past.
I would love to see a increase in the number of colours been used. But sadly, the simple fact that black looks a) sexy b) like your well smooth c)sliming:rolleyes: and d) like you know what your doing;) will probably mean its trend to stay.
John
It's all in the accessories.
Fluorescent yellow cylinder mesh is a good place to start. It shows up really well.
But I too would like to get my next drysuit in more visible colours than blue & black.
Nigel N
My drysuit is Orange & Black - I'm a Tango'd dive Ninja (without the skills......).
Nearly lost my buddy (all black - inc fins hood etc) in low light/vis a few weeks back - luckily his brilliant white twin set was just about visible! Had he had yellow fins etc I could have seen him a bit sooner.
Hickdive
10-11-2009, 13:06
I'd rather not wander round looking like a refugee from a circus*, therefore I'm quite happy with black. Diving is supposed to be fun, personally I don't find dressing like a clown fun. YMMV.
If I need to be found on the surface I'm sure my flourescent yellow flag, dayglo orange DSMB, red back-up DSMB or out out-of-gas yellow DSMB or my primary or back-up lights will be of more use than having my suit make me look like Ronald MacDonald.
In addition, I learned to dive in the eighties when black equipment was rare and, I can assure you, when the only choice is to have your equipment in an assortment of hideous pastel hues, the option of black becomes very appealing.
I would concede that I'd ideally like to have a nice day-glo coloured hood. However, the hoods on the market that are day-glo aren't particularly good hoods and I need a warm hood on every dive whereas I've yet to need to be picked up by a helicopter or lifeboat so warmth wins out as a priority. If someone knows of a really good hood that is also high-visability I'd be pleased to hear about it but please don't tell me about those nasty day-glo overhoods.
*I let my complete absence of diving skill convince people of my inherent clownishness.
Nearly lost my buddy (all black - inc fins hood etc) in low light/vis a few weeks back - luckily his brilliant white twin set was just about visible! Had he had yellow fins etc I could have seen him a bit sooner.
Do you use a torch ?
Most of my kit is black apart from some blue on my suit, but I have a big white twin set and carry a lovely big primary light, Oh and buddies who carry the same :D
northern_diver
10-11-2009, 15:56
'Refugee from a circus', that made me laugh.
Why im sure the idea of diving with ronald macdonald would interest many of the dive community, i wouldnt like to dive in a similar outfit. I hate seeing older dive books where every bit of kit is a different bright colour, makes me cringe...called the 80's i think;) :p but a little more colouring would be nice.
Its not just about surface detection but also darker/lower viz dives. Where while more often than not you can see someone is there, the stupidly bright torch beam gives it away mainly, you can't always identify who it is, which out been much closer.
John
'Refugee from a circus', that made me laugh.
Why im sure the idea of diving with ronald macdonald would interest many of the dive community, i wouldnt like to dive in a similar outfit. I hate seeing older dive books where every bit of kit is a different bright colour, makes me cringe...called the 80's i think;) :p but a little more colouring would be nice.
Its not just about surface detection but also darker/lower viz dives. Where while more often than not you can see someone is there, the stupidly bright torch beam gives it away mainly, you can't always identify who it is, which out been much closer.
John
We used to have a club member and dive shop owner that had a contract with Aquion. Had them make up a dry suit with a different colour on each panel. You could see him for miles. Looked like a harlequin. I think it was a commercial decision rather than a safety decision. (Pink, Green, yellow blue etc.) Was somewhat unique.
Gary
Its not just about surface detection but also darker/lower viz dives. Where while more often than not you can see someone is there, the stupidly bright torch beam gives it away mainly, you can't always identify who it is, which out been much closer.
John
You have lost me but I don't loose my buddies as we all have those stupidly bright lights so I am always in view of them or their lights and as long as I know where they are I know who they are.
Sorry your post makes no sense to me.
As for your instructor friend how red is that suit going to look underwater :)
Mike Halligan
10-11-2009, 17:43
Whatever John was thinking about, I was merely contemplating the extra difficulty imposed on boat handlers by divers who surface in stealth kit mid-ocean, yet expect everyone in the vicinity to be both looking for them and capable of distinguishing them from their backdrop despite the camouflage they've adopted.
Not every boat handler has eyes like a ****-house rat and not all are constantly scrutinising their intended track in expectation of a barely visible body in the water. A member of our club soon changed his behaviour when four of us pointed up in very frank terms that he had made himself invisible (in a slight swell in bright sunlight) by taking on the appearance of the sea.
Not every boat handler has eyes like a ****-house rat and not all are constantly scrutinising their intended track in expectation of a barely visible body in the water. A member of our club soon changed his behaviour when four of us pointed up in very frank terms that he had made himself invisible (in a slight swell in bright sunlight) by taking on the appearance of the sea.
So the big orange delayed smb isn't enough then, I would suggest your boat cover get glasses :D
Mike Halligan
10-11-2009, 18:06
So the big orange delayed smb isn't enough then, I would suggest your boat cover get glasses :D
That was the point made in my earlier post "Stealth divers risk being run over unless they use DSMBs." :confused:
That was the point made in my earlier post "Stealth divers risk being run over unless they use DSMBs." :confused:
Then it is up to the skipper or boat cover to insist on a delayed at all times.
Although I would hope they can see far enough not to run divers down. I haven't met a skipper who has asked me to wear a dayglo hood because he had poor eyesight :D
Yazzyfooty
10-11-2009, 18:40
That was the point made in my earlier post "Stealth divers risk being run over unless they use DSMBs." :confused:
Anyone that isnt coming up on the shot line or using a DSMB is a candidate for Darwin award and are just plain daft if you ask me.
northern_diver
10-11-2009, 19:09
okie dokie, my earlier message was about as mixed up as i could manage...computers??? i dont know?... Basically i was saying that your on a dark/low viz wreck, you see lights, but you can always tell who that is from the beam. But, if the suits etc had large coloured area's or details (in not talking always orange etc as colours do lose themselves at depth) but some sort of pattens anyway, just anything but plain ninja black.
it would be good if everyone surfaced on the shot or on a dSMB, it would be good anyway...
John
P.S i happen to love my balck drysuit and my stab, but if it were whites or bone etc then i would like it more.
Nigel Hewitt
10-11-2009, 19:43
One of the arguments for black, although more specifically black fins, was that in confined space diving the guy following you risks blowing his night vision with brightly coloured kit moving into his big torch beam. I quite like diving on the other guy's torch as, from further back, it gives a better light spread. Too many torches are too 'light sabre' to see what is going on about you.
Having just spent a year switched from a bright yellow rebreather to a black one I did wonder if it made any difference but, frankly, watching other divers be recovered from the boat black shows up tolerably but the big orange SMB wins hands down. In any swell the diver just doesn't get noticed until you know where to look.
I think black suits are a non-problem even if mine has blue arms.
My freediving suit is camo pattern brown. It's a spearo suit and I bought it on size and fit not for aesthetics. I always wonder if the colour is so you can catch the big ones that hang out round the sewage outfall.
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