Close call at depth

[armyscuba]

Stick to Your Plan, Reveiw Your rules for calling the dive. Perform a post dive reveiw, what "WE" did Right..What "WE" did wrong..How can We make it better the next time. Below 60 ft...and travelling down to depths at 130..You need additional air supplies in my opinion. We dive at these depths regularly and do so with Pony Bottles and or Spare Air. A Free-Flow problem or O-Ring Blowing will empty Your tank in seconds. The only one who knows if You should dive with the buddy again is You. Remember Diving ultimately is a solo job that incorporates teamwork for additional fail safes. Buddy teams need to practice these tasks as well. How do You know how someone will react when it really counts? How many times have You tried to get Your buddy to look at something...and just give up trying to get their attention. Suppose it was You with No Air...

 

[grazie42]

Which sign do you guys normally use for the first case - turn the dive but we can still dawdle a bit?

Me and my buddies "draw a horizontal circle" with 1 finger...or just use the whole hand to point back in the direction we came...

Anyone who ignores this sign or the "thumbs up" isn´t a buddy, IMO, or at least not a reliable one. You may still decide to dive with him but know that its a solo dive...

Just my 2 bubbles...

 

[ShakaZulu]

Very dangerous, the irresponsible actions of your dive buddy could have caused you to panic resulting in injury. Plan the dive, dive the plan............

 

[captain]

Good endorsement for solo diving.

Captain

 

[GoBlue!]

Curious if any of you have hand signals that you use for "I'm narc'd" or letting your buddy know, "Hey, I think you're narc'd"?

Jim

 

[BlueDevil]

Remember Diving ultimately is a solo job that incorporates teamwork for additional fail safes

Hi Armyscuba,
I really like what you said above. It sums up my thoughts on how we should approach diving to maximise our safety. A good buddy is a great resource when there is trouble, but ultimately you should plan your diving so that you are self sufficient.

I think you expressed it well, and I am sure I will quote you in the future.


BD

 

[pasley]

In the words of Mr. Nelson of the Sea Hunt series, cut his air hose, he will come up. ;-)

Very frustrating to have a dive buddy ignore the surface signal.

I once was on a dive to 80+ feet and my computer indicated end of bottom time rapidly approaching. I signaled up to my buddy who acknowledged, and then continued on with the dive and did not come up. Bottom line, I kept ascending and keeping him just in view and going back twice to signal up and showing him my computer all of which he acknowledged. Eventually I wound up with a mandatory stop of 5 minutes and a computer figuring I had only 3 minutes of air left. At the safety stop my buddy, who was still on the edge of visibility 20 feet below me, just swam on in at depth leaving me on my own. Because I am rather conservative on the air, I was able to do my 5 minute mandatory stop and surfaced with 230 PSI in the tank. When I discussed it, he said he still had bottom time left. I was just a wee bit ticked at him.

After that I have added two new hand signals which I cover in my pre-dive safety checks. 1.) Making the OK sign with my left hand my right index finger crooked and giving the come here signal inline with the to the OK signal. Translation “come here *******. 2.) The second signal is commonly used for driving or signaling a low IQ. That signal means our dive buddy relationship is over. You are now on your own as you are violating the dive plan, or common safety rules and I am not going to do that. Good by and good luck, among other relevant thoughts directed on a more personal level.

 

[jagfish]

Sounds pretty similar to the situtation I originally encountered...

So did the buddy end up in deco...or chamber?

JAG

 

[armyscuba]

Thanks Devil,

Just 23 Years of experience in Training or being taught tasks. A proper Risk Assesment needs to be done with everything You do in Diving. If You understand the Risks of every dive You make regardless of environment, you can ultimately reduce the Risks by addressing each problem prior to Your dive. I have saved many of my soldiers live's throughout the years with proper Risk Management. Many times to everyone's dislike with My Safety precautions that I had put in place. But as a commander I am ultimately responsible for their well being. Deep Diving is Exciting when You recognize the Risks and take steps to minimize those Risks.

 

[FreeFloat]

Me and the people I dive with have a signal that we use for "turn". It means I don't want to go deeper, further or whatever and that it's time to head for home but also that there's nothing wrong and no reason to hurry.

We also use another signal. The thumb up. It means that the dive is over. Period. Over. When some one gives that signal we take the shortest safe rout back or up, whatever the plan and location calls for. When that signal is used there isn't any discussion or questions asked, though it'll get talked about in the debriefing.

Ditto. Absolutely. One sign means "head back now, let's not stop anymore, but no need to hurry" and the thumb means "stop what you're doing, we're heading back now with all appropriate speed"