Buddy flying off of line

[Rhone Man]

Well, if it is just a safety stop, the buddy should surface as soon as s/he realises they cannot return to the line (it is just a safety stop...), and I'd leave them to it, and finish up my own safety stop. Unless it is absolutely ripping, someone on the surface can throw them a line.

If they don't, I have to assume they have a more significant problem and I would go and try and render assistance.

If a buddy lost contact with the line in a strong current, and they thought the smart thing to do was deploy an SMB and drift off whilst caught in a current too powerful to swim against rather than surfacing immediately, I wouldn't be formed a favourable view of their sense of risk analysis.

 

[g1138]

Shoot an SMB at the surface !? Why? Thats a great way to get hit by any passing boat traffic in many areas and every second takes you further from the boat and makes you harder to spot.

You said it right, but your reasoning is different from mine.

It depends on your gear configuration. For me I have to attach my finger spool to my SMB, it takes me around a minute to launch, around the same time it takes me to ascend from 20ft. If the current is really ripping I want to get to the surface and be visible. It's a difference between spending 1 minute down off the line and 2 minutes down, that could be quite a distance depending on the current.

This is a generalization though, if I hear or know of a lot of boat traffic on the surface then of course I'll launch an SMB before ascending. But as it stands if there is no boat traffic heard or seen above I'd rather get to the surface first rather than spending another minute to set up my SMB.

If there's a lot of boat traffic then your SMB has a better chance of being seen far from your dive boat. If you're the only boat out there then your SMB may not even be seen clearly by the time you shoot it.

 

[Guba]

Like several on the board have stated, I have confidence in my regular dive buddies. However, a difference in my reasoning is that I have confidence in their ability to stay on a line in a current (assuming that I'm able to do the same). If something is wrong enough to cause them to lose the line, then it's wrong enough for me to be concerned about their ability to handle the situation. I'm probably going to drop off too and see if I need to render aid unless they signal "okay" or for me to "stay put" on the line.