What if...? Lost Buddies

[tkdgodess]

Fun dive, group of 4, never dove together. Everyone was briefed, compass heading, depth, turn pressures, seperation. 10-15' vis. 3 of us managed to stay together upon descent to a depth of 15'. All it took was looking away for a second... We waited for the 4th a minute, then we spread out still in visual range, so he might not be able to swim past us, 1 min. We surfaced as a group. No 4th on surface waiting, no bubble path (lots of wind & chop) I send the other 2 back in with my dsmb and reel on the compass heading we planned, if they found him within 20 mins they were to blow the dsmb and finish the dive in a group of 3, if they didn't find him they were to surface and I was going to start phoning some help...... I hauled out of the water, got to higher ground and waited 12 mins... DSMB hit the surface I was happy and so angry at the same time. Dude just went for a dive, on the compass heading. Why would someone just do this? (I know the answer but the thought process is beyond me)

 

[Bubbletrubble]

Concerning the 3-some buddy scenario...

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?

If Cave Diver's comment doesn't strike a chord ("I'm here to assist my buddy"), then consider a more selfish perspective. For the vast majority of newly certified divers, your buddy is carrying your emergency reserve gas. Heck, for all intents and purposes, that's your emergency gas swimming away from you. In the proposed scenario, that's your emergency gas swimming in two different directions away from you.

In most cases, simply discussing this monkey-in-the-middle scenario during pre-dive planning is enough for all 3 divers to realize the importance of being committed to staying together during the dive.

On a related note, once in the water, poor vis conditions can make it exceedingly difficult to dive as a 3-some. Get shoulder to shoulder, hold hands if you need to, or abort the dive -- whatever makes the most sense. I do a lot of dives as a 3-person buddy team. In some ways, I prefer it to diving as a 2-person buddy team.

 

[bowlofpetunias]

The responses here show a better level of knowledge than most people seem to expect from newer divers. Well done!

I am not going to repeat what has already been well covered. I just want to point out that a "Safety Stop" is a SAFETY stop and should not be confused with a Deco Stop. It is a well known fact that people get bent when they dive "safe profiles" and don't always get "bent" then they dive unsafe ones. Completing or not completing the Safety stop on any given dive is not likely to increase the risk of DCI to the point of outweighing other factors such as.

While you do a Safety Stop is there a chance that:

1) your buddy is already on the surface stressed waiting
2) your buddy is unconscious on the surface face down?
3) current may push you (and your bubbles) too far away from buddy/boat/exit point?
4) you are delaying a quick and effective search?

 

[markmantei]

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 ....

I'm going to jump in on this one, because I had this happen and I didn't respond perfectly, but I think I have a new protocol I will use if it happens again in the future...

In my case my buddy had an "uncontrolled ascent" that I had tried to arrest and eventually had to let go to avoid us both rocketing to the surface from 80ft. I did a controlled ascent and an abbreviated safety stop, I think it was about 2 mins. When I reached the surface my buddy was not there. We had not discussed lost buddy procedure (yea, lesson learned) and he had gone back down to find me. I waited on the surface for a while (5 mins?) watching his bubbles come up. At that point I descended following the bubbles and located my buddy (which was difficult, vis was probably 2ft or less at certain depths) and signaled to ascend. Proper procedure would have been to wait, but if this was a member of your family, what do you do? I think next time I would:
1. Discuss lost buddy procedure in the pre-dive briefing (always done with new buddy's now, along with other emerg. procedures)
2. Skip the safety stop especially if it was early in the dive, this probably would have meant meeting the buddy on the surface because yes you feel helpless on the surface waiting for your buddy
3. After waiting for a reasonable time, if the buddy still does not surface, I would inflate my smb and descend following their bubbles. This way if they do end up surfacing at least there is a line to follow to meet back up.

At a lake near here there was a fatality where a diver had an uncontrolled ascent causing an embolism (or maybe lung barotrauma???). The diver was found hours later on the bottom (not sure how that happened, but thats 3rd or 4th hand info for you). Waiting indefinitely on the surface may not ALWAYS be the best course, especially if your buddy happens to be family, your choice may not be the answer given in the textbook.

 

[gcbryan]

Since this thread (excellent idea by the way) is just to get people thinking here is another way to look at it.

The whole "waiting on the surface" thing causes a lot of stress to all involved. The reality is in most cases it doesn't matter what you do. Most people don't end up needing rescuing. Most people aren't rescued when 911 is called and it's rarely a case of where someone is underwater trapped and needs their buddy to go back down and save them

The more common problem is when divers ascend too rapidly due to panic, ooa, or loss of control, or health issues. This is when someone on the surface may be able to help and in many cases it's even too late for that. It's only near drowning on the surface where someone can jump in from a nearby boat that rescues are likely to be effective.

This isn't to suggest not picking a lost buddy procedure and sticking with it but it's not ultimately as important as one might think.

Feel free to discuss this and point out where/if I'm wrong.

 

[xyrandomyx]

I don't think I really disagree with what you're saying, but here's why I think they're still really important: without a clear procedure, the anxiety surrounding losing a buddy could well lead to an accident on its own.

Imagine someone swimming around aimlessly underwater looking for their lost buddy, all the time starting to panic more and more as they can't find them. Or, coming up to the surface, ducking back down to look for them; buddy comes up, waits a bit, ducks down; first diver comes back up again...a silly cyle with both parties getting more and more nervous as it goes on.

That sort of thing could easily lead to some sort of accident. And it could easily be avoided by just having a plan. So, yes, maybe the plan won't really be effective if the worst has happened, but it'll help prevent turning a simple mishap like losing sight of each other into something more serious.

 

[soltari675]

* What would you do if you lost sight of your buddy underwater and couldn't find him/her?
ACTION: I would search around the last place I knew they were for a couple minutes, and then surface. I am assuming we preplanned this before the dive. If I did not see my buddy surface after a few minutes I would seek help.
PREVENT: Stay within arms reach of my buddy at all times, signal when I am going to take a picture or something so they know.

* What would you do if you're in a buddy team of 3 divers and one buddy went left while the other went right?
ACTION: Try to make some sound to get their attention to me in the middle, so they could see they were separating. I could also use the strobe my small light to get some kind of visual attention. Worst case they miss both, I swim after one, get their attention and point to where the other went and follow lost buddy planned procedures.
PREVENT: Establish one person as the leader of the group for the other two to follow.


* 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?
ACTION: Get to the other divers and signal for a lost buddy and follow buddy lost procedures as a group, not separated.
PREVENT: Don't have so many divers to one group. Establish smaller buddy groups to keep less confusion. Establish one group as the leader group for the others to follow.

* What would you do if you're diving in two buddy pairs and you lost sight of the other buddy pair?
ACTION: Depends what the predive plan was. If the predive plan was for everyone to stay together, then I would get my buddy's attention, and we would follow the lost buddy procedure together. If the predive was we would go our own ways, then I wouldn't worry much.
PREVENT: If we decided to stay together, then we would designate one buddy team as the leading team for the other to follow and make sure to signal the other team if we need to stop for anything and keep an eye on them like our own buddy.


* What would you do if you got a leg cramp but your buddy didn't notice and left you behind?
ACTION: Make a sound to get their attention, like tapping on my tank. If I could not get their attention, I would fix the leg cramp, because I can't do much else, then go the direction they did and follow lost buddy procedure.
PREVENT: Make sure they know that tank tapping is a sign to stop and look. Establish a solid buddy system, like always looking to know where your buddy is.

 

[ferris213]

I was just wondering if some of the really experienced divers wanted to share their thoughts on the lost buddy situation soccerjenni mentioned.

What if you lose your buddy, search for one minute then ascend, but they don't turn up? How would you deal with this if you were shore diving as opposed to boat diving with a charter?

Would you respond differently if it was a loved one compared to an instabuddy?

Thanks.

 

[SnorkelLA]

Lost Buddies
* What would you do if you lost sight of your buddy underwater and couldn't find him/her?
* What would you do if you're in a buddy team of 3 divers and one buddy went left while the other went right?
* 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?
* What would you do if you're diving in two buddy pairs and you lost sight of the other buddy pair?
* What would you do if you got a leg cramp but your buddy didn't notice and left you behind?

1- Surface, gather bearings(they may have surfaced for whatever reason), go under again and search for him

2- Pick a side, depending on trust/ which one is DM... get their attention and bring them together

3- Try a different field of view!

4- Ask my buddy about their wherabouts, if he doesn't know, search and rescue time

5- Depending on the distance between, tug his fin and get his attention. If not go through cramp relief procedures and catch up to him

 

[MXGratefulDiver]

I was just wondering if some of the really experienced divers wanted to share their thoughts on the lost buddy situation soccerjenni mentioned.

What if you lose your buddy, search for one minute then ascend, but they don't turn up? How would you deal with this if you were shore diving as opposed to boat diving with a charter?

Well, the thing you generally don't want to do is go back down to look for them. So summon help from people on the boat or on shore. This is generally done in this situation by waving your arms above your head and calling out "lost diver". I can pretty much guarantee that if anyone's in hearing distance, you're going to get their attention.

People on boats or shore can generally see bubbles you can't ... since your eyes are only inches above the surface, and theirs are generally at a much better angle for scanning the water. Most times, that'll be sufficient to locate your buddy's whereabouts, unless there are other divers in the water.

If you do locate bubbles, it's generally a good idea to descend with another diver if that option's available. Always make sure before you go that you have enough air to consider re-descending. And depending on circumstances ... how long you'd been down previously, how quickly you ascended, how deep you were ... it may not be a good idea to even consider it. Wait on the surface for your buddy to come up ... or send other divers down to retrieve him.

About the only difference between shore and boat is the amount of resources you have available for a search. On a boat, you'll generally have other divers ... often people who can get in the water and initiate a search rather quickly. Shore may not have that option ... but the thing you can do from shore that's more difficult in a boat is "triangulate" ... get multiple people looking for bubbles from different angles and heights. Every situation's going to be different, and what you want to be thinking is "what are my resources, and how can I use them to find my buddy".

Generally speaking, you're going to be more useful on the surface than underwater ... because you can get other people's attention, and provide information to them about where your buddy was last seen.

Whatever you do, don't just re-descend without getting help. That's just setting yourself up for more problems, as you're now solo diving (unequipped for it, generally) and while you're going down, your buddy might be coming up.

Some time back, I wrote an article on such a scenario ... you might find useful.

Would you respond differently if it was a loved one compared to an instabuddy?

Well, it's easy to say from the comfort of a keyboard that everyone's life is equally important, and that you'd do all you can for the instabuddy ... and you'd probably mean it. But the truth is that when a loved one is in danger ... or perceived danger ... your adrenaline's going to be flowing higher, and you're going to have to work harder to maintain a calm attitude and decide on a rational response to the situation.

I lost my (then) wife on her second dive post OW and didn't see her surface ... conditions were rough, and she surfaced so far away I couldn't see her. We were at a local dive park, in June, and there were hundreds of people there. I hollered so loud that within minutes there were divers running into the water to get out to me, police and fire trucks on the scene, and the ferry at the nearby terminal launched a rescue boat. Meanwhile, she was calmly surface swimming back to the beach, stuck her head up and wondered what all the fuss was about.

That was the day I was given the title "Loudest man in Western Washington" ...

... Bob (Grateful Diver)