What should a DM do in this situation?

[scubadoguk]

I still think that as professional divers you should be able to look after yourself and not have to rely on some guide to keep you out of trouble. If you AREN'T capable of doing that you really ought not to be diving at all.

A pro diver should be, but a paying customer is the key, should he be doing solo accents in any conditions not only bad, but dangerous.
The customer is not the one who has to look after the group, the PRO is (the D/M).
Here in the USA, as in most places, if a dive center sends you out with a D/M and the D/M gets in the water to lead the dive, he has a duty to see his customers get back to the boat safely. Once out of the water, the customer is the boat crew's problem. I see the question was, should a dive master send up a lone diver the single thing agreed on is plan the dive, dive the plan.
The dive the plan rule is in use in the UK, I know. I taught there, and in both BSAC and Padi, the buddy system is the first thing you learn. If the system fails we all know what can happen.
The largest group of divers in the USA is the vacation diver, who has no equipment (how many who read this can say that they have no equipment) he has not dove for xxx years or at best 1 or 2 years and sometimes only doing a dive to get a little non family time. So who here is volunteering to dive with the guy? He will have little to no idea what weight to use, and he will be putting his gear together wrong. Who has seen and snickered as the guy lifts his cylinder up to put his BC on it? Who has watched the poor guy pull his tank strap apart and have no idea how to put it back together?
Putting the first stage on the cylinder facing the wrong way or worse the wrong side so the valve is not even on an o-ring??
So the guy needs a buddy, still want to buddy with him? The list goes on and on, and the DM is a baby sitter. Our mystery diver needs a class, but he is not going to get one. People like our mystery diver are not uncommon, and should not be on a boat without a refresher course. We know but the truth is these things don't always get caught in the pre dive screening, as they could be the guy or gal who lies about their experience, and fills in log book pages that were not real dives (gasp). But the sad truth is, if the store screened each diver, the boat would not leave the dock as they called the guys' buddies and talked about the dives they had done. You see the problem.
Now ask yourself this. If this guy is so out of practice, good chance he is over weighted, unfamiliar with equipment, and unlikely to have used the BCD other than to have let air out on the way down... would you still feel safe letting our mystery diver go up on his own? My guess is NO, and rightly so.

 

[Scubakevdm]

Just, you know, as a public service announcement... If you don't feel comfortable surfacing solo, for whatever reason, you may want to work on that with an instructor or divemaster or someone. I would also like to point out that, although you certainly can expect a certain level of care from a divemaster, ultimately every diver is responsible for their own dive.

 

[MikeFerrara]

Just, you know, as a public service announcement... If you don't feel comfortable surfacing solo, for whatever reason, you may want to work on that with an instructor or divemaster or someone.

Few divers ever run into a problem while swimming in circles on the bottom. Most often the problem happens diring dynamic portions of the dive like ascents and descents.

I don't think that a diver who isn't comfortable solo diving should work on it with an instructor until they are and that seems to be what you are suggesting.

Further more if two divers plan the dive as buddies they should do the dive as buddies and that includes the ascent at the end of the dive.

Those who are having a hard time with this concept really should spend some time with a good instructor or at least review their OW manual.

 

[String]

Dont agree with that. Even for buddy diving, skills should be refined so that the diver can perform them without assistance.

Buddy separation can and does happen, particular in low visibility environments and its not uncommon for new and inexperienced divers to need to surface alone as a result here.

Although a buddy is nice to have you cant rely on them being there 100% of the time to hide the skills you lack confidence in - you have to PLAN for the worst case and get the skills correct accordingly.

Worst case scenario related to this thread, 2 people, neither of whom are confident in their own ability to surface unaided, it goes unnoticed and theyre paired up. Then on ending the dive you have 2 people, neither of who can do it properly making a mess of it and getting into trouble, neither buddy able to help the other. Thats more of a disaster than the 1 person problem.

 

[MikeFerrara]

Dont agree with that. Even for buddy diving, skills should be refined so that the diver can perform them without assistance.

Buddy separation can and does happen, particular in low visibility environments and its not uncommon for new and inexperienced divers to need to surface alone as a result here.

Although a buddy is nice to have you cant rely on them being there 100% of the time to hide the skills you lack confidence in - you have to PLAN for the worst case and get the skills correct accordingly.

I don't think we're talking about accidental buddy seperations. BTW, I think buddy seperations happen most often to those who haven't learned to apply buddy diving in the first place and in my experience those are the divers who most need a buddy. You yourself point to the inexperienced being the ones seperated. I don't remember the last time we experienced any kind of team seperation and we dive some pretty low vis. I do know that it happened when I was new, diving with other new divers and floundering around trying to conduct our own dives in low vis not having been taught the skills needed to do it.

I do agree that you shouldn't do a dive if you don't believe that you could complete it alone if the need arises.

All that is a lot different than abandoning a buddy because he has reached his turn pressure and you don't feel like ending your dive.

Team diving isn't about "hiding skills you lack confidence in". A weak diver makes a weak buddy.

If you want to dive solo...do it. Just don't pretend to be some ones buddy when you're not. You either are or you aren't. This "I'll be your bud until you're low on gas or until you can't keep up in low vis and then I'll just keep diving without you" stuff is why most divers who die are alone when they do. It seems to be a symptom of the follow the leader type dives that are typical in training and carry through to resort diving. Then when these methods are used in less than perfect conditions poor vis is used as an excuss for seperations when the real problem is poor technique.

 

[String]

This isnt a solo vs non solo issue.

Buddy separations happen to experienced AND inexperienced pairs - the point is you can never really judge when it isnt going to happen. 1-2m vis, strong currents, kelp, silt can all mean that it can happen to anyone and in fact does happen. Given that nobody is immune to separation you have to be able to deal with it (normal drill here for example with everyone including students is 60 second circular search then if nothing found, DSMB deployed and surface - your dive is over). Basic fact remains if you lack the skill to surface safely on your own with nobody to help you then you really should not be diving at all. Jumping in and hoping for the best isnt the safest way to conduct anything . I wouldnt want do dive with someone who needed a buddy to surface - its a definate sign they couldnt rescue lift you if needed if they cant even lift themselves. These people should not be diving without an instructor.

 

[Scubaguy62]

This isnt a solo vs non solo issue.

Buddy separations happen to experienced AND inexperienced pairs - the point is you can never really judge when it isnt going to happen. 1-2m vis, strong currents, kelp, silt can all mean that it can happen to anyone and in fact does happen. Given that nobody is immune to separation you have to be able to deal with it (normal drill here for example with everyone including students is 60 second circular search then if nothing found, DSMB deployed and surface - your dive is over). Basic fact remains if you lack the skill to surface safely on your own with nobody to help you then you really should not be diving at all. Jumping in and hoping for the best isnt the safest way to conduct anything . I wouldnt want do dive with someone who needed a buddy to surface - its a definate sign they couldnt rescue lift you if needed if they cant even lift themselves. These people should not be diving without an instructor.

I don't want to be argumentative, or sound offensive, but I take exception to that. IMO, Mike is correct. The issue, as you point out, is not solo v. non-solo diving. It isn't really whether a diver should, or shouldn't be able to surface on its own; it's whether a professional should, intentionally or otherwise, allow a diver, whom he/she is supervising and with whom he/she is buddying, to ascend alone. As I said in my previous post, the main reason a professional is a professional (IOW, gets paid) is to exercise judgment. Exercising judgment goes beyond just having judgment. It's the same difference between a thought and an action. Professionals cannot afford to be negligent lest they are sued, notwithstanding the infamous releases we all sign prior to boarding a dive operator's boat.

I wouldn't want to dive with someone who needs a buddy to surface either String, but the fact remains that in the buddy system, both buddies surface together. Only if they become separated do they surface alone, after 1 min, and only because it's the only place you're guaranteed, or almost guaranteed, to find eachother.

To say that if you lack the skill to surface on your own you should not dive is a fallacy. Try telling that to a newbie who becomes accidentally separated from his/her buddy, and as he/she is trained, surfaces, skillfully or otherwise, to meet his/her buddy. If the ascent was unskillful and a runaway ascent is involved, should that person quit diving because they, at that moment, lacked the skills to surface safely on their own? Should an experienced husband/wife not dive with his/her lesser experienced wife/husband?

Semper Safe,

Rick

 

[Scubakevdm]

I don't think that a diver who isn't comfortable solo diving should work on it with an instructor until they are and that seems to be what you are suggesting.

Actually I said surfacing solo, not diving solo. I think it's a good skill for a diver to have, you know, to be able to come up if he has to. So if you can't surface safely, by yourself, you should practice in a forgiving environment. That's just my opinion though, maybe its not a good idea to be able to do it, I don't know. Maybe if something happens instead of coming up, its better to stay down until you find your buddy or until he magically comes back to life, or maybe instead of bringing him up if he loses conciousness its best to stay near him until he's able to help you ascend. Maybe instead of teaching surfacing skills, or any skills for that matter we should start teaching cake recipies or interperative dance. With the extra time that would save I'll be able to read my OW manual and get with a good instructor.

 

[MikeFerrara]

Actually I said surfacing solo, not diving solo. I think it's a good skill for a diver to have, you know, to be able to come up if he has to. So if you can't surface safely, by yourself, you should practice in a forgiving environment. That's just my opinion though, maybe its not a good idea to be able to do it, I don't know. Maybe if something happens instead of coming up, its better to stay down until you find your buddy or until he magically comes back to life, or maybe instead of bringing him up if he loses conciousness its best to stay near him until he's able to help you ascend. Maybe instead of teaching surfacing skills, or any skills for that matter we should start teaching cake recipies or interperative dance. With the extra time that would save I'll be able to read my OW manual and get with a good instructor.

A diver should not only be able to ascend himself if required but he should be able to manage the ascent for himself and his buddy.

A diver also needs the common sense not to abandon their buddy because he reached the pressure at which he should end the dive.

I don't know how many other ways to explain it. When one diver in a team reaches turn or ascent pressure, the dive is over. This is absolutly the most basic concept in buddy/team diving.

 

[dweeb]

As your buddy, the DM should have come up with you. We are assuming the rest are certified divers so they should be able to manage on their own.

Awfully wishful assumption there. If they could be responsible for themselves, odds are they would be off pursuing their own interests rather than holding the DM's apron strings. Far too many 'certified' divers aren't competent to snorkel in their bathtub unsupervised, which is the root cause of the problem presented here.

If the DM is supervising the group as a whole, then he can't be buddy to one of them - it creates a set of conflicting duties. If you're teaching or supervising, you're essentially diving solo, because even if there are two of you leading, you each have a duty to the group that potentially supersedes your duty to your buddy. The DM's error was in allowing this issue to arise.

That said, what were you doing on a dive that you had an issue with ascending from solo? What were the rest of the group doing diving if they needed a babysitter? All of this could be avoided if every diver were competent to be responsible for him/herself.