The solo diving movement, a good idea?

[tech_diver]

In all my early sport diving years I would have never considered doing a solo dive (back then the buddy rule was the Golden Rule.) But when I started to divemaster and lead groups of divers underwater, I realized that I was even less than solo diving. Not only did I not have a buddy, I was responsible for a group of tourists. A divemaster has to be self sufficient enough to go down alone to mark a site, free an anchor, etc (divemaster chores) in complete comfort and safety.
When I'm solo diving I can relax, no one to watch, no one to worry about. I carry two of everything I need. If things go bad, I can get myself out with no one in my way and no one left behind.

 

[jonniex]

I like to call it self relient diving more than solo. Although you are diving solo. There are so manythings that when diving in a group you assume is covered by a buddy. Most often the average buddy is not there when needed. Or assumes that something strange with your gear is something you are already aware of. I prefer to look at problems as ,,,,ooa is the only real emergency, everything else is just an inconvienence. Plan for the irritants and carry a spare air source. I have found that because of what I have picked up, I make a better buddy in that i am more sensitive to problem areas. More criticle of my own gear to support self relience and as such my buddy's also. The more my rig is self relient the less my buddy has to makeup for and vice versa. I have set limits that I apply to solo diving. No deep, no entanglement areas, no overhead, no deco ect. I reserve my solo for say 60 ft and shallower in known waters. I know there is arguments for each of these limits and some say doing this creates a false sence of safety. I call it hazzard reduction. dont go deep & you dont get narked without a buddy to ? you. Carry an independant air source and you have all the time needed to work the unexpected irritants out. The idea that between the 2 buddies you have all the equipment you need is just foreign to me. Unless he is on my hip he has nothing for me in the real emergency catagory.

I guess its a good lesson to use the solo diving concept to be self reliant but not completely independant. We should all learn to rely on ourselves after all its only one person hooked into your equipment. But I do strongly believe in the buddy system as its saved countless lives!

- Jon

divesummit
"People protect what they love." - Jacques Cousteau

 

[Wookie]

Is this anything like the Alice's Restaurant anyi-massacree movement? All you gotta do to join is sing it the next time it comes around on the gitar.

 

[Hickdive]

I took another tack. Becoming part of the GUE/DIR diving world has simply removed all those issues...consider getting better buddies instead, because they ARE out there!

I have a friend who has taken GUE courses up to Cave 1 and Tech 1 and is progressing towards Cave 2 and Tech 2. GUE qualified divers in this neck of the woods are like hen's teeth, so he willingly does a 1200 mile round trip to dive with other GUE divers over a weekend.

I've got a Tech pass at GUE-F and would love to dive with more GUE divers because they are better buddies. However, I'm not prepared to make such long journeys so, in the absence of better buddies, I'd rather dive alone. Then I'm under no illusions as to what I can or cannot expect from a non-GUE buddy.

 

[corvettejoe]

I like to call it self reliant diving more than solo.

I think that was the main purpose of that article (the SSI article I'm assuming? It's been floating around stirring up people for a while)... unfortunately people are getting confused on it's intended meaning.

Obviously there's a big difference between Self Reliant and Solo... I think they just went about the wording in the article the wrong way.

 

[chrpai]

I've got a Tech pass at GUE-F and would love to dive with more GUE divers because they are better buddies. However, I'm not prepared to make such long journeys so, in the absence of better buddies, I'd rather dive alone. Then I'm under no illusions as to what I can or cannot expect from a non-GUE buddy.

So your GUE training taught you to invoke rule #1 on all non-GUE divers and that solo diving is ok?

Who was your instructor?

 

[TSandM]

. However, I'm not prepared to make such long journeys so, in the absence of better buddies, I'd rather dive alone.

The other possibility is to look around for newly certified folk who are really enthusiastic, and start raising yourself a dive buddy. That's how the community in Seattle grew.

 

[chillyinCanada]

LOL chrpai. I've noticed a lot of DIR-lite in the past few years.

 

[chrpai]

LOL chrpai. I've noticed a lot of DIR-lite in the past few years.

I'm going to say no more since it's the Basic forum. Still... boggles the mind.

 

[Panama Jones]

To the OP. I'll hit a 100 dives this year. Not super experienced as most on SB but my nearly 100 dives are in warm ocean, cold ocean, strong currents, no currents, really really cold lakes, high vis and low to no vis.

1. I am going to solo. But just in dives that are way below my skill set. I will think nothing of going out into the lake out back to 35 feet with no overhead and no entanglement in 15 - 20 foot vis to practice buoyancy, SMB deplyment and other "light skills". So far that's the extent of my solo. Is this really solo or just a bigger swimming pool? I will have the redundancy and well maintained gear. When I'm ready for something more..I'll take the course.

2. I think I make my instabuddies good buddies. I have a lot of instabuddies. Remember, if we have an instabuddy, that makes us an instabuddy. I actually think the biggest reason most instabuddies are not good buddies is because they think that if they lay down the ground rules they will appear less experieced. This is because on all the dive boats, people seem to gear up, shake hands, and get in the water. You will never get the perfect buddy on a boat because we're all here on SB, not on the boat. So what I do is force the topic. I tell my buddy about my gear, my weights, octo etc. and aske them about theirs. I tell him/her what signals I'll be using, and I say that we will stay shoulder to shoulder and check gas every 5 minutes. If they initiate, I will listen, if they don't initiate, I do. I have never been balked at. I think its been appreciated even if I am the less experienced diver. People are shy. Talk to them.

3. Your level of comfort will increase at your own pace, number of dives, training and confidence. There is no magic course that says complete this and you're ready. There is also no magic number of dives. But what I will tell you is that if you are confident that you can solo without a course or at least 100 dives, it could very well be false confidence. Understand the difference. If you don't, then we must start discussing Darwin.