Leave or stay with buddy Scenario

[RJP]

OP did not seem to have such a plan, which created the need to improvise on the fly.

Not having a plan has a funny way of doing that...

:cool2:

 

[NC Wreck Diver]

I would agree, but if I'm on the wreck, my buddy and I can get to the up line if we have to go hand over hand on the wreck. His statement, "you have both missed the anchor line," tells me I'm no longer on the wreck. That's why I started my first response with, "I wonder why you are so far from the wreck that you cannot grab it."

I see your point. It may be one of those "you read it one way and I read it another." I'm just so used to such gigantic wrecks where we dive (some can be 600+), that I don't envision it.

It's good to discuss how one diver can interpret someone's OP one way, and another diver can see somethng different.

I really love to wreck dive, so I'm usually trying to think how I would manage different scenerios. I have to do somethng during these SIT times!

 

[RJP]

Neither you or your buddy had considered this exact scenario, and so it was not specifically addressed during pre-dive planning.

You say "I believe that this is not an unlikely scenario" but I think that's a faulty premise. The person in your hypothetical case is diving a wreck in the open ocean - the scenario you describe is one that is completely foreseable and largely avoidable. If the hypothetical diver doesn't think this is true, then it's actually 100% avoidable as they lack the training, skill, and experience to do the dive and shouldn't be in the water.

Don't take that as an attack on you, please. I'm speaking to the hypothetical person in your hypothetical case, who's focusing on the wrong thing. You should be focusing yourself on the half dozen obvious things that could have been done to avoid the situation - and hence the conundrum - in the first place.

1. Asses the dive site: the only way down and back is on the line? How do we ensure we don't miss it?
2. Assess the environment: is there current today, is there usually current, if so which way is it running?
3. Assess the dive plan: We'll start our dive into the current and come back with it.
4. Assese the divers: one of us is a stronger swimmer than the other. Weaker swimmer leads.
5. Assess the gear: do we have what we need to ensure we don't have a problem? do we have what we need if we DO have a problem? Are we trained and do we have proper facility to use the gear as may be required?
6. Assess the risk: are the conditions such that there's a likelihood we'll miss the line AND be up a creek if we do is unacceptably high? Are we at the point that we don't do the dive?
7. Assess the back-up plan: OK, we've got everything else buttoned up, but in the unlikely event we still end up having a problem, what's our plan if we do miss the line?

As you can see, the "what do we do if we miss the line" is but a small piece of the puzzle, and arguable the least important question if you've asked and answered the othere.

 

[Nemrod]

When I dive with a buddy, that buddy 90% of the time is my wife, I have towed her and others buddies against some hellacious currents, I would go for the anchor line with her/buddy in tow, if I could not make it, I would stay with them and hope for the best on the surface.

This just happened to us, well, not this dramatic, but a new diver, a 20 something "girl" was stuck with my wife and I when her buddy proved unable to continue diving. She decided to surface somewhere other than the boat/anchor line, without going into details, we went with/after her. I left my wife down a ways so she could do her safety stop while I pursued/regained control of the "buddy" and since viz was 100 plus feet and my wife followed below, I was never out of sight or distant of either, we joined back up on the surface. One for all, all for one.

I have reached a point in my diving and other things where I realize I no longer have the speed, strength or stamina or willingness to baby sit divers or deal with other peoples weird doings, I prefer to dive alone or at least with my semi-predictable wifelet. If I am alone and don't make it, oh well, it was a good run.

On another dive, a few days later, due to a navigation error, shall I say on my part, we ended up quite a ways from our intended get out point, so I was leisurely towing my wife with some help from her with one arm and my camera in the other while she fussed. She matter of factually asked me what it would take for me to drop that camera, I told her "your drowning" and then she asked well then, "what about if you were drowning" and my answer was nope, I go with the camera.

Oh, an important fact, to the above paragraph, we got off course due to my photography pursuits and I guess I lost track of right/left, this way/that way, thus her fussing. I told her that she could consider helping with the navigation rather than shrugging her shoulders at whatever I need from her, apparently navigation is my job.

N

 

[diver 85]

1st of all, your exact scenario probably wouldn't play out ie "You know that although it will take much effort, you have enough leg strength and stamina to swim against the current, and reach the anchor line, if you act within a few seconds."--& blah blah not your buddy...In fact, we(my couple buddies & myself) have it planned already---If you miss the tag line, you're a solo diver then you do your own thing ie SS, shoot a SMB, surface & be prepared for alongish surface ride....

 

[flots am]

I would like some thoughts concerning the question below, which follows the scenario. I believe that this is not an unlikely scenario. I, myself, am not completely sure which action would be wisest.

Never leave your buddy.

If you can shoot a bag on some sort of line attached to the wreck, you can do a normal ascent and wait for the boat.

If you can't shoot a bag from the wreck, do it ASAP, do a normal ascent, drift with your buddy and wait for pickup.

flots.

 

[knowone]

Well I grabbed a girls valve once and we finned us out of a current. Free accomodation in a far away place.
But a stuck in current dive is just an unplanned drift dive with some embarassment added.
You gotta stay together "blow your bag", a fabric smb that you know how to deploy, not one of those plastic pencil dick things that fall over, do your stop and go with the flow.

Unless your boat is the Titanic it will by the ways and means of the ways and means act magically come and get you or be there when you surface.
Remember to surface with your arm extended above your head so you don't bump it.

 

[rk288]

I'll be staying with my budy (my son) and doing the safety stop(s)...

 

[stargazer61]

I would skip the safety stop on the assumption that 3 mins extra drifting could be crucial to being seen from the boat. Adrift in the ocean seems a way bigger risk than a missed safety stop. A normal ascent should be good enough to avoid DCS. Obviously the conditions of the hypothetical dive site could sway this decision either way.

One point in favor of going up the line alone is that even if the boat can't start the search immediately, they can keep a look out. If buddy's position is seen from the boat then someone can keep an eye on him until we can pull the anchor. I have been in a similar situation on a snorkeling trip, and the poor chap was quite hard to see on the surface when we had everyone back on board. The fact we knew where he was made a huge difference.

 

[String]

Question:[/B] Which would be the more appropriate action:

Not a rare or dangerous situation. Current too strong to get back to a line then just send up a DSMB from the wreck, drift with it completing a safety stop, surface and let the boat come to you. Why would you consider doing anything else?


(its one of the reasons i hate permanently moored boats, you often end up fighting currents and their emergency response time is massively slower).