No buddy, no help.

[divad]

He jumped into the water, sank straight down and drown.

That just sounds like sorting.
Eventually we all get sorted out.

 

[Avonthediver]

 

[MXGratefulDiver]

Everyone who gets certified is taught several times and ways that buddy diving is a must. To most divers it's a no brainer. Sometimes the experienced and over condident diver has a tendancy to cheat on the ABC's. My friend was working with a company who was, of all things treasure hunting. The dive crew used leaded boots instead of fins. I wasn't on the boat that day when he decided to free up a stubborn anchor by himself. He jumped into the water, sank straight down and drown. The legal issues made it hard to know exactly what happened but it was clear enough had he followed the basics of diving he would still be with us. We may make thousands of dives and yet still never know on which one we will be required to help or need the help ourselves. Never fail to buddy up.:depressed:

Anecdotal evidence can often produce whatever conclusion you want it to.

A few years back some guys from our local military base went diving together at a local dive site. There were six of them ... and they were diving together. They jumped in the water off a boat, descended, and went on their merry way. It was a few minutes into the dive when they realized that one of them was missing. Backtracking, they found him lying right next to the anchor line ... dead. Apparently he'd forgotten to turn on his air, and drowned as he descended. His "buddies" swam away without noticing.

Buddying up doesn't guarantee help will be there when you need it.

"Always dive with a buddy" isn't good enough ... "always be aware of what's going on around you" should be the priority. A solo diver who's aware and sufficiently experienced to anticipate and prepare to handle emergencies is far safer than two people diving together without adequate awareness of each other or their surroundings.

Unfortunately, awareness is a learned skill that most dive instructors don't really teach.

... Bob (Grateful Diver)

 

[GrumpyOldGuy]

Everyone who gets certified is taught several times and ways that buddy diving is a must. To most divers it's a no brainer. Sometimes the experienced and over condident diver has a tendancy to cheat on the ABC's. My friend was working with a company who was, of all things treasure hunting. The dive crew used leaded boots instead of fins. I wasn't on the boat that day when he decided to free up a stubborn anchor by himself. He jumped into the water, sank straight down and drown. The legal issues made it hard to know exactly what happened but it was clear enough had he followed the basics of diving he would still be with us. We may make thousands of dives and yet still never know on which one we will be required to help or need the help ourselves. Never fail to buddy up.:depressed:

1) Treasure hunters (along with the gold dredges on Discovery Channel) tend to not follow the rules. You can call it gold fever or whatever you want, but logic gets tossed when your dreaming of easy money.

2) Buddy's are a potential source of help. To actually be help, they need to be close to you, reasonably competent and maintain an awareness of you. That's a crap shoot at best.

3) Self Rescue is just as viable. It takes extra training and/or extra gear. So #2 becomes an easier method for the new diver or the occasional diver. (Using both is an awesome combo!)

4) Staying out of trouble trumps all. Exercising the discipline to follow your own procedures (buddy or not) every dive, no matter how short or shallow. As I posed in #1, treasure hunters tend to ignore.

 

[socaljohn]

FIRST-re-newb so I will not be doing this soon.
Saw a thread that lead to an excellent presentation on solo diving, stated that you might not know you are solo diving but if you are with a newb, a kid, a photographer (not everybody with a camera but those who fell into their own world to get a shot) or several other categories of diver who either are pretty concentrated on what they are doing or just not prepared to render aid to you if you get in trouble, you might be solo diving. Of course Back when I was originally certified they always just said NEVER DIVE ALONE.


http://www.scubaboard.com/forums/ad...-closet-mark-powell-presents-lids-2012-a.html

 

[bbarnett51]

What you described is not solo diving. I will go easy on this since you lost a friend but nothing about this scenario resembles "solo diving"

 

[chillyinCanada]

Barnett, to whom are you speaking?

 

[doctormike]

Barnett, to whom are you speaking?

To the OP, I assume. And I suspect that Avonthediver may be right.

 

[scubafied]

In your other post you mentioned how you very nearly got 2 of your friends killed by trying to teach them to dive while not being even remotely qualified to do so. What makes you think you would have been any advantage to this "friend"? From your 2 posts I can only assume that you are a troll. Either that or you should seriously reconsider your recreational activities and at the very least, your approach to them.

 

[redacted]

In your other post you mentioned how you very nearly got 2 of your friends killed by trying to teach them to dive while not being even remotely qualified to do so. What makes you think you would have been any advantage to this "friend"? From your 2 posts I can only assume that you are a troll. Either that or you should seriously reconsider your recreational activities and at the very least, your approach to them.

I do not believe he is a troll. I suspect he is a safety officer trying to make us safer. Often, good safety lessons require good stories.