PADI lacking Solo Diver course

[knowone]

What a complete ever decreasing spiral of crock

It's interesting that they teach us to hold hands
and leave it at that, and is about as effective as
sex education by parents

I'm just glad I learnt how to walk before padi found me

Who knows, I may have been economically constrained to only having attained
the crawling specialty, under a lifetime of inadequate drip information bondage




I just can't remember who it was that taught me to walk

fools?

 

[jupitermermaid]

I have found myself solo diving on numerous occasions due to various circumstances. I think that everyone should be trained to be self-reliant from the beginning of their training instead of depending on a "buddy" who may be helpful or may be a problem that you can't help due to insufficient training. I'm not knocking the buddy system.....it has its place, but there are times that YOU are the more experienced one, yet have a problem and your "buddy" is a newer diver that can't understand what you are trying to communicate to him/her. For example.....one time I was diving with a newer diver. Being more focused on making sure his gear was properly set up, I didn't connect my inflater hose. When we got to depth I realized my BCD wouldn't hold any air. I attempted to find the hose to connect it, but couldn't. I tried to communicate with my buddy to see if he could get it for me, but he was clueless. I had to take off my BCD and connect the hose at depth. He had no clue on what I was doing. Not a big deal......I could handle that. BUT.......what if I was with the same buddy on a dive that caused me to be entangled or trapped? Not being aware of communication signals, I could drown without having the skills necessary to be able to take care of myself. Having a buddy is great....if he/she is a good buddy. But that's not always the case. You can have a buddy that is useless when it comes to emergencies. We ALL need to be self-reliant, even if we dive with a buddy.

 

[Sat Diver]

I dont think solo diving can ever be a certification driven discipline. In my opinion every responsible diver should think long and hard about why he would want to dive solo, and whether he is ready to dive solo.
For sure there are risks involved, but there are risks involved when you choose to sky dive or ski down a mountain.
I think the decision to dive solo is the individual divers to make.
It is beautiful, to dive alone. It can also be deadly.
If an agency offers you a course that prepares you better for it, thats great.
But dont expect too much from any course on diving solo. Its more of a mental game, and one that you have to largely teach yourself.

 

[jupitermermaid]

It's not always a "choice" to solo dive. A bad buddy or circumstances that separate one from one's buddy can happen at any time. A pet peeve of mine is when an accident occurs and people ask, "Where was their buddy?" It not only points the finger to the "buddy" to blame for not being there when needed, but it also implies that he/she should have the skills to have prevented the accident. We are taught from the beginning, whether we absorb it or not, that we are ultimately responsible for making sure we are safe divers. This includes being responsible for taking care of ourselves in an emergency, whether we have a buddy or not.

 

[MXGratefulDiver]

It's not always a "choice" to solo dive. A bad buddy or circumstances that separate one from one's buddy can happen at any time. A pet peeve of mine is when an accident occurs and people ask, "Where was their buddy?" It not only points the finger to the "buddy" to blame for not being there when needed, but it also implies that he/she should have the skills to have prevented the accident. We are taught from the beginning, whether we absorb it or not, that we are ultimately responsible for making sure we are safe divers. This includes being responsible for taking care of ourselves in an emergency, whether we have a buddy or not.

Well, what you're describing really is the difference between self-reliance and solo ... they are not necessarily the same thing.

Solo diving isn't something you find yourself doing "when" you lose your dive buddy ... that's called screwing up. Solo diving is something you plan and prepare for from the outset. If you begin a dive with a buddy and end the dive alone, you are not solo diving ... you are recovering from a broken dive plan. That is something else altogether.

As for the PADI distinctive specialty ... there was a thread on SB recently about the course, and as I recall, AndyNZ posted that while PADI used some of his material, they do not teach the class as he had intended for it to be taught.

The question you should be asking before taking such a class is this ... has the instructor who is teaching you the class ever actually done solo diving? Does he/she understand the differences in mentality between diving with a buddy and diving alone?

To my concern, learning self-reliance is a good thing ... but it's not solo diving. And getting into solo diving to compensate for a lack of reasonable buddy skills is all the wrong reason ...

... Bob (Grateful Diver)

 

[Dhboner]

When I am diving at home I am an advocate of the buddy system largely because I regularly dive with my sons and some good friends. These folks are all very competent divers and we communicate very well under water. When I am vacationing and paired with an "Insta-buddy" I am treating the dive as a "solo" dive. I can't count on the buddy...I have no way of knowing if they are exaggerating their experience and if something goes wrong I have no idea how they will perform.

I have strong reservations about "solo" diving and the solo divers ability to extracate themselves from any and all emergencies but I STRONLY believe that all divers should have the training and gear to be self-reliant. Your buddy then becomes an additional safety net.

 

[String]

I can only think of one of the bigger agencies that DOES offer a solo course so its not just PADI "losing out" here. Or more accurately, maybe none of them think one is needed or a good idea.
If you want to learn self sufficiency and self reliance techniques then just do some technical courses.

Im not sure i see the NEED for any solo diver course.

 

[paddydiver]

I can only think of one of the bigger agencies that DOES offer a solo course so its not just PADI "losing out" here. Or more accurately, maybe none of them think one is needed or a good idea.
If you want to learn self sufficiency and self reliance techniques then just do some technical courses.

Im not sure i see the NEED for any solo diver course.

You hit the nail on the head here. What is the need for a course. The only people who should be solo diving are the people with enough experience to do it, these people are hardly going to do a course to teach them what they know, take an advanced technical cert and you are already pretty much solo diving. How many dives would you need before you could take the course? How would you decide if students were good enough to certify? If you're in the water with them they're not really solo. What happens when the first PADI certified solo diver gets in an accident?

If you're interested to learn more read SOLO DIVING by Robert Von Maier

 

[ianr33]

. Since 1989, there were at least 538 fatalities where it was clear divers were either intentionally diving solo, or became separated from a buddy and were de facto alone.

So what? That's just a scare tactic. Unless you know how many dives were done solo,how many were done by buddy teams and how many members of buddy teams died the number quoted is completely meaningless.

 

[TMHeimer]

It's an old SB arguement that Buddy diving with a poor ("Insta" perhaps) buddy can be more dangerous than diving solo. I asked a guy once to buddy up for a dive and he said he only dives solo now because a buddy almost cost him his life. I agree with PADI that in general buddy diving is probably a lot safer. A seat belt can kill you if your car is in water or fire, but a huge % of time it will save you. So you should wear it (shouldn't be law IMO, but that's another topic). The chances of dying with a seat belt on are probably quite lower than dying solo diving. Having said all that, my problem with PADI is this: OW manual: "....buddy who stays nearby at all times"--"proper buddy system"--"responsibility to each other"---"take it seriously". No mention of the risk of "Insta Buddy" dangers. And no mention in any manual that it can be safer in these situations to go solo if you have enough experience. DevonDiver posted PADI's official stance--and anyone can google that as he said. But that is from PADI's pro site. The official PADI stuff, IMO gives the average diver a sense that you should never solo dive. I know I'm one who enjoys splitting hairs, but suppose you don't decide to google it?