Solo... novice training?

[carjack97]

I'll start this by saying I feel a bit like a 16 year old asking for the car keys.
I am an AOW diver with <30 dives (Advanced...? Some of you have forgotten more about diving than I may ever know, and I love reading your posts). I firmly believe certifications beyond OW should be based on criteria other than check stroking.
ANYWAY... To the question.
I own all of my own gear and live less than a mile from a popular training quarry. What I am looking for is confidence under water (which I lack but really want). The problem I have is that when I do go to practice skills (alone) I am almost always met with disapproving looks by "pairs" of divers going down the hill to enter the water. I get the impression that I am being irresponsible in some way by diving without a buddy. Honestly, I feel irresponsible if I DONT do this (practice)... being so close and having the opportunity.
A goal of mine is a rescue certification, but know it is a waste until I have a solid grasp on skills and SEVERAL more dives logged. We are taught to ALWAYS dive with a buddy. Am I being irresponsible by not diving/ training with a buddy?

Thoughts from the TRULY advanced would be appreciated.

 

[tc]

This would probably be better asked in the solo forum, or at least the advanced, you can always ask a mod to move it if you'd like.

Conventional? wisdom is that folks shouldn't be solo till they have 100 or so dives under their weightbelt.

The most important question is how comfortable are you with your ability to self rescue? If you are able to keep a cool head and get yourself out of trouble then your in a position to think about solo. If you're not ready to confront entanglement or other problem then you need more experience before you solo.

Next question, are you properly equipped? At the very least you need a fully redundant air source like a pony bottle with it's own reg. If you don't have a fully redundant air source then you are NOT ready to solo. Period. Multiple cutting instruments are needed as well.

This question has been asked many times in the solo forum- drop in there and take a look!

 

[Walter]

What I am looking for is confidence under water (which I lack but really want).

Then you should NOT be diving solo. Solo diving is for people who are so confident diving that the confidence oozes from their pores.

You need to be practicing your skills with a buddy.

 

[CamG]

Greetings Carjack97 and welcome to SB! First of all thank you for asking a very important question that you sort of answered already.
I understand your desire to train and encourage training under supervision 100%!
In many quarries Solo diving with out certification is forbidden and if caught will lead to charges being filed.
Probably not the answer you wanted to hear one of the reasons I am pursuing a Solo certification as well. The self-rescue alluded to in the previous post is awesome training to prepare for dive emergencies that can and do arise while diving solo.
IMO "In my opinion" I would find a like minded buddy and train hard to master skills!
If a buddy is not available, hit the closest pool. Again I am sure not the answer you would have liked but Solo diving is something to be worked up to and trained for specifically. Many great divers have met there end over issues that snow balled out of control. Sometimes regardless of how much preparation we take our gear can fail and does. When you are going solo you assume 100% of the responsibility!
If you are married and have kids like myself I remind myself every time I am taking more serious training steps to take their future considerations with me!
Not that I am trying to discourage you one bit, just take the time to get the training then go for it! Personally I am looking forward to being able to dive Solo but it comes with a lot more responsibility than one thinks. Just think it through very carefully!
The Solo forum here on SB would be a great start to gather information and find a instructor to complete training!
Good luck and keep us posted.
CamG Keep diving....keep training....keep learning!

 

[MXGratefulDiver]

Solo diving is not the time to be practicing skills and gaining confidence ... those should be considered prerequisites for solo diving. Ask yourself what you would do ... and how you would react emotionally ... if something went terribly wrong while you were practicing (as things sometimes do).

I wrote an article on the subject you may find helpful ... NWGratefulDiver.com

For now I would recommend that you find a like-minded dive buddy and practice together.

... Bob (Grateful Diver)

 

[Steve SDI/TDI HQ]

Good question... one that many don't bother or think to ask!

Solo Diving is not just about experience... there are equipment needs, and a specific skill set.

SDI is the only sport diving agency I know of with a solo specialty. The course is a great confidence builder and the skills it teaches are useful and applicable to ALL divers and dive situations.

However, to enroll in the course a diver must have at least 100 logged dives and certification as an advanced diver as a minimum. That might be a course you think about taking at some point in the future. In the meanwhile, I'd strongly recommend you dive with a buddy and hone your skills with her/him.

 

[Walter]

In many quarries Solo diving with out certification is forbidden and if caught will lead to charges being filed.

While I agree with almost everything you've said, I find this difficult to believe. "Charges being filed?" What charges? Solo diving is not a criminal offense. Without extensive experience, it's extremely stupid, but even then it's not criminal.

SDI is the only sport diving agency I know of with a solo specialty.

It was certainly the first, but I believe there's now at least one more. I think it was SSI that recently introduced a solo specialty.

 

[Steve SDI/TDI HQ]

It was certainly the first, but I believe there's now at least one more. I think it was SSI that recently introduced a solo specialty.

We have not gotten word of a release and there is nothing on their website. We have heard they are developing a program... and there is a solo program that's part of a tech curriculum but ours is specifically for sport divers and it's still unique... we think... for now! <G>

 

[knotical]

nothing on their website.<G>

If you go to:
SSI Scuba Schools International: Find SSI Dive Centers Worldwide
and use the drop-down menu for Course, you can find one called:
"Specialty Course Independent Diver". Could that be it?

 

[ClayJar]

I'm a bit more than a mile from Blue Water (seeing as I live in Baton Rouge), but it's right up there in my top quarries list. Having done plenty of solo diving (and I even have the card from the very nice SDI class), I would strongly recommend against solo diving there until you are much more confident.

As I'm sure you know, the bottom in the "shallow" side is in the 75-80 foot range, and if you're anything like me, you'll end up at the sailboat or "borg cube" (hey, it's gotta have a name) or the bottom of the pipes. That's not a depth I would recommend for someone who has not yet built considerable skill and self-evaluative experience.

Going to the 17-ish foot platform right off the main entry, or staying in the shallows heading toward the fire engine and points counterclockwise could keep you at considerably shallower depths (above 25 feet or so) if you stay on the ball. Still, the thing you drill into yourself with solo diving is that you have to be ready for whatever happens whenever it happens, and the shallows yield no immunity to that. It's virtually as easy to have things go very badly in the shallows as it is deeper, and it's much easier to fall into that thing most dangerous to all divers and *especially* to solo divers, i.e. complacency.

I would highly recommend diving with others as you build your skills and confidence. Dive with any sufficiently skilled and helpful diver, and your capabilities will benefit. Be the leader on buddy dives. Watch your depths, times, and pressures, and keep track of your buddy's as well. Don't wait for them to ask; *you* initiate the checks. Make some hard limits more conservative than your usual limits, and practice sticking to them as if they were *absolute*, and when you inevitably do break one, spend some hard time with yourself explaining how it happened (what events led to it), *why* it happened (at each step leading to it, why didn't you break the chain of events), and what adjustments you're going to make to your plans, choices, etc. to prevent a recurrence.

At some point after starting off down that path, many people come to the conclusion that they really don't specifically *want* to solo dive. They just want to dive *more*, and they saw solo diving as a means to that end. Others evaluate themselves and determine that although they want to solo dive, they find they cannot trust themselves to pay sufficient attention, to not push limits, or not to take unnecessary risks in other ways. No matter what reason you may rule out solo diving, ScubaBoard and your days out diving will help you build a network of divers you know, and you don't really need to solo dive at all.

On the other hand, if you determine that you *do* want to solo dive and that you are the type of person who can handle the requirements, now that you've practiced leading, you can try diving under the watchful eye but hands-(mostly)-off of another solo diver. Basically, it's almost like a solo dive with a safety diver right there. You do everything, but if you miss something or head unknowingly toward an edge of the envelope, they can point it out immediately, as they've been there. Consider it a practical exam by an outside observer to see whether you really are where you believe yourself to be.

The most important thing about solo diving is not the dive skills or the practice or the experience. The *most* important thing about solo diving is learning to look through the assumptions (or outright lies) your own head provides until you can see what's behind them. Be wary of comfort and confidence, as they can as easily be from ignorance as from skill. You have to know where you *truly* are as a diver, and you have to have the self-control to draw the line and not cross it.

Occasionally when I'm solo diving, I'll catch people looking askance at me. It does not offend me in the least -- it usually makes me smile. I also use it as a reminder to think about myself as *they're* thinking about me. Is there anything I'm about to do that I have not planned sufficiently? Can I justify the risks I'm accepting to make this dive? Questions like that should be asked by *any* diver on *any* dive, but as a solo diver, I *must not* omit them.​

Solo diving is an advanced form of diving, and it is *absolutely* not for everyone. It requires skill, attention to detail, and even the right temperament to minimize the risks (which you must choose to respect and accept). If you want to head that direction, there is plenty of support and information available here, but if you just want to dive more, I'm pretty sure we can help there, too.