Buddy line/buddy's joined together

A hot topic on the Dutch and most European forums.
Never seen it here.

Buddy's joined together with a 3ft (or even10ft)line.
Pros/cons.

Thoughts on this,if you please.

300bar:

A hot topic on the Dutch and most European forums.
Never seen it here.

Buddy's joint together with a 3ft (or even10ft)line.
Pros/cons.

Thoughts on this.

Click to expand...

This must be a local phenomenon, because I've not heard of it under "normal" circumstances; in very low vis, maybe. But nowhere else...

I had used a buddy line with my wife few times to make sure we did not get separated in bad vis. I still carry that buddy line for open ocean dives. But we now tend to depend on lights to prevent separation in poor vis.

It shouldn't be needed in any situation.

#1 If it is a result of poor buddy skills, this will be a crutch that will not help develop good buddy skills.

#2 There is the safety aspect of this catching on something and causing problems, not to mention the entanglement hazard.

#3 There is the environmental aspect. How often will the slack in the line catch, drag, snag, or kill hard or soft coral.

#4 If using in low visiblity, just multiple the snag hazard. What if one buddy drops their end of the 10 feet long line in low visibility? Now they are really seperated.

My wife loves to hold my hand when we are diving together. When I dive with a wetsuit she like to hold onto the (extra long) zipper cord but when we dive dry there is no such line. She keeps telling me I should add a tag line (2'-3') so she can hang on.

I see no issue with it one way or the other as long as the line is not attached to each diver.

This is of course for recreational diving, not tech, cave or wreck diving.

Teamcasa:

My wife loves to hold my hand when we are diving together. When I dive with a wetsuit she like to hold onto the (extra long) zipper cord but when we dive dry there is no such line. She keeps telling me I should add a tag line (2'-3') so she can hang on.

I see no issue with it one way or the other as long as the line is not attached to each diver.

This is of course for recreational diving, not tech, cave or wreck diving.

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I use these, carry one and even sell them. There have only been a couple of times I've had to take one out, but they take up next to no room, they're easy to make and are there when you need them.

One instance they could have been used on, that I was involved in the rescue, was a group of divers who dove off a live-aboard and got caught in a strong current. A dive master had taken them on a 'tour' and they ended up 1/4 mile from the boat with no way to get back. The boat sent a small 4 man pick-up boat out to get 6 or 7 divers (go figure!). As they loaded their gear in the little boat it started to swamp and headed back to then main boat with the gear but without the divers.

A buddy line could have been used to keep the group together on the surface while waiting for the larger tow-behind to come out and get them. One trick here is for the end people to hold the end of the line, not clip it on to your BC in case someone in the group panics.

They work as 'Jon Line' to hook to the anchor line during deco, for technical diving.

They are also of use in rescue/recovery situations.

You can make your own by using 2 brass or stainless steel bolt snaps (dog leash clips) and 10 feet (3 metres) of 3/16" nylon rope.

My dive parnter and I use one in a very specific situation. There is a cove at a local lake where boats gather and anchor, particularly on holidays. The water is fairly shallow (about 30 feet) and chronically murky (vis about 3 feet). Subsequently, partiers drop quite a few items, and my buddy and I scavenge for "treasure" once in a while after a busy weekend, just for fun. We use a tether on these forays to keep from getting seperated. However, there are a couple of things that need to be noted:
1.The tether is about eight feet long, with velcro bands on the ends that go around our wrists, and we have two small floats to arch the tether and keep it off the bottom. Entanglement is minimized, and dragging the tether is avoided. Getting rid of the tether is very easy should there be any problem.
2. As noted before, this is at a lake. There is no coral, or current for that matter. Again, entanglement is a remote possibility.
3. The only use for the tether is to keep us from getting seperated while our attention is focused on the bottom while we are scouring for stuff or when we are retrieving something. That never fails to stir up clouds of silt, and losing eye contact would be a virtual certainty. While cruising, we still attempt to maintain visual contact, of course, and we check with each other often, even while using the tether. It's a tool...not a crutch.

DBailey:

It shouldn't be needed in any situation.

#1 If it is a result of poor buddy skills, this will be a crutch that will not help develop good buddy skills.

#2 There is the safety aspect of this catching on something and causing problems, not to mention the entanglement hazard.

#3 There is the environmental aspect. How often will the slack in the line catch, drag, snag, or kill hard or soft coral.

#4 If using in low visiblity, just multiple the snag hazard. What if one buddy drops their end of the 10 feet long line in low visibility? Now they are really seperated.

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Couldn't agree more!!

In low viz, use good lights (the bean can be seen when the diver already disapeared) and develop good buddy practice and awarness, in good viz, makes no sense to use a cable between buddies.

A buddy line can be useful in very low visibility ... but primarily for divers who lack the technique or equipment to keep track of each other any other way. When I was a new diver I made one out of about 6 feet of bungee cord and kept it in my BCD pocket. We used it on occasion ... my dive partner at the time found it comforting to have something to hold onto that she knew was attached to me ... and that comfort level alone made it worthwhile.

As we gained experience, we found that we used it less and less ... and after a time, not at all. I still have it in my "box of stuff I'll never use again" in my garage ... but it's been about seven years since it's been out of that box.

... Bob (Grateful Diver)

DBailey:

It shouldn't be needed in any situation.

#1 If it is a result of poor buddy skills, this will be a crutch that will not help develop good buddy skills.

#2 There is the safety aspect of this catching on something and causing problems, not to mention the entanglement hazard.

#3 There is the environmental aspect. How often will the slack in the line catch, drag, snag, or kill hard or soft coral.

#4 If using in low visiblity, just multiple the snag hazard. What if one buddy drops their end of the 10 feet long line in low visibility? Now they are really seperated.

Click to expand...

I'll grant that if your buddy lacks the skills it could cause some of the issues you describe but in my case, her skills are just fine. My wife/buddy just likes it and I don't mind. We don't race around hugging the bottom and for the most part I don't even realize that she is hanging on or not.

(Frankly, I think is just part of her grand scheme to have a lower SAC rate by letting me do all the work!)