Underwater Buddy Check...

[Uncle Pug]

Beachman once bubbled...
OK.....let me have it.

I agree with you... keeping track of a buddy is a drag.

However... you might want to go back and read my post.

There is a way to do it that is not a drag.

Anecdote:

I went in to see Phil the Drill today and right away he starts telling me about his latest ice cornice climb... and how looking down between his legs he saw nothing but air for 3K (cripes I hate stuff like that... why does he always have to tell me that stuff??)

Anyway... Phil and his partner have developed a method of rapidly transiting such sections... but it depends upon precision team work and wordless communication... more like knowing what the other guy is going to do since there are times they can neither see nor even hear one another. I guess it is important to know whether you are on or off belay... or something like that.

So as Phil was going on and on... drilling on my poor ole tooth... I started thinking about how Shane and I communicate. Yes we use light signals... but I had learned something Saturday. We sent our lightheads into Halcyon to exchange them for new ones so we were diving without lights... and you know what? I missed the lights... but I found out that we have developed something of a sense of what the other one is doing or going to do.

So... I agree... it isn't a lot of fun diving with the buddy of circumstance... but it is really cool when you get a team work thing going.

 

[greg somers]

If you are lucky enough to find a great dive buddy who is relaxed and experienced and considerate than hang on to them. Marry them if it is legal in your neck of the woods. I have dived with hundreds of buddies but only a few were the dream buddy. Someone that you just flow with.
When I was in Tonga earlier this year I was diving with a CD friend of mine doing nightdive instructor training. We certainly weren't joined at the hip. In fact we were up to 10 - 12m apart, but with good situational awareness, good body positioning and signals we wereable to see each other clearly in the torch light and had a great dive. I never lost sight of him at all.
But I have dived with others who are lone rangers and are off at 100mph without a backward glance. I keep them in sight all the time. I have to. They are the type most likely to disappear and maybe get into trouble. They are also the ones that I have found most likely to not check their guages. I have had to monitor their guages more than they do.
As a rule, I tend to adapt my buddy techniques to whoever I am diving with.
Cheers Ears,
The one and only,
Gasman

 

[Uncle Pug]

greg somers once bubbled...
But I have dived with others who are lone rangers and are off at 100mph without a backward glance

I had an Irish Setter like that... he was fairly stupid but he always knew if he was in range and would respond to voice commands... I carried a rock or two and could usually bean him if he was within 35 feet.

Say! Now there's a good idea!!! How's about a speargun with a rubber ball on the end of the shaft.

 

[DiverBuoy]

Cress Street in Laguna was 30+ ft vis - during last night's lobster dive. I had my HID and my buddies two DM candidates had their bright primaries. With vis like that (rare in Laguna) we wandered probably too far from each other on a few occasions, but we never lost track of each other because of the lights. BTW we averaged only 19 feet during the entire dive, though at the deepest point we were at 43. The most important thing is constant awareness (a point already made in this thread by Mike F). If your mind deviates from this - it should be an immediate warning sign to re-establish contact.

One of the candidates rocketed off in the last 100 feet to shore and disappeared, I had a few words on the beach. If you're in the lead you must check back far more often. Never swim further ahead than the visibility still allows for a check or put your light against your chest and look for the glow (in the case of one buddy).

 

[Wreck/Tec]

I have observed that most of the people I dive with are reseptive to frequent eye contact and an OK signal, 75%. The other 25% are almost annoyed at frequently having to respond. Personally, the less contact you have, be it visually or hand signals, I would think your less likely to notice trouble as quickly.

 

[stiebs]

Reading through this thread again today reminded me about my dive last weekend. None of diving mates were available for a dive, so I got teed up with another single on the boat.

He said he'd be taking it easy, playing around with his buoyancy getting used to a new drysuit, so could I keep an eye on him. Fine with me, I would be playing with my new BC.

Into the water, a couple of buddy checks on the way down, we're both doing fine with our buoyancy. At the bottom, another buddy check, and a bit of a look around at the rock formations - ledges, overhangs at swimthroughs all over the show. I take a quick peak under a ledge, then look up to show my "buddy" something. He's gone. Look up, nothing. Quick spin around, and I see some bubbles floating up over the other side of a rather large boulder.

It goes on like this for the rest of the dive, me constantly trying to keep up with him. He was following some rock formations, but didn't realise that we swimming closer to shore, directly under big surf, and straight towards a cliff face, and now only in 15fsw. Wasn't anyway the boat's coming in to get us here.

I eventually had to tug on fins to get his attention, and signal to turn around so we could swim back out to beyond the breakers where the boat could pick us up again.

It is not until I've had a buddy with such little care and respect for my well-being that I've realised just how import having a good buddy is.

 

[Pez de Diablo]

I am surprised that so many people dive with their buddy in view at all times. I am busy intracting with the enviroment I am in (does not mean touching) to watch my buddy at all times. I think that it would be next to imposible!

I do most of my diving with the same few people and we have an awareness of one another. Sometimes I am the one hovering above and watching my buddy and sometimes my buddy does the watching. If we do become seperated we give it about 5 mins before we surface. If I was stuck somewhere, I would rather my buddy look for a at least 5 mn before surfacing. From 60 feet the ascent should take a min of 7 min (2 to ascend and a 5 min safety) Then they would look around, see that I was not there and it could be 10 min before they come and help.

This is the agreement we have, it works for us.

Also most times when we make eye contact we also flash the OK sign back and forth - unless one of us is not OK.

PS By the way, I have never become seperated.... yet.

 

[trewbs]

I find that I have to check pretty much all the time to feel comfortable that a) my buddy is safe and b) he is close enough to help me if anything goes wrong with him
not sure if this helps