Bad buddies...

[nolatom]

Seems to me a thread titled "Bad Buddies" is going to make most if not all Insta-buddies sound B-b-b-baaad!!--kind of like reading only the crime news in a new town, geeze what a dangerous place!

Mostly I take Instas. And almost all have been pretty good, some very good. Those that weren't were the (very very rare, mind you) "runaway" divers, who just take off despite what we discussed as the "plan". Well, I'll follow you as long as I'm not endangering myself or risking insufficient air for an ascent, but beyond that I ain't goin'. And yes, you end up finding them lah-de-dah back on the boat already, after you'd spent the rest of your dive and ascent worrying about whether you'd say the wrong thing at their funeral.

Since there have been no funerals, I credit those couple of "bad" instabuddies )out of several hundred decent ones), as a valuable learning experience--how you going to improve without overcoming a little adversity, anyway?? ;-)

 

[Kharon]

A bad buddy is worse than no buddy sometimes. Train and quip yourself for solo diving (or self-reliant if you prefer). You can still buddy up, but if they leave you then you are still OK. If they start messing with you then end the dive and never dive with them again.

+1 - except - an bad buddy is worse than no buddy ALWAYS. My first rule of diving is:

1. You are always diving solo no matter how many divers are in the water, or how many buddies you have, or how much experience they have or what you discussed during the dive plan.
   

 

[dorkdiver]

I really like diving solo when it is available. Many of the insta buddies and I were same ocean buddies and we pretty much had an unspoken agreement. It worked well.

 

[northernone]

+1 - except - an bad buddy is worse than no buddy ALWAYS. My first rule of diving is:

1. You are always diving solo no matter how many divers are in the water, or how many buddies you have, or how much experience they have or what you discussed during the dive plan.

Sadly yes. I'll dive with anyone but at the end of the day I'm going home. If I can't assure reasonably I can reach the surface without them I won't do the dive.

Buddies are nice, and if I go unconscious I'd be happy to have one calmly float me to the surface to give me a chance at medical care, but otherwise they can not be a life or death part of my dive plan.

I do this for fun. It's not fun when my life is in another's hands, particularly an unknown stranger's. If I was not an "autonomous diver" I'd hire a true professional to babysit me.

Let's be competent divers and enjoyable buddies.

Regards,
Cameron

 

[rabe]

+1 - except - an bad buddy is worse than no buddy ALWAYS. My first rule of diving is:

1. You are always diving solo no matter how many divers are in the water, or how many buddies you have, or how much experience they have or what you discussed during the dive plan.

I agree with that, but is very far away from what they (instructors, manuals, etc.) tell you

 

[rabe]

Seems to me a thread titled "Bad Buddies" is going to make most if not all Insta-buddies sound B-b-b-baaad!!--kind of like reading only the crime news in a new town, geeze what a dangerous place!

Mostly I take Instas. And almost all have been pretty good, some very good. Those that weren't were the (very very rare, mind you) "runaway" divers, who just take off despite what we discussed as the "plan". Well, I'll follow you as long as I'm not endangering myself or risking insufficient air for an ascent, but beyond that I ain't goin'. And yes, you end up finding them lah-de-dah back on the boat already, after you'd spent the rest of your dive and ascent worrying about whether you'd say the wrong thing at their funeral.

Since there have been no funerals, I credit those couple of "bad" instabuddies )out of several hundred decent ones), as a valuable learning experience--how you going to improve without overcoming a little adversity, anyway?? ;-)

Well, is not that all insta-buddies are bad...
I have had plenty of dives with plenty of insta-b and everything was great.
Some of them became my regular buddies...
...but sometimes, some dudes, are really bad. (and I think they might be terrible "partner" also in other -less dangerous- activities)

 

[tomfcrist]

I dove today, showed up solo...DM asked if I had a buddy. I'm on a rebreather so I pointed to my bailout tank. He chuckled and set me up with a 20yo kid barely AOW and a total of 30 dives under his belt. So I chatted with the young man and we did 2 great dives where I showed him around some wrecks and I shot some lionfish. He was ecstatic that he got to do his first NC wreckdives with someone willing to mentor him and make sure he had a good time.

Kid had his **** together.

That being said, in my experience, as instabuddies go, he was the exception to the rule. Most I have been paired with unwillingly are pure garbage.

 

[RayfromTX]

I dove today, showed up solo...DM asked if I had a buddy. I'm on a rebreather so I pointed to my bailout tank. He chuckled and set me up with a 20yo kid barely AOW and a total of 30 dives under his belt. So I chatted with the young man and we did 2 great dives where I showed him around some wrecks and I shot some lionfish. He was ecstatic that he got to do his first NC wreckdives with someone willing to mentor him and make sure he had a good time.

Kid had his **** together.

That being said, in my experience, as instabuddies go, he was the exception to the rule. Most I have been paired with unwillingly are pure garbage.

Sounds like you did him a solid.

 

[Kharon]

I agree with that, but is very far away from what they (instructors, manuals, etc.) tell you

There's a fair amount, I have found, that instructors, manuals, etc. tell you that is complete bushwah - suicide clips, MOF, and on and on. The one thing that I have always considered is the advice - when asked, why do you have your equipment set up the way you do? The only correct answer is "because this is what works for me and what I am comfortable with." There ain't no "one size fits all". Sorry Gui and all the other elitists. It just isn't that simple.

 

[rabe]

There's a fair amount, I have found, that instructors, manuals, etc. tell you that is complete bushwah - suicide clips, MOF, and on and on. The one thing that I have always considered is the advice - when asked, why do you have your equipment set up the way you do? The only correct answer is "because this is what works for me and what I am comfortable with." There ain't no "one size fits all". Sorry Gui and all the other elitists. It just isn't that simple.

I couldn't agree more with you (for the rig part).

For the "buddy looks after buddy" part, I think that a responsible person should look after another person and the other way around. At least this is what I do (and that's why I was probably pissed off by the bad behaviour of my insta buddy).
And this doesn't apply only to diving, but in general...