There are a few universal signals that every paddler should know. A paddle that's held vertically overhead indicates a safe passage. The paddle or hand that's pointing to the right says go right and if it's pointing to the left it says go left. A horizontal paddle over you head tells everybody else to stop because there is a problem ahead. If you want to communicate and it's not audible, three taps on your head asks the person if they are okay and if they give you three returning taps on their head it's says everything is fine - if not you need to go in and check him out.
