- Messages
- 93,449
- Reaction score
- 91,788
- Location
- On the Fun Side of Trump's Wall
- # of dives
- 2500 - 4999
As someone who switches regularly between diving solo and diving with team-oriented (GUE, UTD, and NAUI-tec) divers ... my biggest difficulty is the mental switch. The DIR equipment configuration works very well for solo diving, primarily because it's well thought out and perfectly functional in a lot of different circumstances. I will sling an AL40 when solo diving, even when wearing doubles. When doing recreational dives with team mates, I'll leave my "little aluminum buddy" on shore. From a configuration perspective that's about the only difference.
Mentally it's a whole 'nother game. Diving in a team requires more mental bandwidth for communication and positional awareness. Solo diving requires more mental bandwidth for situational awareness (i.e. "anticipating" things that might put you in a bind). I tend to add conservatism to my dive planning and execution when diving alone.
My motivations for solo diving primarily revolve around my photography interests ... it's just easier concentrating on my camera when I don't have to reserve part of my mental bandwidth for my team.
One trade-off I've noticed is that the team awareness does tend to suffer because of my solo diving experiences ... I just have to put more intentional awareness into my team skills than I used to, because not doing it all the time means it's not as second-nature as it used to be. Call it "mental memory", and although it's not a big deal it IS something I need to be aware of when team diving, to make sure I don't lapse into a solo mindset at any point during the dive.
... Bob (Grateful Diver)
Mentally it's a whole 'nother game. Diving in a team requires more mental bandwidth for communication and positional awareness. Solo diving requires more mental bandwidth for situational awareness (i.e. "anticipating" things that might put you in a bind). I tend to add conservatism to my dive planning and execution when diving alone.
My motivations for solo diving primarily revolve around my photography interests ... it's just easier concentrating on my camera when I don't have to reserve part of my mental bandwidth for my team.
One trade-off I've noticed is that the team awareness does tend to suffer because of my solo diving experiences ... I just have to put more intentional awareness into my team skills than I used to, because not doing it all the time means it's not as second-nature as it used to be. Call it "mental memory", and although it's not a big deal it IS something I need to be aware of when team diving, to make sure I don't lapse into a solo mindset at any point during the dive.
... Bob (Grateful Diver)
