What if...? Lost Buddies

[Bubbletrubble]

Yes and Yes. I've been real close to losing my buddy because a sting ray caught my eye and I watched it for a minute as my buddy moved on. I did get frightened and started looking all around and above me. I thought to myself, ok, get ready for the 1 minute rule. I looked again and there she was, in a little bit of blind spot to my bottom right (can you tell at this point I was breathing heavier and my body rose?). After the dive, I told her about the fact that I thought I lost her and she said that when she turned to look for me she saw me looking at the sting ray and turned around to stay with me, plus she wanted to look at it too.

Good thing she was keeping an eye out on me! For the rest of the dive I kept a closer eye on her. It's scary loosing your buddy, that's why I now keep a closer eye on my buddy, coz you never know when they will stop paying attention to you. I also learned from this that I can be distracted easily, if something catches my eye and my buddy is still going, I'd choose my buddy over the fish.

How often should buddies "look" at each other? 5 min, 1 min, 30 sec, 10 sec, 5 sec
How might conditions (vis, night dive, current) affect how often buddies "look" at each other?
On a night dive, is it good enough to just look at your buddy's light beam?
How easy is it for you to identify your buddy (from all of the other divers in the water) on a night dive?

If you're taking pictures with an UW camera, how often should you "look" at your buddy?
How long does it take to snap a shot, review the shot, adjust position, change settings on your camera, and snap another shot?
How should the buddy position herself so that it's easy for the UW photographer to keep tabs on her?
BTW, NWGratefulDiver has an excellent essay on this entitled The Photographer's Dive Buddy.

 

[MXGratefulDiver]

This is a dangerous situation. In my limited experience, that whistle on the BC does NOT sound loud enough to get a driver's attention over a running boat, or get the boat's attention over the squeaking gulls and the radio. If you have one of those tiny 3" diameter x 3' tall SMBs, you won't be seen either.

I have an 8' SMB, and an air horn in my pocket. I want to be noticed and found.

... and hope that the guy driving the boat is actually looking forward (they don't always, yanno) ...

... Bob (Grateful Diver)

 

[boulderjohn]

One thing to think about with buddy diving is your relationship to each other. I once had a buddy who was always several feet above me. I think that if I had kept going up to be even with him, we would have eventually surfaced. Whenever I looked to check on him, he was gone. Then I would roll and find him. I asked him why he did that, and he said he like it there because he could see me so easily. I pointed out that I couldn't see him, and he finally realized the disadvantage.

I had another buddy who when swimming next to me instinctively stayed a few feet behind my level. Again, I couldn't see him, which was quite literally a pain in the neck. I had actual neck pains during and after long dives because I had to keep looking back for him. A good chat straightened that out.

 

[MXGratefulDiver]

Jewls, I got rid of your turquoise font because it was giving me a headache.

... and here I thought it was just my old eyes ...

I discovered that selecting and highlighting the text made it more readable ... which was good because the comments were worth reading.

In general, I just want to say that some of the contributions in this thread by the new divers make this old diver smile ... I'd look forward to diving with anyone who puts as much thought into what they're doing.

I'm enjoying this thread quite a lot ...

... Bob (Grateful Diver)

 

[boulderjohn]

H
On a night dive, is it good enough to just look at your buddy's light beam?

Here's a protocol you can use for night dives when you are in a situation where one is in the lead and constant visual reference is not easy. Of course, you and your buddy have to be on the same page.

One of you takes the lead, and the other makes sure to play your light beam under the lead buddy's beam periodically, say every 20-30 seconds. That means "I'm here, and I'm OK." If the lead buddy feels too much time has passed since the last communication, he or she covers the light with the hand. In most cases, this will signal to the buddy that "I need to see you" and the buddy should respond by a slow pass of the light in front of the lead buddy. In most cases just covering the light will let you see the buddy's light. A light that looks like it is calmly observing the surroundings is a good sign; a light flashing rapidly means distress. To be sure, make a slow circle with your light to ask "OK?" Your buddy should respond with a slow circle in the same place.

If you are near each other probing the reef simultaneously, you should only need to glance at each other regularly, just as you would be day.

 

[Cave Diver]

Ok, going back to give feedback to another posters response:

The following post is one of a serious of threads resulting from a collaboration between [user]Bubbletrubble[/user] and myself.
We have dived the What if...? idea into a series of topics and posted the main thread as a sticky here: http://www.scubaboard.com/forums/ne...514-what-if-what-do-when-things-go-wrong.html


* What would you do if you lost sight of your buddy underwater and couldn't find him/her?

We use the look around for 5 mins. then surface rule.

Five minutes of being separated can be a long time. I won't say that this is right or wrong, but you do need to give some consideration to the conditions you're diving in and adjust accordingly. In 5 minutes time, if you get turned around and swim in opposite directions you could end up a significant distance apart when you finally surface. The important thing is that you have a plan, that you discuss it ahead of time and that you take conditions and experience levels into account.

* What would you do if you're in a buddy team of 3 divers and one buddy went left while the other went right?

I've had this happen. I stayed put and watched them both. Luckily it was in the Bahamas and vis was practically unlimited. But it made my dive no fun!

It's easier to let yourself drift apart from buddies when you have good vis and can see each other. One thing you need to ask yourself is "why do I have a buddy?" One reason is to assist if there is a problem. If your buddies drift apart in opposite direction, and you maintain a position in the middle, are you close enough to either of them (or them to you) to respond quickly in the event of a problem?

* What would you do if you're in a buddy team of 5 divers and, all of a sudden, you only counted 3 other divers in your field of view?

Hmmm. I guess get the problem across to the two remaining and then follow the 5 min search then surface rule?

The first problem here is a buddy team of 5. It's almost impossible to keep up with that many buddies. One solution would be to split into a team of 2 and a team of 3 and make sure that everyone knows which team they are part of and responsible for.

The next challenge is identifying which diver is missing. Was it the one on the right? On the left? The lead diver? The last diver? Knowing that will help you figure out where to search.

There are a couple of ways you could approach this problem. One solution would be to split the remaining 4 divers into two teams of two. The team with the most air/experience stays down and searches, the team with the least air/experience surfaces. The search team could shoot a SMB to make it easier for the surface team to follow them and the surface team could tug on the line to indicate the diver is on the surface.

You could also choose to surface as a group and wait. I would only recommend not splitting the group into solo divers, either searching or ascending.

* What would you do if you're diving in two buddy pairs and you lost sight of the other buddy pair?

Nothing.

For the most part I agree with this. Two buddy pairs may dive together in a group, but each pair is responsible for their own buddy. If the two pairs become separated, they should still have their own dive plan to follow with their own buddies.

* What would you do if you got a leg cramp but your buddy didn't notice and left you behind?

Work it out then try to catch up but stick with the 5 minute then surface rule.
Note my answers are inside the quote due to my lack of computer skills!

Looking forward to the more experienced divers input.

My first instinct here is to try and get my buddies attention first, either by flashing my light or banging on my tank.

Depending on the cramp, you may need your buddies assistance to work it out. Even if you work it out on your own, it may flare up again if you work it too hard trying to catch up with your buddy.

Hopefully your buddy will notice quickly that you've fallen behind and return to assist, but if they don't, I would do as you suggested and try and work the cramp out myself then surface and wait for my buddy to do the same.

 

[Cave Diver]

In general, I just want to say that some of the contributions in this thread by the new divers make this old diver smile ... I'd look forward to diving with anyone who puts as much thought into what they're doing.

I'm enjoying this thread quite a lot ...

... Bob (Grateful Diver)

+ 1!

I've been rather impressed with the level of responses by many of the newer divers. After reading some of the past threads about the quality of training, it gives hope that there are still a lot of instructors out there providing a quality foundation.

 

[boulderjohn]

+ 1!

I've been rather impressed with the level of responses by many of the newer divers. After reading some of the past threads about the quality of training, it gives hope that there are still a lot of instructors out there providing a quality foundation.

Me, too!

 

[jhayes75]

I would follow the 1 minute rule, ascend, safety stop, surface, and blow the whistle attached to my BCD so boats and my buddy, if surfaced, can hear me. I would do a suface check and locate the flag. Swim to flag while watching boat traffic and blowing my whistle if needed until I reached the diver with the flag. Then I would tug on the flag to get their attention and hope they come up to the surface with me.

If I can't locate the flag or bubbles from diver, then I guess I would just have to blow the whistle so the boats don't run me over and my dive buddy can locate me. If I don't have a whistle, can't locate the flag, then I'd be waving my arms and shouting if I thought I was in sort of danger

As Jax has stated, the chances of your whistle being herd by boaters are slim to none. I am not sure how strict Co is when it comes to boater safety courses, but on the Gulf coast a dive flag becomes a target. Back in January, my dive buddies and I were 200 yards off shore in Ft. Lauderdale when a boat clearly ran full speed over our dive flag. That boat had a few fingers pointing at it. What I would do in this situation depends on the type of shore dive and the experience level of my buddy. If this were a Jetty dive, I would first listen for boats then surface by swimming up the rock(Jetty) wall, where I know boats cant travel. I would only do this if I did not find my buddy at the pre-dive discussion depth and heading. On a reef dive off of a beach I would only surface after listening for boat traffic and deploying my SMB, but my first choice would be to head to the beach and then surface( I don't trust boaters.). I could then spot the flag, Note direction of travel, take a compass heading, survey boat traffic, and then attempt to find them once more depending on how the current was. If the current was strong, the chances of swimming to them 200 yards offshore are pretty slim on a compass heading. Viz would also come into the decision here, otherwise I would wait for them to surface. This is more of an advanced approach and may not be the way you feel comfortable, but at least you will keep your head.

 

[Darnold9999]

The hardest question here is the - what do I do if I surface and my buddy does not.

I don't think there is a right answer it is all going to be situational.

If there is a boat or other divers in the area then get their attention and start a search. Easy call.

If you are on your own shore diving I think you need to make a judgement call. Go to shore and call for help or continue searching until your air is out then go to shore and call for body retrieval.

Really, really tough decision. I think I am likely to err on the continue searching side because it is going to be very few places where help is going to arrive in time to be any use at all - but ....