Safety stop when losing buddy

[txgoose]

Just another vote for a controlled ascent straight to the surface after a one minute search. I'm not tech and haven't violated NDL.

 

[NAM001]

That about covers everything. Regarding risk, I would agree with Streydog and skip the stop if it was very early in the dive and nowhere near your no-stop time, possibly because the dive was to 60' and not 120'. Otherwise I'd probably do the stop. As KWS said, you check bubbles. If there are none you don't know where the buddy is anyway and it may be too late (assuming you already did the one minute search before ascending and came up empty).

Absolutely skip the stop if possible. A lot can happen with your buddy in the time it takes to do a safety stop not to mention how far he can become separated to where you cannot see bubbles on the surface.

 

[Centrals]

What is the recommendation for buddy separation?
Search for 1 min and then ascent. Does it mention 3-5min safety stop?
The only issue is that your buddy either did not realize the separation or decides to take 3-5 min safety and you will be dead worry on the surface while hoping for the best..

 

[Barnaby'sDad]

What is the recommendation for buddy separation?
Search for 1 min and then ascent. Does it mention 3-5min safety stop?
The only issue is that your buddy either did not realize the separation or decides to take 3-5 min safety and you will be dead worry on the surface while hoping for the best..

Search for one minute and then ascend.

To your point...I was once diving with a DM/insta-buddy and lost track of him, surfaced, and bobbed along for 15 minutes before he surfaced.

 

[BlueTrin]

What is the recommendation for buddy separation?
Search for 1 min and then ascent. Does it mention 3-5min safety stop?
The only issue is that your buddy either did not realize the separation or decides to take 3-5 min safety and you will be dead worry on the surface while hoping for the best..

Well that’s exactly what happened, I surfaced because we got separated at 30m when we faced another group of diver and silt was lifted.

I ascended really slowly but did not do a safety stop.

My buddy told me that he didn’t realise at first we got lost and he did his safety stop.

I could not see the bubbles so I waited 4 mins before to go the shore and started telling others that my buddy didn’t surface. He just appeared a minute later.

I guess I will always ask whether my buddy will stop or not during the briefing now.

 

[Dominik_E]

There is really no solid proof that a safety stop improves safety. It is a recommendation, but any more pressing needs should take precedence. As I would probably not know the reason for loosing the buddy, I could not exclude one of this more pressing problems being the cause. I will thus not do the safety stop, but a straight ascend. If there is a real medical problem, I would with the safety stop waste 3 minutes of a window of opportunity that is known to often be only a few minutes long, for a reduction in my own risk that is if it exists at all so small that no one has ever been able to prove it.

 

[chillyinCanada]

Well that’s exactly what happened, I surfaced because we got separated at 30m when we faced another group of diver and silt was lifted.

I ascended really slowly but did not do a safety stop.

My buddy told me that he didn’t realise at first we got lost and he did his safety stop.

I could not see the bubbles so I waited 4 mins before to go the shore and started telling others that my buddy didn’t surface. He just appeared a minute later.

I guess I will always ask whether my buddy will stop or not during the briefing now.

Yes, BlueTrin, that is indeed something that should be covered in the buddy briefing.

Thanks for reminding me.

 

[clownfishsydney]

Depends on what you agree on before the dive. In our club, our agreement is that in the case of separation (for all very experienced divers), we do not surface and we continue the dive. Divers are responsible for refinding the buddy(ies) or returning to anchor or exit. No one has a problem with this and in almost 50 years there has never been a problem.

Responsibility is on divers to make sure they stay in contact with the person leading the dive.

Similarly, for boat dives, we have some older members who only want to do short bottom times. They ascend up the anchor when they are ready and their buddy(ies) stay on the bottom for a few more minutes. Again, this is by agreement from all. If anyone objects, then we dive as buddy pairs right to the end.

For experienced divers, the chance of any problem is very, very minimal, if not virtually zero.

 

[Dominik_E]

But then this is a situation where it has been agreed not to ascend at all, so the entire point of stop vs. direct ascend is moot, right?

 

[Neilwood]

For recreational diving (within No Deco Limits and above 30m) there is no REQUIREMENT to do a safety stop therefore in a lost buddy situation (which might be due to an emergency) I wouldn't do a stop. Simply do the 1 minute check and surface (at a safe rate). A safety stop is added to a dive to add just that - added safety. Every set of algorithms AFAIK that allows No Deco Limits diving allows the stop to be skipped with virtually no risk to health.

If you do choose to do a safety stop and the separation is due to a medical problem. gear issue or gas issue, you have just wasted 3 minutes of time that could have been used working the problem.

If a deco obligation has been incurred however, the stop becomes mandatory and the risks of a direct ascent become much greater.