solo

[wheezy]

O.K. then.. I knew this would get a little more interesting.

First off.. anyone who died at Shaws did something horribly wrong, it's just about impossible. Like the guy last year that had 50LBS OF LEAD ON

Now....There are a few caves and tunnels and it can get a lot of surf and surge...I've seen Shaws go from 2feet to 6 feet in about a half an hour and the vis go from 12-15foot to about 5foot

When I'm solo I don't go in those areas... or would I EVER go in those conditions. I know the ocean very well.

Like I said if you die at Shaws, well you were most likely "over your head" Guys like the "experienced cave diver" probably thought ohh it's just shaws and underestimated the OCEAN and what a WAVE can do to you. I don't see to many cave divers with SHORE experience, because they dive lakes and don't know the force of even a two foot wave. (NOT ALL I KNOW)

I've been in the ocean my whole life and in this same area. I bodysurf the most dangerous spots on the EARTH (The Wedge / Cylinders / A Street) . I know what to look for and when NOT to do something.

As far as negating the validity of the buddy system NO WAY. I dive a local spot that I could dive blind when I go solo. I stay within MY limits of a free ascent. Worst case scenario... I'm ditching my whole bc and slowly swimming to the surface.

Don't get me wrong here people, diving anything technical or even remotely unfamiliar with out a buddy isn't the smartest thing to do. Diving solo for MOST PEOPLE IS A REALLY BAD IDEA

Then again how many divers die that DO HAVE BUDDIES?

Now, I do agree that Diving is a continuing education.. I've been planning on taking the DIR course... But still... Humans are Humans... I really don't trust anyone with my life.


A great topic (and by the way it is against the law in Laguna Beach and has a pretty steep fine)

 

[Dryglove]

I'll admit that i have dove solo. Diving with some of my buddies is like solo diving anyhow.My biggest fear of diving solo with no one else in the water is if you have a medical problem where self help or rescue cant be done.Say for some reason you cramp up real bad or pass out in the water for some reason.At least a buddy can get you back to the surface if he is paying attention.But if your in real bad vis and buddy pairs arent paying close attention to one another that goes out the window anyhow.

 

[MikeFerrara]

wheezy once bubbled...

Then again how many divers die that DO HAVE BUDDIES?

Virtually NONE

Whether they start out alone or become seperated, almost all divers that die...die alone. Other than cardiac events or O2 hits very few die with others hanging around watching.

 

[wheezy]

I would disagree Mike... virtually ALL die with a Buddy.. like you said maybe seperated from but none the less DIVING WITH A BUDDY.

Must be nice to have a buddy that "hangs out and watches" you dive. Everybody I see diving is... well diving.

When I'm diving Shaws and it's ohhh I don't know 10' vis on a good day water is abou 55 and theres ONLY 5' surge and my buddy is taking a picture of a Hypsypops rubicundus with his new Olympus 5050 when I black out all of 3 feet away... chances are I'm a goner...


But... yes, I agree if you (well I don't know about you but if I) were in direct sight of a buddy in distress I guarantee HE/SHE is going to live to dive another day

I've pulled a few bodies out of the water in my days most alive, some will never walk or even talk again... two dead.. Had nothing to do with diving, but once again the allmightly ocean had taken her toll.

Ever seen 4 inches of water knock a grown man off his feet? Then suck him out into double overhead conditions??

 

[trymixdiver]

Wheezy is correct about Shaws cove.

I know it like the back of my hand and can also dive it blind flolded. However the tunnels and small caves could panic a diver if caught in there under surfy conditions. This site, while easy, does have the potential to take divers lives if your not used to the surge and surf when your way up in the shallow caves and tunnels.

I have seen Shaws cove with 10-15 ' surf. Played in the water that day to ( no scuba gear on of course). Did my rescue class there too.

Andy

 

[ElectricZombie]

Yes, I dive solo. I am not going to cancel a planned (and PAID for) day of diving just becuase I can't find a buddy.

 

[MikeFerrara]

wheezy once bubbled...
I would disagree Mike... virtually ALL die with a Buddy.. like you said maybe seperated from but none the less DIVING WITH A BUDDY.

Hi Weezy,

I certainly am not saying that you shouldn't dive alone if you want. I was just pointing out that since divers usually get seperated from their buddy somewhere in the process of getting killed that a lack of team diving skills or just plain plain diving skills seems to be involved. I'm also not saying thaat being alone killed them. I am saying that maybe the lack of skill that caused the seperation contributed. It's like which came first the chicken or the egg.

I do however strongly disagree with the the divers who say they dive alone because buddy teams don't stay together anyway. IMO, divers who aren't skilled enough to stay with a buddy aren't skilled enough to dive alone.

Note, I'm not saying that's you.

 

[uk diver 2000]

I took the SDI solo diver course, and dive with a redundant air source often. So far, all the dive operators I've used have recognize the cert. I grew weary of diving with whatever diver happened to be available on a boat. If the diver was competent, I rarely saw him/her in the water; if the diver was less than competent, he/she would plant himself/herself firmly within my fin tips, while promptly exhausting his/her air supply and ending my dive early. In short, I never found any team to be an inseparable part of any of my dives, and I've made a few dives through the years.

I also tired of looking after poor buddies. I am a divemaster, and when I save my money to take a holiday, I find it tedious to be saddled with a poor buddy by a dive operator--I'm paying the operator, and the operator essentially puts me to work! Finally, I have come to believe that the buddy system is something of sedative for less than competent divers--i.e., those who have no business in the water, and would not go in the water without the sense of security the buddy system gives them. Viewed in this light, the buddy system is the means that allows certifying agencies to cut corners and crank out c-cards.

Buddies, real buddies, who remain within arms reach of each other, are a good thing, and I never make a deco dive without a buddy, a real buddy. But even in those cases, my buddy is my last source of help, not my first source. Pretend buddies do more harm than good, as the DAN cases illustrate.

In any case, solo diving is not inherently dangerous, and we need not speak of it in whispers, as though we are doing something immoral.

 

[MikeFerrara]

uk diver 2000 once bubbled...
I took the SDI solo diver course, and dive with a redundant air source often. So far, all the dive operators I've used have recognize the cert. I grew weary of diving with whatever diver happened to be available on a boat. If the diver was competent, I rarely saw him/her in the water; if the diver was less than competent, he/she would plant himself/herself firmly within my fin tips, while promptly exhausting his/her air supply and ending my dive early. In short, I never found any team to be an inseparable part of any of my dives, and I've made a few dives through the years.

I also tired of looking after poor buddies. I am a divemaster, and when I save my money to take a holiday, I find it tedious to be saddled with a poor buddy by a dive operator--I'm paying the operator, and the operator essentially puts me to work! Finally, I have come to believe that the buddy system is something of sedative for less than competent divers--i.e., those who have no business in the water, and would not go in the water without the sense of security the buddy system gives them. Viewed in this light, the buddy system is the means that allows certifying agencies to cut corners and crank out c-cards.

Buddies, real buddies, who remain within arms reach of each other, are a good thing, and I never make a deco dive without a buddy, a real buddy. But even in those cases, my buddy is my last source of help, not my first source. Pretend buddies do more harm than good, as the DAN cases illustrate.

In any case, solo diving is not inherently dangerous, and we need not speak of it in whispers, as though we are doing something immoral.

Interesting perspective. There are types of diving where solo is the norm like diving low vis and/or small sumps. I have certainly been alone in the water myself. I have everything I have tied up in a dive shop and the costs of my own training so I certainly don't work for free. In other words no resort boat is going to put me to work.

We prefer team divinf. Not because we don't have the confidence to dive alone but because we recognize the strength of a team with strong members. We also take pride in our team diving skills.

Then we come to the SDI solo course. I know a few instructors who "teach it". Fact is they couldn't train teach hair to lay down. LOL The course requires a redundant air source. That source can be doubles, a pony or even a spare air. The instructors I know who teach the course have never been in a set of doubles in their life. What qualifies them to teach valve shut down drills? I wonder what they would do to help a student assemble their doubles. Hey, in the Advanced Nitrox course I teach I have the students assemble their own doubles. A spair air is about the right size to have if you want to take your air in an enema. Ponys are for riding or in bad times maybe eating.

IMO, the class claims to solves a problem that shouldn't exist. Divers aren't good enough to stay with a buddy so we send them out alone. IMO, anyone who feels they need this class shouldn't dive alone. Its a scam. Divers wish to travel alone and they and other divers don't mesh so instead of changing the system that creates the situation we come up with a money making gimick like the SDI solo class. Hey we even have dive sites around here advertising that they rent pony bottles to certified solo divers.


And...if I have to rescue another certified solo diver I am going to personally deliver the Bill to Mr. Gillem (sp?)LOL

BTW, when you take a solo class how do they asses your skills if your diving alone? If they go with you then do they give you a solo cert without ever having you dive alone?

Nobody teaches buoyancy control, trim or effective gas planning but the'll teach someone to stick a spare air in their belt and give them a solo ticket.

Sorry for the rant. If some one wants to dive alone fine, who cares. However I for one will never recognize the SDI solo cert as being poof of ones qualifications to solo dive.

 

[The Iceni]

I can understand why many buddys can be a pain in the proverbial but my advice is to take care.

If you take a look at this thread you can see what could happen to you. Unlike me you would become a statistic if you dive solo and you unexpectedly lose consciousness during the ascent, as I did.

Why? If you have a PFO you can dive for many years without incident as I did, but on that fateful day the circumstances contrived to cause me to suffer a catastrpophic loss of consciousness due to raised intracranial pressure secondary to CAGE.

At least someone was there to rescue me.

I wonder if this is the cause of so many of those unexplained diving fatalities?

If you indend to dive solo my advice is to get a test to exclude a patent foramen ovale, first.

:doctor: