Hand Holding?

[DiveGolfSki]

That's when your leg and fin movement mimic the motions of riding a bicycle instead of straightening your legs and finning correctly.

well, i had frens who are couples, and they hold hands while diving, in the end, they seem to be riding bicycle under water instead of diving...

Couples, holding hands, seem to be riding bicycle instead of diving ... I'm sorry my mind's still in :toilet but now I'm picturing a diving couple riding on a tandem bicycle "mimic the motions of riding a bicycle instead of straightening your legs and finning correctly" :11: Whoa, that can't be it.

 

[Brookieman10]

This thread seems to have "touched" a few of the ideas I thought it might.

My wife is a weak swimmer and in current it seems that just a couple of kicks and I get ahead. Sounds like I have BIG problems.

Prehaps we should try for dive buddies that are similar in and leave the touching for off shore activities

Thanks to all for the advice

 

[Charlie99]

My wife is a weak swimmer and in current it seems that just a couple of kicks and I get ahead.

Maybe she just has already developed the skill of slowing down, looking around, and enjoying the dive

A long time ago I figured out that there are very few things that swim slower than me. Coral, kelp, sponges, etc. but not much else. It's a lot easier and enjoyable to let the marine life come to you. A side benefit is that slowing down, and staying neutral do amazing things towards improving your air consumption

 

[TyTy]

Unless the one diver is dragging the other one along on somehting they are afraid to do then I dont see a problem.

My GF is comforted by holding hands as am I. We like not having to look for eachother or worry about maintaining proper distance between eachother. Also we are both comforted by the fact that if all of a sudden one of us was to get in an OOA situation there would be no signaling or swimming, just reach over and grab.

I know I have seen most 'buddies' 10 or more feet apart in my little dive experience and I dont care how many dives you have under your belt, Id be willing to bet a good chunk of my paycheck that even the most experienced diver if they encountered a OOA situation 15-20 feet from their buddy who isnt looking at them and swimming along would panick. I know I dont want to be faced with that situation.

Try this some time, in the pool take your reg out and breath out all your air. Set your reg in front of you and just stare at it, see how long before mild panick sets in and you are grabbing for that thing, takes me about 20 seconds.

A lot of folks assume they have 2 minutes of hold breath time. What if you are breathing out and then as you go to breath in there is no air? I know this is unlikly but just in case, I dont ever want to be further than an arms length from my buddy nor do I want to have to chase them down or signal to get their attention.

On a lighter note, nor do I want to spend my dive worrying if Im getting ahead, or if my buddy has stopped to look at somehting, or if she is checking her air...when Im holding her hand I know all this because I can feel when she checks her air, I know she is right there, I know if she is getting cold, wants to go down to check somehting out, wants to go up to avoid coral, wants to stop to look at something, wants me to notice something cool, etc... Its all told to me with 0 effort and 0 processing time through her hand.

 

[Shasta_man]

Forget those that said not to touch. They can do what they want.

As long as touching isn't because you're pulling her into something she doesn't want to, or she is lacking some skill, touch all you want. Compensating for some lack of skill on her part should be their only concern. That's where their authority ends.

I hold hands with my wife when I want to because I love her and we can communicate through squeezes about the amazing things we're seeing. When it's appropriate to let go is so simple as to not need explanation.

Sheesh, it's amazing how people get into the smallest detail of others lives.

This thread seems to have "touched" a few of the ideas I thought it might.

My wife is a weak swimmer and in current it seems that just a couple of kicks and I get ahead. Sounds like I have BIG problems.

Prehaps we should try for dive buddies that are similar in and leave the touching for off shore activities

Thanks to all for the advice

 

[TyTy]

A big point here to me is how far away does a 'buddy' have to be to be worthless? I guess that is different for every diver (depending on their ability to resist panick in an emergency). I would say nobody knows the limit of this distance because it depends largly on condition, experience and for most it is untested because we dont regularily get in emergencies (hopefully not at least).

So, how often are you 'same ocean, same dive'? I know in my 3 dive excursions most divers I have seen are this way. I think Im being realistic that no matter how many "Panic is not an option" t-shirts you own, if you get out of air, your buddy is 20 feet forward from you and you exhale, go to breath in and ya get nothing, you are in a LOT worse situation than someone holding hands with their buddy with spare air half a reach away.

Im actually suprised its not advocated by dive agencies and taught to new students. All 3 boat dive excursions Ive been on we had new divers and I saw LOTS of them 10, 20 or so feet apart on their certification and first few dives, I think that is MUCH more worrisome than if they were taught to hold hands or at least stay arms length apart. That should be a bigger point in PADI certification if ya ask me

I guess it all depends on how far you figure your buddy can stray and still be your buddy. I argue that if they arent looking at you and you cant touch them with your hands then you dont have a buddy.

 

[Ishie]

I can get involved enough in photography to get a bit oblivious (bad buddy!)

Typically, I find holding hands impedes me, since I'm checking computers, may need to adjust buoyancy, may need to grab camera, and so forth. A couple of times when vis suddenly went to zero though, holding hands until it cleared up was useful because otherwise, even with your buddy right next to you, you'd never know it.

I think a lot of new divers stay a bit far apart because they're working on their place in the water. When I started up, I had a hard time because I kept misjudging distances and swimming into people's fins, which is decidedly uncomfortable (whap whap whap), plus you have problems like losing your "balance" in the water column and flailing around for a minute like a shot fish.

I've found as I get more dives, I'm more comfortable closer to people because I'm confident in my place in the water (usually perched on a rock for fifteen minutes tryin to get a decent shot of a nudi).

 

[Hemlon]

There is NOTHING wrong with holding hands during a dive, even if you are holding hands due to one diver being timid, slower, less-experienced, etc.

Holding hands is not a patch for a problem, it's a way of working through a problem TOGETHER!

 

[jepuskar]

Wow Sandy, Walter agreed with you. I rarely, if ever get that! I'm impressed!!