Low visibility buddy tactics

[elan]

very often you do not hear the sound in a 7 mil hood

 

[mikemill]

very often you do not hear the sound in a 7 mil hood

Hmmm, that is true. I just got back from a week of diving without a hood and forgot how much that thing kills all hearing.

 

[Peter_C]

very often you do not hear the sound in a 7 mil hood

Yikes I can not imagine diving in ONLY a 7mm hood, since Otter Bays 12mm hoods are so much warmer.

If you notice most everyone who dives in low vis recommends the brightest light with a tight focus beam. Something with a minimum of 10 watts and preferably a canister light, will help keep a dive team together.

In our waters we have a lot of kelp so buddy lines are out. That leaves a light and most I dive with use canister lights. LED's these days have come a long ways. We just finished upgrading three more Photon Torpedo backups tonight.

Scootering in 5' vis tests a teams ability to stay together. I can not imagine staying together without a light.

 

[ian@1904]

In the UK where poor vis is rather common it pays to research the dive site carefully. It can be quite worrying to deploy your dsmb and to find it has risen only 3m as you are actually inside the hold of a wreck. You then have to to find your way out.
If we know that the viz will be poor we try to find wreck site were penetration is unlikely to happen.

As separation is a real risk, make sure that you have an independant gas supply, stage cylinder, pony cylinder, independant twinset, whatever takes your fancy.

Fin slowly. You won't move too far from your buddy, less chance of kicking up the bottom silt.

If you are not happy down there, ascend. you can always dive another day

 

[DOkie]

I guess my first question would be "are you diving in an already known low-viz location or is a situation that arises suddenly?" Where we dive, we know that some wrecks can go from 3' viz to less than inches in seconds. In these situations, we use multiple lightsas part of our dive plan. Of course we have our dive lights, but we also use strobes on our tanks and have even hooked a larger strobe to the bouy line. (In the case that we do lose each other - which is what we plan for - we can ascend slightly and meet back at the bouy line. Some wrecks regardless of how little you kick have a tendency to silt up beyond belief). Generally with this many lights, we keep pretty good track of each other.
Now we have been in cases that because of the silt in the water, the lights are simply not enough and you can't see your own hand in front of your face. What works for us is (because at times side by side just isn't feasible in the situations that we dive in) if I am directly above my buddy with my hand on his shoulder. The tanks are easy to spot and he knows that I am there because my hand is on him at all times. Sometimes it helps that one of us is a little higher than the other as we come out of the silt. I know this doesn't agree with what everyone else suggests, but it's what works for us.

 

[offthewall1]

I tried to do a forum search on this but was not finding what I wanted so I'll ask here:

What are some good tactics for keeping safe contact with your buddy in low vis conditions (<5' or so)? On the dive that I did last week the visibility was about 5' and at one point of the dive, I lost sight and contact with my buddy for a couple of seconds. I had to swim quickly to catch up with him, and I don't think he really noticed that I wasn't next to him when we got separated because he just kept on swimming. After that, I spent the rest of the dive in "reaching distance" of my buddy and had to spend a lot of the dive watching him instead of focusing on my surroundings. Because of this, we ended up swimming so close that we were bumping into each other more that I would like. Anyhow, I think I read somewhere here that you could carry a piece of rope and each hold on to it? Is this common? What other tactics are used to keep good buddy contact in low vis?

The best way to do a limited vis buddy dive is to have an agreed plan. The plan goes like this. "Joe, it's your dive, I'm just going to hang out with you and go wherever you go." It is Joes job to lead the dive and your job to stay by his side. In vis as limited as five feet... you should be side by side divers... not lead and follow divers.

It is too easy for a lead diver to vanish in front of a slower following diver. The lead diver often has no idea they've lost their buddy and the following diver usually feels anxiety kicking in. The lead diver feels the same thing... but only after realizing they've lost their buddy... which can happen just seconds or even minutes later.

By staying side by side both buddies agree to swim at the same pace and can see each other... to make sure you stay side by side.

You may also choose to deploy a buddy tether... which is much easier to use in a side by side position than a lead and follow position. If you want some freedom, you can make it an 8 - 10 ft tether attached best at each divers waist line.

Holding a line is not a good idea... for if one diver looses grip... both divers are instantly lost.

Remember your lost buddy drills and how to do them. Search for 1 - 3 minutes doing a 360 turn, looking up and down... if you don't find your buddy... head to the surface. Your buddy should simultaneously be doing the same drill. You should be able to find each other on the surface. Depending on the location, you may choose to join back up and continue the dive or you may choose to abort the dive due to conditions.

If one buddy surfaces and the other doesn't within 3 minutes of you hitting the surface... signal for help and let a dive professional begin search procedures.