What should a DM do in this situation?

[Valwood1]

"Had a little 'discussion' underwater when i ran low-on-air and the divemaster told me to go up alone (he was my buddy) so he could continue with the rest of the group (finally some one else volunteered to go up with me and do the safety stop, etc)"

The above appeared in a travel post, and implied, to me, that the DM was wrong in refusing to ascend with the low-on-air diver. On the one hand, most divers want a buddy with them. On the other, most divers seem to resent strongly having their bottom time determined by the fellow diver with the most air consumption. I had a similar situation in NZ and the DM sent the low-on-air diver to the surface without a buddy.

So, what would you expect a conscientious DM to do in this situation? I recognize that there are numerous "ifs" that might precede an answer, but wonder if there is a "general rule".

 

[nessum]

Around here, if we go out as a group our bottom time is determined by the diver with the highest air conception. There's no groaning about it, that's how it goes... then again, by that time we're all usually getting a little chilly anyhow...
I can understand that the DM did not want to leave the group, but in that case it was time for everyone to ascend. Never should they have sent you up without a buddy.

 

[Drew Sailbum]

Others may continue the dive, but the DM should ascend with his buddy.

 

[Warren_L]

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.

 

[String]

Most sheep hearding group dives ive had to do the highest air consumption governed the dive - first person to reach 100bar the entire group turns. One of the guides then surfaces with divers who are low, the rest wait around for the guide to return (or wander about by themselves near the surfacing point until down to about 50 themselves). Not a system i like and another reason to dislike guided group dives.
I have seen some where they just point to the boat and instruct someone to surface as you're already very near and usually no deeper than 25ft. I dont see a problem with that either especially on no-decompression dives.

 

[Diver0001]

"Had a little 'discussion' underwater when i ran low-on-air and the divemaster told me to go up alone (he was my buddy) so he could continue with the rest of the group (finally some one else volunteered to go up with me and do the safety stop, etc)"

The above appeared in a travel post, and implied, to me, that the DM was wrong in refusing to ascend with the low-on-air diver. On the one hand, most divers want a buddy with them. On the other, most divers seem to resent strongly having their bottom time determined by the fellow diver with the most air consumption. I had a similar situation in NZ and the DM sent the low-on-air diver to the surface without a buddy.

So, what would you expect a conscientious DM to do in this situation? I recognize that there are numerous "ifs" that might precede an answer, but wonder if there is a "general rule".

Here's my take:

*Given* that the DM was buddied up with a diver who needed to surface, then he should have surfaced with his buddy. That said, the DM shouldn't have been buddied up with one of the divers. The DM is there to provide in water supervision presumably because the group needs in water supervision and the priority should be given to supervision. You can't let supervision of an entire group become compromised by also trying to be a buddy. The obvious solution is that the odd man out goes with a 3-some.

Another variation is the army-marches-at-the-tempo-of-the-slowest-soldier technique. Everyone ends the dive when the first diver goes. Highly impractical, in my opinion, but possible and occasionally applied, especially when the group has a uniform level of experience..

Buddy pairs/threes never change under water and buddies end the dive together. No questions asked. If other buddy groups are able to keep going then the DM stays in the water with the group that's still under water. If things are well organised (which they often are not) then there will be 2 DM's with a group and the 2nd DM will have the option of escorting a buddy group to the surface and rejoining the group once they have safely ended the dive. I would apply double teaming to any significantly large group because a diver can always have a problem that requires him to be escorted to the surface and if you're alone with a group then you all have to abort to the chagrin of the entire group.

R..

 

[String]

Ive had buddy pairs switched underwater into a new group of 2 or 3 on various cattle dives and dont have a problem with it. Again there are usually at least 5 or 6 others around as well as your buddy in case of a problem. In that situation its because my buddy was low on air, had to surface after only 30 mins so one of the guides surfaced with her (and later rejoined us).

The hand signal for "you,you,you dive as a 3. Swim around until hitting 50 bar, safety stop then surface" took a bit of working out though...

 

[OneBrightGator]

I agree with Diver0001, if the DM had a responsibility to the whole group then he shouldn't have buddied up with you, he should have buddied you with two other people. Given that, sending someone who's low on air up alone is not an acceptable solution.

Ben

 

[Diver0001]

Ive had buddy pairs switched underwater into a new group of 2 or 3 on various cattle dives and dont have a problem with it. Again there are usually at least 5 or 6 others around as well as your buddy in case of a problem. In that situation its because my buddy was low on air, had to surface after only 30 mins so one of the guides surfaced with her (and later rejoined us).

The hand signal for "you,you,you dive as a 3. Swim around until hitting 50 bar, safety stop then surface" took a bit of working out though...

true story:

4 divers, 2 buddy pairs.

1 diver in group 1 is low on air and 1 diver in group 2 is low on air.

sounds logical to group the low on air divers and send them to the surface together so the other 2 can keep going.

Except you make a mistake

and you group the wrong two divers together and send them to the surface.

Nobody understood why you make that change and the diver who is really low on air just keeps going because he trusts you, he's a little intimidated by authority figures and he thinks you know what you're doing.

5 min later he is OOA and your little mistake has become an emergency.

He nearly drowns.

One of the divers on the surface is mad because you cut his dive short and doesn't want to pay for the dive.

Everyone unhappy, nobody having fun. 2nd dive blown off. Bad day.

New policy........

It's very easy to be completely 100% clear about the buddy policy before you get in the water but it's too easy to create confusion by shuffling buddy teams enroute and it's really hard to recover from stupid little screwups like that once your dive has gone pear shaped. If you need to change buddy teams because of air consumption I think it's better to do it between dives.

R..

 

[pasley]

"Had a little 'discussion' underwater when i ran low-on-air and the divemaster told me to go up alone (he was my buddy) so he could continue with the rest of the group (finally some one else volunteered to go up with me and do the safety stop, etc)"

Your posting does not say at what depth or how long you had been down. 15 minutes, 30 minutes. But the bottom line is it does not matter. He or someone in the group should have come up with you and there should not have been a big discussion about it.

Surfacing is perhaps one of the more dangerous times of diving. It is during this period that embolisms occur and DCI as well. How many times have I read of deaths where the story goes “he was fine when we last saw him surfacing by himself from 40 feet”. While a buddy cannot prevent embolisms or DCI, they can help if something goes wrong and once your are on the surface call for help and at least get your face out of the water. The DM was WRONG, WRONG WRONG. On the other hand, he is also responsible for the others in his charge. He should have taken another diver and sent them up with you. Were it me, I would have taken my left hand and making the OK sign and with my right hand directly behind my left crooking my finger in the come here signal( translation "come here *******".) called the DM over and vigorously signaled UP to him.

On the other, most divers seem to resent strongly having their bottom time determined by the fellow diver with the most air consumption.

I disagree with this statement. It is just part of diving. I have no problem surfacing when my buddy runs low on air. On the majority of my dives I surface with 1000+ PSI in my AL 80 tank because my buddies are low on air with 500 PSI or less. It is not a problem.

I will agree that if you know you use air rapidly, you should attempt to buddy up with another rapid air consumer.

I would also suggest you consider working on the cause of your rapid air consumption which is one or more of the following: over weighted, poor buoyancy control (see over weighted. Air in and out of BC waste a lot of air and causes you to be continuously bouncing up and down in the water column), poor trim, poor physical conditioning, rarely dive and are nervous. All of these can be solved easily by: Diving often, proper weighting, learning good buoyancy skills, exercise regularly (cardio), diet and moving slowly in the water.

Just my $0.02.