The terms limp, loose, droopy, wrinkly, and flaccid, are not adjectives you want to hear when someone is describing your Safety Sausage. Instead, you want to hear the terms firm, rigid, inflated, erect, upstanding, etc.
Safety sausages are a fantastic conspicuity device for SCUBA divers. Unfortunately, many SCUBA divers don’t use them to full advantage. Learn this skill and it will minimize your chances of seeing the bottom of a boat pass over your head. Deployment of a safety sausage may occur at the following three different times during your dive. Underwater with a line reel attached to the sausage:
You may wish to begin your ascent by partially inflating your safety sausage while you are still on the bottom. Depending on your depth, you will only need to partially inflate the sausage, as the air will expand as it ascends toward the surface. A sausage filled 1/3 full and deployed at 66 feet will be fully inflated when it reaches the surface. At the Safety Stop: If you are ascending towards the surface and you don’t have a dive flag (but do have a sausage),
It’s important to deploy your safety sausage before you get to the surface, and it’s important to deploy it in such a way that it alerts vessels in your area of your presence. To accomplish this, you should pre-rig your sausage by attaching a line at least 10 feet in length. You may wish to add a 2-pound weight to the other end of the line. Inflate your safety sausage while you’re doing your safety stop. Fill it with air as you remove air from your buoyancy compensator and send the sausage to the surface while you hold onto the attached line or string. As the safety sausage reaches the surface, its buoyancy will be reduced due to its reduced water displacement.
If you did not attach a weight, maintain several pounds of force on the line attached to the sausage as this causes the safety sausage to stand erect… making it much more visible than if it’s lying flat on the water. This maneuver can only be safely accomplished if the diver has sufficient weight to become negatively buoyant by several pounds during the safety stop. Alternately, pulling and releasing the string can cause a fully inflated sausage to move from horizontal to vertical to horizontal. On the Surface: If you’re already on the surface, inflate the sausage as quickly as possible, and hold it above your head. You can wave it back and forth if you wish to maximize your visibility.
Dive safe & be conspicuous!