On Your Own: The Buddy System Rebutted By Bob Halstead

[tursiops]

wow FANTASTIC POST BOTH PARTS. It really supports the opinions of a lot of people over the years..

Got it. You agree with it because it supports what you have already decided is true.

 

[NAM001]

Got it. You agree with it because it supports what you have already decided is true.

I believe that is the root of why one says they agree or not.

If by chance you do not agree with the posts ,,,,, then your same comment slightly modified would relate to you.

 

[NAM001]

You can replace most aspects of a buddy with equipment, but you can't replace the extra brain. I always dive in a team, but I've got the equipment and experience to, at least in theory, do the dive on my own. And that's how most dives go down. The only real interaction is "hey, look at this thing" or "time to head back" or "yep, that's your O2 bottle, switch". But on the few occasions where things have gotten sticky for various reasons, it's always been my buddy's brain and ability to problem solve independently of me that's come in handy.

You are correct and there are dives that certainly rely on a group effort , either mental of physical. Those type of dives are not suited to be done solo. I would not make a 200 ft trimix dive solo. I would do an air dive to 50 ft though.

 

[NAM001]

A properly equipped and extremely experienced diver may well be better of alone, than buddied with a new diver who has 0-5 dives in the local environment.

However,’the “average” recreational diver is not equipped for solo and is often not that well trained or practiced. It probably makes more sense to promote better buddy diving skills rather than throwing out the whole buddy diving mindset- for most casual, recreational divers.

I think you are right. the current training concepts are based on buddy diving. In the emortal words of limits folks. With proper training or experience,,,,,,,, coupled with knowing your ability limits one should be able to do the dive solo. As always no one can guarantee that their expericence can handle the unknown problem coming up. When I dive solo and my limits are : shallow dives good vis no currents known area no entanglements always on a full tank and properly equipped for the area diving.

 

[tursiops]

I believe that is the root of why one says they agree or not.

If by chance you do not agree with the posts ,,,,, then your same comment slightly modified would relate to you.

Confirmation bias - Wikipedia

 

[Bob DBF]

When writing about how how poor the training and application of the buddy system is today, I don't think I'd add how I was an instructor for 20 years. The problem with the buddy system is that it takes time to teach to be effective, and with abbreviated dive training there is not time to fit it in, and a lot of instructors don't feel it's worth teaching, since there may be issues, as pointed out by this instructor.


Don't get me wrong, I'm a solo diver and prefer it that way, however I was trained to buddy dive and can do a decent job of it when necessary. The largest issue with buddy diving now is that there is no commitment to it by divers since it was not treated as important by instructors.

If one looks, there are instructors and agencies that actually train for buddy, and team, diving and they don't seem to have the issues, and lack of resolution the author discusses.

Blaming the system for not working because it is not being taught is an interesting concept.



Bob

 

[helodriver87]

When writing about how how poor the training and application of the buddy system is today, I don't think I'd add how I was an instructor for 20 years. The problem with the buddy system is that it takes time to teach to be effective, and with abbreviated dive training there is not time to fit it in, and a lot of instructors don't feel it's worth teaching, since there may be issues, as pointed out by this instructor.


Don't get me wrong, I'm a solo diver and prefer it that way, however I was trained to buddy dive and can do a decent job of it when necessary. The largest issue with buddy diving now is that there is no commitment to it by divers since it was not treated as important by instructors.

If one looks, there are instructors and agencies that actuLly train for buddy, and team, diving and they don't seem to have the issues, and lack of resolution the author discusses.

Blaming the system for not working because it is not being taught is an interesting concept.



Bob

That about sums it up as far as I'm concerned. Properly implemented, the buddy/team system is going to be safer than solo diving in most scenarios. But when pressure is on instructors to crank divers out as quickly and cheaply as possible, quality suffers. You can see it in any area that takes time and effort to develop (trim, buoyancy, team awareness, etc). The critique of the system itself seems a bit misdirected here.

 

[peterak]

1. • (I happen to believe that a far better rule for safe diving than "never dive alone" is "never dive deeper than twice the depth you can skin dive to").

A curious assertion. I think this would disqualify most of the divers I encounter (but not me). I assume the rationale is based on the possible need to perform a CESA?

 

[caruso]

Great article but it doesn't even mention another major negative aspect of the buddy system- legal liability should your buddy suffer injury or death.

 

[jlcnuke]

While I am now a solo diver, with my self-reliant certification so I can do dives by myself with the permission of the local dive spot operators (and others in the future who might want that to permit it in their venue), I think some of the down-sides are under-stated and some of the upsides are exaggerated. I also believe that if you think a solo diver is fully qualified/competent to dive on their own, you shouldn't feel the need to try and make arbitrary limits on the dives they should do by themselves. If you tell me I should only be able to safely dive to twice my free-dive depth while solo, you're telling me that below that you think a buddy is needed for safety. If you believe a buddy is needed for safety below that depth, what is your rationale for why I can safely dive above that depth?

When diving solo I am lacking a redundant brain, a redundant set of eyes/hands/etc. I can put in redundancies for everything but the other person. My slung pony bottle won't help me if I have a medical issue, where as a buddy could. I accept that is an increased risk as a solo diver and I have accepted that risk. If I go deep and get narc'd and do something stupid while solo diving, there is no buddy to help me out and convince me to go up and clear my head. I accept that risk when I choose to dive deep solo. So, it's not all "better" or "safer" diving solo. We choose to accept the increased risks associated with having no one else to help you when we dive solo.

Two of the primary reasons I enjoy diving solo are that I can make the dive about whatever I want it to be without feeling bad for "making" another diver do what I want (gear checks, practice boring skills, launch a DSMB 20 times in a day, spend 10 minutes on that 5 foot section of reef taking macro pictures, whatever it is I want to do), and I only have to look out for myself (and not any of the bad, or good, buddies that I might have instead). Even bad buddies, in my experience, tend to be obvious that you have one early into a dive. A responsible diver can deal with that, up to and including thumbing the dive if they feel that's necessary (I've done it because I wasn't comfortable with the abilities of another diver already this year, not including the insta-buddy I had to rescue - though I didn't personally do everything right in either scenario in hind-sight, i did learn and the latest issue was much less serious as a result I believe).

So yeah, I agree that the buddy system is inadequate and that solo diving can be done safely. However, neither is without risk and both can be done with relative safety if you choose to do so responsibly.