What do you consider Good Buddy skills -

I have been following with interest the thread I started about challenging buddies who don't act how you want them to, and I have seen a number of comments and posts which show that different people have different expectations of buddies.

So to explore this, what do you consider are the skills and behaviours shown by a good buddy - my starter for ten

• Discusses and agrees the dive plan before the start of the dive, including aim of dive, site, duration and when to stop
• Agrees roles and responsibilities, who will lead, navigate and so on
• Discusses and agrees emergency actions such as lost divers etc.
• Assists buddy with kitting up
• Familiarises themselves with their buddies dive equipment and performs a buddy check to both ensure familiarity and correct fit and operation
• Assists buddy with water entry and final checks before descent
• Throughout dive remains in close proximity of their dive buddy and in a position to offer immediate aid in event of any diving emergency
• Remains in line of sight of buddy so there is no opportunity to "lose" a buddy, or an unseen emergency to develop whilst a diver is looking the other way
• Keeps regular contact and underwater communication on things such as comfort and air remaining
• Finishes dives together and waits out deco or safety stops to surface together
• Assists buddy with de-kitting and exit from water
• Debriefs and discusses dive, what went right, what went wrong, what could be done different next time
• Buys the beers !

I expect many of you may disagree with some of the above, and there may be things I have missed

Cheers - Phil.

You can put the traits of a good buddy into three main categories. Ability, attitude and compatibility.

Ability is about what you know and your level of skill. A capable diver has done the necessary training, remembers it and does it. On its own, it is no guarantee of a good buddy.

A good attitude includes being sociable, responsible, considerate and relaxed.

It is more enjoyable if your buddy has a similar level of experience and skill and your goals for the dive are similar.

I suspect that attitude trumps all. People with a good attitude are fun to dive with and you feel safe with them. They are self correcting and just keep getting better the more they dive.

To me, a good buddy is someone who wants to be a good buddy.

Everything else has to be evaluated in the context of experience. I love diving with novices -- their sheer delight in being underwater and getting to see all the cool stuff we have in the Pacific Northwest is contagious. They may not be able to help me into the water, or out of it; they may need help themselves putting their gear together, and often with navigation. I don't mind. If they want to stay together and they want to do the right thing, they're good buddies.

On the other hand, there is nothing like a buddy who knows exactly how things are going to go -- goes quickly through the dive plan and gear check, swims out to the drop point, submerges and flares out and stops at 3' until you are in eye contact, and then drifts slowly downward, eye to eye, until the bottom is in sight. Someone who is ALWAYS right where you expect them to be, and responds to the slightest signal, to come over and see the grunt sculpin and share the delight. Someone who monitors his own gas and deco status, and is right on the same wavelength when you signal that the dive is over. Someone who floats upward with you, foot by foot, relaxed and effortless, hitting all the stops. Someone you know would, if anything went awry, be absolutely present and competent with all emergency skills, and capable of the thought required by novel challenges.

We should all aspire to be that kind of buddy, and although I had a specific person in mind when I wrote that paragraph, I have a LOT of buddies who would fit that description.

Someone who doesn't leave you solo contributing to a death and possible lawsuit.

A good dive buddy realizes that being a dive buddy is a team sport, and we are both part of the team

In an ideal world that's an awesome starter for 10. If only it were that easy - as others have mentioned ability, attitude and willingness to work as a (preferably effective) team are the constantly changing factors with instabuddies.

To me, a good buddy is someone I wanted to dive with time and time again. They are somebody who I can trust both above and below water and one who shares the same agenda as me underwater.

For me one of the buddy skills I look for in another person and in myself is not getting too close to each other. I just hate it when you are with a person and you constantly are bumping into each other. The ocean is pretty big and there is no need to be all over the top of one another. Spread out!

Phil_C:

I have been following with interest the thread I started about challenging buddies who don't act how you want them to, and I have seen a number of comments and posts which show that different people have different expectations of buddies.

So to explore this, what do you consider are the skills and behaviours shown by a good buddy - my starter for ten

• Discusses and agrees the dive plan before the start of the dive, including aim of dive, site, duration and when to stop
• Agrees roles and responsibilities, who will lead, navigate and so on
• Discusses and agrees emergency actions such as lost divers etc.
• Assists buddy with kitting up
• Familiarises themselves with their buddies dive equipment and performs a buddy check to both ensure familiarity and correct fit and operation
• Assists buddy with water entry and final checks before descent
• Throughout dive remains in close proximity of their dive buddy and in a position to offer immediate aid in event of any diving emergency
• Remains in line of sight of buddy so there is no opportunity to "lose" a buddy, or an unseen emergency to develop whilst a diver is looking the other way
• Keeps regular contact and underwater communication on things such as comfort and air remaining
• Finishes dives together and waits out deco or safety stops to surface together
• Assists buddy with de-kitting and exit from water
• Debriefs and discusses dive, what went right, what went wrong, what could be done different next time
• Buys the beers !

I expect many of you may disagree with some of the above, and there may be things I have missed

Cheers - Phil.

Click to expand...

Phil,

That's a great list of expectations that lends itself very well to discussion in an OW theory session. I'll be borrowing this, if you don't mind.

R..

My buddy, Al P. , is the perfect buddy. Always right there with me, within a quick reach to give me immediate access to air should I need it. Never in the way, follows my dive plan exactly. Makes no demands and doesn't need any attention during the dive. Oh, by the way, Al P. is my 13cf aluminum pony. Wouldn't depend on any other buddy. My life is too important to me.