So what do you say if

[ladyfishdvr]

you have an instabuddy and come out after a horrible dive.

For instance they forgot to turn their tanks on, took a bad compass reading and went west instead of east and swam away to fast to be caught up with to correct the heading (twice - second time I was able to grab, stop and reorient), lost buoyancy control in a major rapid ascent to the surface kind of way, had a panic attack because they were down to 500 psi and was going to blow the safety stop (which I insisted we do), even though they had a pony bottle and I had 1600 psi in my tank.
All in one dive.

 

[Wookie]

You say "Geez, I'm not qualified to look after you or save your smelly butt in the event you screw something up. You need to hire a dive guide." Then you tell the boat captain that you need a different instabuddy.

Or, go get your solo card. Then it's moot.

 

[ladyfishdvr]

You say "Geez, I'm not qualified to look after you or save your smelly butt in the event you screw something up. You need to hire a dive guide." Then you tell the boat captain that you need a different instabuddy.

Or, go get your solo card. Then it's moot.

I was hoping for something more tactful. It was a dive in a lake at a club event so no captain. Only my 19th dive so I have a ways to go before I am solo material.

 

[doctormike]

Or, go get your solo card. Then it's moot.

Wookie can help you get a solo card. I highly recommend that approach.

 

[rivers]

Your style of diving isn't compatible with mine. I don't think we should dive together anymore. Lets just be friends

 

[Peter69_56]

Oh dear, well look at it this way, you coped very well given your experience and exposure to a very poor diver. Congratulations, you should be proud of how you handled it. I have seen DM not do as good as that. It demonstrates how poorly skilled some divers are. Its a pity for you though in that it spoiled your dive. You pay to enjoy your dive and it was not as good as it could be.

Been in similar situations when I am just another diver and it sucks when you find you have to babysit someone, particularly when they are supposedly an experience diver. I don't mind as much if they are new as they have to learn and I just accept it as part of passing on experience and knowledge to new divers. I however dislike it very much when they are arrogant and tell you they have been certified at (as one guy said), Red Sea, like as though it was the mecca for certification, and then you witness his inability to set up gear, then being all decked out ready to go (with no fins), falls in the water and crashes onto the sand, falls all over coral breaking it, then has to take you to the surface as he has gasped his cylinder empty in 10 min. I was impressed NOT!

Its all part of diving unfortunately, that's why I enjoy diving with my wife. As well as being great company and a great diver, she looks after me and I her. We know how we both dive and know what to expect, and trust each other. Same with other regular divers I go with, to date all have been good divers, (even though some are relatively new) which makes diving enjoyable and easy.

Some people should just not dive, but there they are.

Anyway enjoy your diving and thanks for the post.

 

[Wookie]

I was hoping for something more tactful. It was a dive in a lake at a club event so no captain. Only my 19th dive so I have a ways to go before I am solo material.

Sorry, for a crusty old curmudgeon that WAS tactful. With 19 dives it's true, even if you have done rescue class, you're just not qualified to rescue him/her. You might say "I'm here to learn, and I have nothing to learn from you nor to teach you. I think I'll find another partner." If that's still too rude, you might try "Not now, I have a headache" or "Gosh, look at the time".

It's hard to be tactful in a situation like this. I assume you're dealing with a man, and like most of us, we must be presented with new material like hitting us upside the head with a skillet. I certainly don't want to lower your opinion of us, but some of us are quite numb.

But we do understand "Really, it's not you. It's me."

 

[ladyfishdvr]

Your style of diving isn't compatible with mine. I don't think we should dive together anymore. Lets just be friends

I like this one without the "Lets just be friends."

The guy told me he had been diving for 4 years. I do have to say in retrospect it was a very educational dive and I learned how do deal with a crazed person somewhat and was forced to be more assertive.

All I could come up with was " Dude you need remedial scuba lessons" which I did not say, but I just ended up mumbling something about I had to meet someone, and loaded up my car, jumped into in still in my wetsuit and went to another area I knew I could dive as a tagalong to a class.

 

[maniago]

you have an instabuddy and come out after a horrible dive.

For instance they forgot to turn their tanks on, took a bad compass reading and went west instead of east and swam away to fast to be caught up with to correct the heading (twice - second time I was able to grab, stop and reorient), lost buoyancy control in a major rapid ascent to the surface kind of way, had a panic attack because they were down to 500 psi and was going to blow the safety stop (which I insisted we do), even though they had a pony bottle and I had 1600 psi in my tank.
All in one dive.

If your dive status is really 0-24, you are an instant fish in my book. That said, what you have said above belies you as a very mature diver. Either way, good job taking control of the dive for both your safety and his. However, I would have probably slugged him once out of the water, that's just me though. Total BS to have to dive with someone like that.

Probably the key question is not "how long have you been diving", but "when and where was the last time you dove...."

 

[Tortuga68]

"Have you ever seen the TV show Wife Swap? Because I'm going diving with that guy over there now"

But seriously... If it were me, I would start with asking how they thought the dive went and try to get somewhere constructive from there (i.e. their acknowledgement that they did some dumb stuff, and what could be done to improve that). But in your place I would probably just move on