"The following days saw us exiting various helicopters with and without diving equipment, which meant we could also take a surface swimmer role. We jumped from Hueys, taking off whilst standing on the skids and then going into a low hover whilst still moving forward. It was exciting and great fun. As we were on the Canadian course we adopted their hand signals. It does not really matter which signals are used providing everyone uses the same and understands them. There was a humorous moment when one of the Canadian lads jumped from a helicopter and did not signal. The okay signal was a single elevated arm with the hand giving a thumbs up sign. The distress signal is an elevated arm waving from side to side. During the debrief the Canadian, Mort, was asked why he did not signal. He replied ‘Because I wasn’t sure whether I was okay or not’, to which somebody made a thumbs up sign and waved it from side to side in front of his face saying ‘This is the signal for don’t know’. It gave us all a laugh and we immediately adopted this signal to signify anything on the course that was questionable. It became like a secret handshake and we used it in pubs, on dive sites and everywhere else."

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