What is your pre-dive accident-prevention check-list when diving with a new buddy ?

[caydiver]

I have been lucky that most of my diving is in Grand Cayman where solo diving is a no no. On the boat dives the first dive is a guided deep dive. You can quickly get a feel for the skill level of your other colleagues on that dive. If someone is a total disaster I will say no to accepting them as a buddy, if not I am happy to have them along. Years ago we had instances one in particular where we buddied up with someone who never should have been certified. Bouncing up and down, breaking all the profiles (before computers could angrily beep at them), and after that we decided that we just didn't want to be responsible for someone who was clueless. That said many times over the years we have had someone join us as a buddy who was wonderful to dive and we shared stories and pictures and good times. I would say keep your eyes and ears open when people are getting their gear ready and if you have a chance to observe them in the water, do so. There is no one size fits all Happy diving!

 

[USdiver1]

What is your pre-dive accident-prevention check-list when diving with a new buddy ?

When at the surface, what strategies would you want to review with a new buddy to make sure that all the efficient reactions to potential hazards and emergencies are anticipated ?

Y'all are a bunch of hard-a**es, and while I too prefer diving with the folks I've come to know and trust over the decades, as a DM I occasionally will take on the responsibility of becoming an "insta-buddy" for a noob or single diver. Here is what I do before getting wet:

1) Give a visual once-over of the buddy-to-be's equipment, and then engage him/her in small talk about that very same equipment. You'll be amazed at the number of folks who either have just purchased something off of e-bay or Craig's list and have never used it or had it serviced. This is important, as a person unfamiliar with their equipment and its working condition can not be expected to know how it will perform in open water, a potential hazard in an emergency.

2) I always perform a mask removal and replace at the surface and require my buddy to as well. Don't want anybody to panic with cold and/or salt water stinging the face or eyes. Best that everybody is aware of how the water "feels" before beginning the dive.

3) Weight check at the surface as well. People forget the simplest things, like their weight belt.

4) Descend slowly, watching insta-buddy's equalization and buoyancy skills. Best to nip things in the bud if a problem is spotted. I've called a dive for safety's sake [my own] if my buddy isn't up to performing the most basic scuba skills.

5) Trust, but verify on every new buddy.

 

[Frontpointer1000]

Great discussion. I was interested in this idea a little while ago because I found that in my industry we use checklists commonly for procedures and for safety but I had noticed that in diving, we rarely actually employed checklists and the pre-dive ritual is different for everyone.

I was looking into developing a set of rules that I would always employee as a pre-dive checklist. I found this article, And later this dissertation which was associated with the article. I have included it here for you. In the dissertation, I find pages 12 through 16 especially interesting, the conclusions obviously, and then appendix one which is the actual checklist.

Everyone’s checklist will be a bit different, and will even change depending on the kind of diving done, however I feel like this is a great starting point, and I especially like the idea of a post dive checklist to review the entire dive, risks, pros and cons, items learned, areas to refocus on, etc. In the dissertation, I find pages 12 through 16 especially interesting, the conclusions obviously, and then appendix one which is the actual checklist.

The effect of using a pre-dive checklist on the incidence of diving mishaps in recreational scuba diving: a cluster-randomized trial.

Ranapurwala SI, et al. Int J Epidemiol. 2016.
Int J Epidemiol. 2016 Feb;45(1):223-31.

https://cdr.lib.unc.edu/indexablecontent/uuid:d5995757-6705-45fc-beb2-49525862f93f

 

[mcpowell]

Admittedly, I've never instabuddied. Not trying to hijack the thread, but this seemed like a good place to ask.

If you are diving alone on a guided drift dive (let's say in Cozumel), would you prefer to instabuddy or just hang with the group? I know the divemaster can't really be your buddy, but visibility is good and theoretically you should all be in a group anyways. I'd much rather have a good, known buddy, barring that I'd rather just hang with the group than have a less-than-desirable buddy.

 

[flyboy08]

Admittedly, I've never instabuddied. Not trying to hijack the thread, but this seemed like a good place to ask.

If you are diving alone on a guided drift dive (let's say in Cozumel), would you prefer to instabuddy or just hang with the group? I know the divemaster can't really be your buddy, but visibility is good and theoretically you should all be in a group anyways. I'd much rather have a good, known buddy, barring that I'd rather just hang with the group than have a less-than-desirable buddy.

Sure, but so much can go wrong. For instance, if your OOA, you have no way on knowing how the person you swim up to will react! I’d like to know of one person in that group that I would seek out in an emergency...unless I was prepared with a Pony or such....it astonishes me when I see a friend off alone in the distance separated from their buddy....happens way too often.

 

[FlyinV]

I wonder what percentage of instabuddy teams had issues? .00001%?

I've had a number of insta buddies over the years no one ran out of air or did anything odd.

Sure a few of them could have had better buoyancy but they where new and trying hard not to be too messy.

Also on some guided dives the only time I really saw my insta buddy was on the boat, other then that we all just followed the dive guide.

Sure I'd of course rather dive with a known buddy.

 

[Saniflush]

Option 1
Sit and talk to them. Get a handle on their experience and then begin formulating a plan. I usually ask if they would like to lead the dive? More times than not they do not want to but if they say they do then I let them take over the lead in attempting to plan it. Being courteous and adding in bits that I think they may have left out. This gives me a pretty good idea of what kind of diver they will be.
I then begin showing them where all my releases are and how my ditchable weight ditches which is an easy segway into their equipment.
It sounds a lot more involved than it is. It is really just about talking to them about diving.

Option 2
Find a good dive buddy and marry them.

 

[aquacat8]

I don’t know how you’d checklist this, but it’s an odd one: let me tell you about one of my more interesting Insta-buddies, who was infamous long ago in Monterey when I got certified: Fred, the Dive Pervert.

Fred was a large, older man who drove a scruffy red truck. He would linger at shore dive sites waiting for his prey: an attractive young female newbie diver. He would then offer his services as a dive buddy. He would also approach newby couples, and that is how I wound up diving with him. I think because I had my boyfriend with me too he didn’t go very far with me, but later I read about some of his other shenanigans on a local diver’s newsgroup ba_diving.

Poor Old Fred must have had a serious neoprene fetish, and he was a rather romantic pervert as well. With me he limited himself to soulful eye contact, tender unnecessary handholding, and small touches, while my newly certified boyfriend was nearby, but apparently with other ladies he progressed to full on groping. I honestly thought he was just a sweet old guy, but later when I heard stories about him from other ladies, I was creeped out, and never buddied with him again.

Now poor old pervy Fred is dead, just another story of strange wildlife encounters from the annals of Monterey scuba diving.

 

[Roger Hobden]

From the DAN 2017 annual report:

" No one wants to police recreational divers, but a quiet word when someone is about to make a poor decision should be tolerated by most divers. It is high time for the diving community to fully embrace a culture of safety, a culture where predive checks become as routine and expected as safety stops have become. Checklists have gained popularity among re- breather divers, and, just as the octopus regulator was pioneered in cave diving but has moved into mainstream diving, DAN sincerely hopes checklists will move beyond technical diving and into mainstream diving."

 

[rsingler]

Probably not much enthusiasm in the Open Circuit scuba community for a checklist before a splash, but that doesn't make it wrong. I sincerely hope DAN's hopeful prediction comes true! Reading that study quoted above was an eye-opener! You can debate the statistics, but it is striking just how many small errors were caught. And the checklist in that study was not really onerous. Most of it we all (should) do, anyway! Perhaps setting an example will spread the word. After all, Nitrox used to be VOODOO gas (oh, no!) and is now mainstream.

I'm reminded of the time I DIDN'T check...
Tomorrow was the Instructor Exam. We were all puckered up, but excited. Today was the last practice dive as Instructor Candidates where the staff would mess with us as much as they could to prepare for the test tomorrow. Current was running hard in the Keys. We all splashed, and hung on the trailing line for dear life before @Capt Jim Wyatt took us down for his usual no-nonsense training. I learned eventually that he's a teddy bear, but as an Instructor Trainee, he seemed a little scary. The boss gives us thumb down for descent, and...I couldn't descend! He looks at me, and he looks at me. I could see the storm clouds gathering. There was no getting around it. It was confession time. "Sir, I forgot my weight belt."
"GRRRR! Growl! Mumble, mumble...Oh, for Pete's sake! Go get back on board and get it!" And he turned his displeasure on some other poor student for the next five minutes with a surface drill until I got back. It all worked out, and it was nice to just be chagrined instead of damaged, but the airlines might just have a point...run the checklist. It may save your bacon.