Hand Signals for Ocean Swimmers

Communication is key to maintaining safety, guiding, understanding, following, and exploring throughout the swim and ensuring everyone enjoys the experience.  Your hearing is affected because of sound of the waves, earplugs or swims cap over your ears. These make it difficult to hear the swimmer next to you and could create misunderstanding. The hand signals are in this case an easy and effective way of communication in the water.

The most effective hand signals are applied when the swimmer is too far from another swimmer, signals under the water and in emergencies. Hand signals are helpful for updating your swim buddies and the groups about potential or actual problems you may experience.