DAN data

Please register or login

Welcome to ScubaBoard, the world's largest scuba diving community. Registration is not required to read the forums, but we encourage you to join. Joining has its benefits and enables you to participate in the discussions.

Benefits of registering include

  • Ability to post and comment on topics and discussions.
  • A Free photo gallery to share your dive photos with the world.
  • You can make this box go away

Joining is quick and easy. Log in or Register now!

I think a more meaningful statistic for us to look at would be # of deaths/# of buddy scuba divers(with rating >= to AOW) and compare it to #of deaths on declared solo dive by solo cert divers/ # of solo cert divers


the critical statistical fallacy that many people fall into while attempting to sensationalize #'s to fit their agenda is comparing two groups without adjusting for the inequalities between groups.
In essence you are comparing the size of one farmers apples to another farmers oranges...in order to give any level of meaning to the comparison you would have to first compare each farmers produce to the average for that particular produce...then compare the two farmers based on how they differ from the mean.
 
Just looking at the statistics is scary. If 14% of accidents happened to solo divers, then that means buddy teams were responsible for 86% of accidents. This buddy diving thing is dangerous!!

lol
 
:rofl3:
And that's just the damage buddy diving does to divers' physical health! What about the untold mental pain, stress and anguish? It should come with a label
'Warning: Buddy diving can cause depression, and engender feelings of intense frustration that may be harmful to your mental health.'
Thanks for all the comments. I guess I have to buckle down and plow through the actual, individual causes of fatalities to see what picture emerges, to see if there are any helpful or cautionary tales there. I was just being lazy and had hoped maybe someone else had done that already, from a solo divers' POV.
 
...

These statistics would also include 'bolters' who panic and abandon their buddy when they experience difficulty.
No, I would not expect these statistics to include "bolters" in that they were part of a buddy pair at the start of the incident and what occurred was thus witnessed, e.g., he bolted for the surface.
I'm not so worried about the buddy separation statistic. It goes to prove that we should want to be self sufficient.
... or that we should exercise better buddy discipline.
Just because someone becomes "solo" on a dive does not mean they were prepared to be solo.
If they were not prepared to dive as a buddy they were not likely to be prepared to dive solo, either in terms of equipment or skills.
True statistics for the nay sayer would have to show how many prepared solo divers died as a result of being solo. Even a medical emergency may become a death with a buddy, so I tend not to get to worried about those either. I worry about the real increased risks encountered on a solo dive. If someone dies because they got entangled I would want to know if they had cutting tools. If someone ran out of air, I'd want to know if the equipment was all in working order.

Properly prepared solo dives can be as safe if not safer than buddy dives. Properly prepared solo divers can be the best buddy to someone and be prepared to survive bad buddies.
I think this is demonstrably untrue. Let's take two (or three) well trained, well prepared "solo divers" who are also capable of diving as part of team. Who has less risk, one of the divers off on his or her own or two or more operating as a well organized team?
I think a more meaningful statistic for us to look at would be # of deaths/# of buddy scuba divers(with rating >= to AOW) and compare it to #of deaths on declared solo dive by solo cert divers/ # of solo cert divers

the critical statistical fallacy that many people fall into while attempting to sensationalize #'s to fit their agenda is comparing two groups without adjusting for the inequalities between groups.
In essence you are comparing the size of one farmers apples to another farmers oranges...in order to give any level of meaning to the comparison you would have to first compare each farmers produce to the average for that particular produce...then compare the two farmers based on how they differ from the mean.
Since we lack denominators that approach doesn't work, so more to the point, as a first approximation, is the question, "are 14% of all the dives made performed by solo divers?"
Just looking at the statistics is scary. If 14% of accidents happened to solo divers, then that means buddy teams were responsible for 86% of accidents. This buddy diving thing is dangerous!!

lol
While that's cute, it is disingenuous.
 
Hence the LOL

My feeling is that a diver diving without a buddy who isn't properly trained or equipped to self rescue at the intended depth isn't diving solo. They are asking for trouble.
My feeling is that a diver diving without a buddy who is properly trained or equipped to self rescue at the intended depth and is diving solo, is asking for trouble.
 
My feeling is that a diver diving without a buddy who is properly trained or equipped to self rescue at the intended depth and is diving solo, is asking for trouble.

I can agree to respectfully disagree. In most environments buddy diving can be safer, but there are some places where solo is a necessity.
 
Please list two.
 
My feeling is that a diver diving without a buddy who is properly trained or equipped to self rescue at the intended depth and is diving solo, is asking for trouble.

Sorry, have to ask;

do you mean that you think a solo diver without the training/equipment to self rescue from the mod is asking for trouble?

http://www.scubaboard.com/forums/hawaii-ohana/243718-molokini-kayak-dive.html

While I think my scuba training helps, I have no solo training and I have no free dive training. What I have are 10's of thousands of solo free dives and maybe a thousand solo scuba dives. I am also in good enough shape to kayak to Molokini and back when conditions are NOT perfect, but I am also over 50.

In a quick bounce to ~150' at the start of the dive, is it really asking for much trouble, for me? How much trouble would a solo certified, 150 dives lifetime, pudgy Kansas 35 year old be asking for? :idk:
 
Last edited:
I think that a buddy of equal capability, operating with you, each of you as a part of a team, makes for a less risky situation regardless of the height of your card stack.
 
https://www.shearwater.com/products/perdix-ai/

Back
Top Bottom