Hey All,
Just a quick topic for you. I had a dive recently and needed a buddy. On the boat they allocated me to a chap nice guy don't get me wrong but a couple of questions later I discover he's under 20 dives and I notice his set up is Air2. Now I personally consider Air2 to be a very dangerous set up attempts to fix a problem that doesn't need fixing whereby if I need his help in an out of air situation I take his primary reg and he goes onto this short hose badly breathing Air2 and then he's also supposed to control his buoyancy on ascent etc etc. Its a horrible solution.
Anyway, I am concerned when I see his set up I know its not likely to happen but should I need his support I can see someone with little experience could easily panic where I am needing him to provide me with air. I said nothing other than agreeing that if this situation does arise he's expected to hand me his primary and go to his Air2 to which he agrees. The dive went ahead without issue, was good fun actually he was a good insta buddy in the end but I did consider later whether I should have said I was not comfortable diving with someone in that configuration and requested an alternate insta buddy with a proper occy.
What's your thoughts?
The issue is not really the Air2; you would take his primary and he has to deal with the Air2.
The issue is an Instabuddy, no matter the configuration. You don't know them, perhaps they are very inexperienced,, they might be a problem.
Story:
My wife and I were on a bit of a cattle boat out of Key Largo some years ago, and the DM was making sure everybody had a buddy before leaving the dock. There was one guy left over....I looked at my wife, and she shrugged. We were both instructors and figured we could handle it, whatever. So we raised our hands and the fellow buddied with us. When we got to the bottom, I looked at him and gave him an OK sign...he returned a thumbs up. So, that means either surface now, or a clueless OK. he didn't seem perturbed about anything so I assumed a clueless OK. I took a closer look at him, which had not really been possible on the boat deck. He had no octo, no computer, no depth gauge, no timing device, no SPG. First and second stage, period. I stuck real close to him during the dive, cut the dive purposefully short, and we all ascended without incident. Back on the boat, I kinda said "WTF?" and he explained that he always dived with somebody more experienced and they always took care of him, thank you very much.
So the next day, we re headed for a wreck on the same boat, same DM, same issue: one guy left over, needing a buddy. I looked at my wife and she shook her head No! And nobody else volunteered, either. The DM says, "We are not leaving the dock until this guy has a buddy." Nothing. Finally, I go over to the DM and explain, maybe we'll take him, but I want to talk to him first. Sure, he say, go ahead. I walk over to the guy and he is smiling and grinning. When I get close he say, "I'll bet you want to check me out before taking me on as a buddy!" Yep, and began to look over his gear. "By the way," he says, "I am one of PADI's lawyers, have thousands of logged dives, hundreds on this wreck, and I'll be happy to show you around." It was a GREAT dive.
You never know, but check it out
first.
