Buddy Diving?

Please register or login

Welcome to ScubaBoard, the world's largest scuba diving community. Registration is not required to read the forums, but we encourage you to join. Joining has its benefits and enables you to participate in the discussions.

Benefits of registering include

  • Ability to post and comment on topics and discussions.
  • A Free photo gallery to share your dive photos with the world.
  • You can make this box go away

Joining is quick and easy. Log in or Register now!

razorbackdiver

Contributor
Messages
126
Reaction score
53
Location
Little Rock, AR
# of dives
200 - 499
When did you learn to buddy dive? I pose this question in response to a thread labeled solo diving. In this thread the poster gives reason for wanting to solo dive and wants some internet instruction or advice.
My personal story is I didn’t really learn to buddy dive until almost a year after my OW cert and then it was just by luck that I got buddied with a good diver on a Blackbeard’s trip or I probably wouldn’t be doing it properly today. Just a bit of background, before the Blackbeard’s trip I was approaching 50 non training dives and had the following certs: Navigation, Nitrox, Deep Diver, Equipment techniques, and Stress and Rescue.
The content of my being train to be a good buddy to that point consisted of being told to never dive solo, if I do lose contact with my buddy I was to look for them by rotating 360 degrees twice and if they haven’t shown in a minute, surface and look for them there, and if they are not there get out of the water. No discussion about one of us being a lead diver, where the non-lead diver should be or any other buddy related instruction.
Now in the interest of full disclosure, I was not actually trained by an OW instructor. The agency I got my OW cert with allows dive cons to instruct students under the supervision of an instructor. I was given the option to wait for the start of the next class or have one on one instruction with a dive con at no extra charge and start right away.
Since at the time I didn’t know what I didn’t know, I did not know to ask for more. If I hadn’t bump into this guy on the Blackbeard’s trip I might never have realized that there is more to buddy diving than just keeping a loose eye on my buddy.
So, was my OW training typical? If so it might explain why we read about so many bad buddies on this board. Perhaps, it’s just a matter that they were never taught correctly.
 
Same time I learned to solo dive :wink:

We were taught good buddy skills in basic OW in 1976, it was hammered into us by our instructor.

I have always assumed that good buddy skills were still taught in Basic OW, but occasionally I see posts here on ScubaBoard that indicate that may not always be true... or possibly it is just that not all divers / people are emotionally capable of being good buddies?

Or is it the insta-buddy phenomenon of vacation dive boats that creates this problem?

I'm not sure.

But I'd be very surprised to hear that "just keep a loose eye on your buddy" is being taught in any class by any instructor... unless the instructor is not a good buddy themselves????

Again, I'd be surprised if that is the case.

Maybe just too much time spent on mastering the basic dive skills in an abbreviated course leads to not enough time spent teaching buddy skills?

Best wishes.
 
The basic of how to be a good buddy were covered in my OW (some classroom and some open water). The rest we figured out -- my husband and I usually dive together.
 
I was taught in my OW class to dive with a buddy, and stay with the buddy, and I was taught procedures for the possibility of losing said buddy. But I wasn't taught anything about HOW to stay together, or much about how to communicate, nor did I have to demonstrate any skills necessary for keeping a team together, like being able to control the rate of my descent.

I began to learn those skills when NW Grateful Diver began mentoring me, on my 20th dive. But a LOT of my skills came from taking GUE Fundamentals, and then taking Rec 2 from Joe Talavera. We were taught about formations to use in different underwater circumstances; we were taught the use of lights to keep teams together and in communication. We were drilled on control in the water (because if you can't control where you are, it's AWFULLY hard to stay together). We were also constantly drilled on paying attention, and not getting so focused on something as to forget to check the whereabouts of the team. (About the 18th time you "run out of gas" because you got too far away from your buddy, you start avoiding that behavior . . . ) We also learned not to turn away from our buddies and kick them in their faces (they lose masks when you do that). When diving as a coordinated, cooperative team is a core value of the class you are taking, you learn a lot. And there is a lot TO learn -- it is not, by any means, as simple as, "Stick together and you'll be fine."

When buddy diving is conducted with good skills, it's an absolute joy, and I would never prefer to be underwater alone, when I can dive with really good buddies.
 
The guy that taught OW never actually said "keep a loose eye on your buddy". The problem was he didn't discuss or demonstrate how to be a good buddy. Leaving me to think as long I got someone in the neighborhood all is well.

The truth of the matter on two of my check out dives we became separated on 2 of the 4 check out dives. I would have thought after the first separation that would have the time to have a talk about buddy positions. Personally, I think I was his very first student and he may have been over his head.
 
The basics were covered in my open water also. and they probably are still covered by most instructors. now divers adhering to that is a different story. I've had people come to me and comment on my buddy skills, while at the time I didn't have such a good buddy.
 
When did you learn to buddy dive? . . .

In my OW class.

The content of my being trained to be a good buddy to that point consisted of being told to never dive solo, if I do lose contact with my buddy I was to look for them by rotating 360 degrees twice and if they haven’t shown in a minute, surface and look for them there, and if they are not there get out of the water. . . .
So, was my OW training typical?

Yes, that's pretty much all I was taught in my OW class about what "the buddy system" means. We were also taught a mnemonic to help us remember our pre-dive checklist, and that included checking one's buddy. And of course we were taught to share air with our buddy from a single regulator. But that's definitely all I can remember that we were taught in my PADI OW class.

Is the question actually: "When did you learn that there are numerous things one can do to be a GOOD buddy?" If so, then it definitely wasn't in OW class. I would have to answer that I learned additional things one can do to be a good/effective buddy right here on SB. :D

By the way, I have never heard the term "lead buddy." I don't think they teach that in the PADI curriculum. As far as I have been taught, the default is that buddies share duties equally. Of course, buddies can agree with each other to any other duties or responsibilities they wish. But the term "lead buddy" is new to me.
 
Last edited:
I didn’t really learn to buddy dive until almost a year after my OW cert and then it was just by luck that I got buddied with a good diver on a Blackbeard’s trip or I probably wouldn’t be doing it properly today. If I hadn’t bump into this guy on the Blackbeard’s trip I might never have realized that there is more to buddy diving than just keeping a loose eye on my buddy.

So what exactly were you taught by the diver you met on your Blackbeard trip?
 
When did you learn to buddy dive? I pose this question in response to a thread labeled solo diving. In this thread the poster gives reason for wanting to solo dive and wants some internet instruction or advice.
My personal story is I didn’t really learn to buddy dive until almost a year after my OW cert and then it was just by luck that I got buddied with a good diver on a Blackbeard’s trip or I probably wouldn’t be doing it properly today. Just a bit of background, before the Blackbeard’s trip I was approaching 50 non training dives and had the following certs: Navigation, Nitrox, Deep Diver, Equipment techniques, and Stress and Rescue.
The content of my being train to be a good buddy to that point consisted of being told to never dive solo, if I do lose contact with my buddy I was to look for them by rotating 360 degrees twice and if they haven’t shown in a minute, surface and look for them there, and if they are not there get out of the water. No discussion about one of us being a lead diver, where the non-lead diver should be or any other buddy related instruction.
Now in the interest of full disclosure, I was not actually trained by an OW instructor. The agency I got my OW cert with allows dive cons to instruct students under the supervision of an instructor. I was given the option to wait for the start of the next class or have one on one instruction with a dive con at no extra charge and start right away.
Since at the time I didn’t know what I didn’t know, I did not know to ask for more. If I hadn’t bump into this guy on the Blackbeard’s trip I might never have realized that there is more to buddy diving than just keeping a loose eye on my buddy.
So, was my OW training typical? If so it might explain why we read about so many bad buddies on this board. Perhaps, it’s just a matter that they were never taught correctly.
The last qualifying dive of BSAC's Ocean Diver course (1st qualification level) assesses the student on their ability to 'lead' the dive. That means manage the navigation, turn arount point/time and gas management.

king regards
 

Back
Top Bottom