Solo Diving!!!

[uncfnp]

People like to quote that 40% DAN statistic as an argument against solo diving, but the reality is that it's really more an indictment against buddy diving as it's commonly practiced. Read it again ... "Forty percent of the fatalities took place during a period of buddy separation" ... those people weren't solo diving, they were diving with a buddy and screwed up.

Buddy separation is not solo diving ... it's diving a broken plan, with all the anxiety, task-loading and lack of preparedness that entails. These accidents didn't happen because these people were alone, they happened because they didn't pay attention to what they were doing. That's how they got separated from their dive buddy in the first place ...

... Bob (Grateful Diver)

This was my take away from that statistic as well and I think that was the point Bob DBF was making as well.

 

[Bob DBF]

People like to quote that 40% DAN statistic as an argument against solo diving, but the reality is that it's really more an indictment against buddy diving as it's commonly practiced. Read it again ... "Forty percent of the fatalities took place during a period of buddy separation" ... those people weren't solo diving, they were diving with a buddy and screwed up.

Buddy separation is not solo diving ... it's diving a broken plan, with all the anxiety, task-loading and lack of preparedness that entails. These accidents didn't happen because these people were alone, they happened because they didn't pay attention to what they were doing. That's how they got separated from their dive buddy in the first place ...

... Bob (Grateful Diver)

And what I see as ironic is this is used for justification for solo diving. As far as I'm concerned, if a diver does not have the ability to master buddy diving, I doubt that that diver has the skills and focus to solo dive safely. In other words, should a diver does not have the ability to pay attention to what they were doing buddy diving, I'm not expecting any better solo.

I've dove with some people where I had to maintain contact because the other diver was not paying attention. I had a bad dive, but he had it bad topside listening to me. Some wouldn't listen and that was the end, but others did and we had good dives together. The point, if any, is that being better buddies is the solution to bad buddies. Solo, on the other hand, is my alone time which I do when I like because I want to, not because I am "forced" into it by another diver.

Bob

 

[Stoo]

Your problem is that you're diving with the WRONG people.

Precisely. I do probably 80% of my dives with the same two people. The remaining 20% is done with another handful of divers. I can't recall the last time I went diving with a "stranger". I'll dive solo first.

My main buddy and I have about 75 years and perhaps 8500 dives between us and a disturbing proportion of those were together. I can barely stand the guy, but he usually has cold beer so I put up with him. ;-)

 

[redacted]

For a self-reliant diver, the biggest concern during an incident of unplanned buddy separation is the welfare of your buddy. But it does not cause good divers to do stupid things.

 

[george_austin]

A lot of so called "scuba aficionados" nowadays, especially the newly minted ones haven't been trained correctly anyway so actually as a "buddy" they're more likely to get you in trouble than they are any help. I'll give you a for instance - Last weekend me and a friend - we have 3500 dives between us with 90% of them in California, well, we got assigned by the captain of the boat to look after a new guy. So here we are puttering around at 80fsw off Catalina and out of the blue, after 20 minutes, this new guy comes dog paddling over to us with his console in his hand - he's just now telling us he has about 200 pounds left in his tank and we're 80 ft deep and about 200 yards away from the anchor line. Nice. Who trained this guy? I guess he doesn't believe in monitoring his air supply? I feel sorry for whomever his next "buddy" is . .

 

[lowviz]

...//... Nothing wrong with enjoying music in focus, and in solitude. Neither better, nor worse than enjoying it in a club packed with people dancing. You might even enjoy both.

Nice analogy.

...//... If you could always reliably count on having a great, predictable buddy, would you still be considering to go solo?

Hell, yes. See above for one good reason, the other is that very often I just want to practice something and don't want to be boring the living daylights out of someone else.

 

[oldschoolto]

I look at it through a different set of glasses ... How is someone that can't be trusted alone or doesn't have the skills to save themselves, Be trusted to save someone else ??? I trained my wife to save her own a$$.. She needed to learn the old school way of diving after getting her " OW Card "... She is a great buddy and a lot of fun to dive with.. If I ask her during a dive what gas she has left, She will give me a number with a rocking of her hand ( Meaning about this much) off the top of her head.. She always knows within a 100/200 psi what she's got left... I can look at her at any point in the dive and " ASK " what way back to the boat/shore, and she knows... I know that she would be fine solo, And that makes her a GREAT Buddy... When my 1st stage blew through the IP causing a free-flow on my 2nd stage... She came right over and was ready to assist me, That's a BUDDY....

Jim...

 

[certified in 1976]

And what was the cause of death? In many cases, it is heart attack, and in that case, it doesn't really matter if you are diving solo or with a buddy.

The cause of death in both cases was listed as "drowning" No mention of heart attack and since both these guys were in their 30's at the time it would seem unlikely. Nobody really knows why they died as in both cases their bodies were found several days later and their was no buddy there to report it.

The only diver I've known that had a heart attack u/w survived because he had a buddy with him. Had he been solo he wouldn't have made it. Heart attack is a situation (as well as numerous others) that having a buddy with you could increase your survival chances.

In all the years I've been diving I've only ever had one live threatening incident and thank God I had a buddy and wasn't solo as I wouldn't have made it.

Nobody will ever convince me that solo diving is safer than diving with a trusted buddy, even if you're set up correctly for equipment wise for self sufficiency . All of my last 600 dives have been made with the same trusted buddy - my wife. I wouldn't want to dive without her because we dive very well as a unit together.

 

[uncfnp]

There is no way anyone can say absoluetely solo is safer or absolutely buddy is safer because there are too many variables and too large a gray area to each style. Is the solo diver experienced and suitably equiped? Is he/she diving under familar dive conditions? Are the buddy teams similarly trained or is one actually a liability to the other? Are they a true team or just same ocean and does each diver understand this? And so on.

For me personally, do I feel safer diving with a buddy? No. Would I feel safer diving with a highly trained "team" with the same objectives? Prehaps. I would have to try it to know.

 

[NAM001]

Going solo for you should be a breeze. I would recommend that you set some limits for your self and like others have mentioned baby steps.

For my self I don't solo dive deep, unfamiliar waters, overheads, entanglement areas, night and other things of that nature.