diving without buddy

[Mossman]

How often do you have catastrophic failures? Solo diving without an RBS is a simple cost-benefit analysis. The benefit of solo diving weighed against the chance of a catastrophic failure and its potential outcome (negative outcomes can be mitigated by diving shallower, unless the solo diver is proficient in deeper water OOA ascents).

Personally, I have no problem diving solo without RBS in the 30-40' range where there are absolutely no decompression or safety stop issues and I could easily make the ascent without panicking and holding my breath. A bit deeper, at the 50-80' range, I start to worry a bit and keep my time at those depths limited. The one time I did 115' in cold water, I was so narced that I didn't worry about anything at all.

 

[Akimbo]

Solo diving sounds great and some agencies do offer training for this type of diving. You need to understand the risks!!!!!!...

Infinitely more important than understanding the risks is knowing what to do when faced with a situation where you currently depend on a buddy, but they are not available. They may be distracted, drifted out of visual range, or in trouble themselves. By intent or in error, any dive can turn into a solo dive; even for a short time… how long can you hold your breath? I am a great believer in striving to develop the skills to manage any problem underwater by yourself that might kill you.

First and foremost, it takes time underwater to develop the skills, reflexes, and the comfort level to make that practical. This is something no single class can give you, even a 4 week military Scuba course that runs 5 days a week and 8 hours a day. That is why the buddy system is universally taught and appropriate.

Some courses are offered as an advanced specialty that teaches self-reliance, which mirrors many of the skills taught in Solo courses. Regardless of your diving plans, these skills are valuable assets. Think about it, you are at greater risk when lending assistance or in a rescue emergency than solo diving. This is not a condemnation of buddy diving, only recognizing the importance of developing individual skills.

 

[Akimbo]

If you don’t dive with a buddy glued to your back or some form of redundant gas supply, don’t dive deeper than you have practiced a free ascent. That may be a depth where you can just stand up and breathe, or well beyond recreational limits.

 

[Jim Lapenta]

Solo diving also takes a particular mindset IMO. That being that you are ok and know your family is ok if you have a problem and die. Your body may never be recovered. I really enjoy diving solo. Especially after teaching a bunch of classes. Solo allows me to concentrate on me and my skills and that relaxes me. The buddy system is indeed recommended for new divers and really all divers. It is talked about, it;s in the book, but in a numer of OW classes it is given little to no practical in water attention. Students are not clearly buddied up in the pool and then when they do get to open water they are led around single file. All that reading and talk about the buddy system might as well never have taken place.

When I'm in OW with a buddy I am not diving solo. Even with students on checkout dives. If I felt that way I have no business taking those divers into OW. Solo diving is fun, it's very relaxing, and if you know what you are doing it's safe. Up until the time it's not and usually that is due to diver error. The difference is when the error occurs instead of it getting fixed with the assistance of a buddy you fix it yourself or you die.

 

[Joe Lee]

Solodiving is a great thing, if you have the experience, the training and redundant equipment. And ,of course, you need the opportunity. I don't know a lot of dive centers that let you dive solo!

 

[TMHeimer]

Many of the good "usual" responses to this much discussed topic. Interestingly on this thread I think I'm about the 5th person that uses a 30' limit. Kind of validates my reasoning.

 

[TMHeimer]

Many of the good "usual" responses to this much discussed topic. Interestingly on this thread, I think I'm about the 5th person that uses a 30' limit--haven't seen that before. Kind of validates my reasoning. I look at it as glorified snorkelling/skin diving but you don't have to ascend (well, eventually..). I know anything can happen at 30', but likewise if you snorkel down there and you have no air supply. A CESA is easy. I guess many will say to never snorkel or swim solo as well. I figure I was single 'til age 40 and could've had a heart attack at any time while alone. But, of course, it's best to get quite a bit of dive experience before going alone--so you are very comfortable with diving procedures. It makes sense to me that entanglement with scuba unit on would be the thing to worry about most. Of course, you can remove the unit (I would assume in most, but possibly not all cases). So I steer clear of anything that may at all be suspect--even 2 foot high seagrass.

 

[HowardE]

If one were to prepare for a totally unrealistic scenario that might actually have happened ONCE to ONE person in the entire world... We'd all dive with 10 tanks for backup no?

It makes me think about the statistic that an average of 150 people a year die from having a coconut fall on their heads. So... Maybe to avoid possible coconut beaning, we should all wear safety helmets all the time, so that we aren't brained by a catastrophic failure of the tree's ability to retain the nut?

 

[captain]

The worst catastrophic failure I can conceive of is if the old ticker gives up and there ain't no redundancy for that.

 

[DivemasterDennis]

Like the other safe and frequent divers, I follow the buddy system with very few exceptions, and in those cases there are lots of others near by. Task specific is the right word_ as in setting training platforms, retrieving dropped gear, locating a sub surface4 mooring line, and the like. Even in some of those tasks I buddy up. You are always safer diving with a competent buddy.
DivemasterDennis