Collapse of the "Buddy System"

[Mike]

Time for it to disappear and be replaced by training to focus on self sufficiency and self rescue. Once that is achieved all divers will be safer and the bad or instabuddy issue will disappear.

Two divers trained in solo diving, with the proper equipment are still safer diving together than solo.

---------- Post added October 1st, 2014 at 08:46 AM ----------

The surface is the most reliable redundant gas system. I have no problem with a blow & go from 120' at 60'/minute, which was the ascent rate most of my life.

Until you're in a situation where you can't blow and go... then you drown.

 

[redacted]

Two divers trained in solo diving, with the proper equipment are still safer diving together than solo.

Two divers trained in solo diving are safer than codependent buddy pairs.

 

[Akimbo]

Two divers trained in solo diving, with the proper equipment are still safer diving together than solo…

True, but staying on your couch is even safer. Hiring a 5-man team of professionals deployed from your yacht to ride shotgun for you is probably the safest way to Scuba dive. What is safe enough? We all make those compromises every day.

…Until you're in a situation where you can't blow and go... then you drown.

No, then you use an onboard redundant gas system. I find myself using a redundant gas system most of the time now that I found one I like and it supports Progressive Equalization. But I still practice free ascents at least once a year.

 

[captain]

The military.

When skiing here in Colorado. There are numerous ways to die solo skiing. Avalanche in back country, no buddy, no life. When tree skiing there is always the risk of being trapped in a snow well around a tree, many people have died from this, no buddy, no life...

Rock climbing, buddy puts you on belay...

There is free solo rock climbing with no belay, is there the same controversy in rock climbing as in scuba. Free solo rock climbers scare the hell out of me.

 

[DivemasterDennis]

The buddy system is alive and well when I am in the water with one other diver, or two. It is also alive and well if I am the DM for a group. I invite Captain SInbad and everyone to read my blog post about diving with instabuddy.
DivemasterDennis

 

[Mike]

There is free solo rock climbing with no belay, is there the same controversy in rock climbing as in scuba. Free solo rock climbers scare the hell out of me.

In solo rock climbing, the comparison would be to solo diving. There is training and equipment unique to each to mitigate the risks and there are simply risks that have to be accepted by the solo diver as well the solo climber as a trade off to the freedoms that solo brings, the diver for example accepts the risk of being entrapped or entangled without being able to extend their bottom time beyond their own gas if they need it to resolve the issue and drowning. The solo climber for example accepts the risk of being 'cliffed out' trapped on the side of a mountain with no way up, no way down, possibility of dying due to exposure or starvation.

 

[captain]

In solo rock climbing, the comparison would be to solo diving. There is training and equipment unique to each to mitigate the risks and there are simply risks that have to be accepted by the solo diver as well the solo climber as a trade off to the freedoms that solo brings, the diver for example accepts the risk of being entrapped or entangled without being able to extend their bottom time beyond their own gas if they need it to resolve the issue and drowning. The solo climber for example accepts the risk of being 'cliffed out' trapped on the side of a mountain with no way up, no way down, possibility of dying due to exposure or starvation.

Your are kind of making my point. Training that mitigates the loss of a buddy, instead of a system that apparently a lot more divers pay lip service to than actually following. I don't feel the comparison to solo diving and solo rock climbing is valid. In rock climbing there is a physical connection between the climber and the belay person. The belay persons only job is to secure the belay. If dive buddies were tethered to each other then the comparison would hold.

 

[TSandM]

You know, people seem to think that the team approach to diving means you have to dive shoulder-to-shoulder and do nothing but check on your team.

It's not like that. For example, I'm thinking of a dive I did off a charter with my friend Kathryn. We both had cameras. We got the dive briefing, went over our own plan, and did our checks. We dropped in the water and started to move slowly along, roughly side-by-side but about 8 feet apart or so. Kathryn found something to photograph, and I saw her position herself for some shots. So I scouted around the general area, looking for something photogenic. I was sometimes behind her, sometimes beside or in front of her, but I never got more than about ten feet away. I took some pictures and paused, noted her strobes were still firing, so I took some more. I looked up and found her looking at me, and it was clear she had finished her pictures, so we meandered a little further. The same scenario was repeated through the dive. We didn't hold a formal formation, and we weren't always in eye contact. What made it work was that both of us intended to stay together, and neither of us was going to do anything unexpected or unpredictable. (Had I seen something utterly fabulous at the edge of my self-imposed wander, I would have flashed her with my light and both of us would have gone to look at it.)

It really isn't that hard to stay together. It just requires a desire to do so, and predictable behavior.

 

[TMHeimer]

TS & M, Yes I agree. I was a little too strict about always being so close and in formation (particularly in poor viz). I note you do the most important thing--constant communication. So if you are even 20 feet away in clear viz you will see that something is wrong.

 

[Mike]

Your are kind of making my point. Training that mitigates the loss of a buddy, instead of a system that apparently a lot more divers pay lip service to than actually following. I don't feel the comparison to solo diving and solo rock climbing is valid. In rock climbing there is a physical connection between the climber and the belay person. The belay persons only job is to secure the belay. If dive buddies were tethered to each other then the comparison would hold.

However you want to look at it is fine with me. I'm not sure what your point is.

If it's that a solo diver is safer alone than two divers together with the acceptance that they are all following the proper procedures, then I disagree. The safest system is two people properly trained and executing properly. That's redundancy of equipment and two able bodies/able minds to resolve a problem instead of one. To argue otherwise is simply to make a point based on the exception to rule instead of the law of averages, like saying well, statistically seat belts show to be safer, but I knew this one guy who got thrown free of the car before it went off a 1000 foot cliff, had he been wearing his seatbelt he would have died.