Are you going back for your buddy?

[mcpowell]

If you lose sight of your buddy in an open water dive, ascend 10’ and don’t see any sign of them within a minute, I think most will agree their plan is to surface safely and look for your buddy.

But now what? Let’s say your buddy is nowhere to be seen on the surface. Do you descend and go look?

I usually dive with my son, who is 18. We have an agreement. In the above scenario, he is not to endanger himself if I’m missing. On the other hand, I’ve promised his mama (she’s my wife too ), I’m not coming back without him. Or at least not coming back without exhausting all my resources searching for him.

I know there are a lot of variables to be considered, i.e. depth, visibility, currents, etc. I am wondering what y’alls plan would be in the case of your buddy not being found on the surface.

 

[flyboy08]

If you lose sight under water and after 1min, surfacing and remaining on the surface is the best one can do.

 

[dmaziuk]

Disclaimer: I don't have it, I recently met someone who swore by it. I think I want them for Xmas:
https://www.amazon.com/Dive-Alert-W...8&qid=1526758158&sr=8-11&keywords=buddy+alert

 

[johndiver999]

...

 

[johndiver999]

If you lose sight under water and after 1min, surfacing and remaining on the surface is the best one can do.

If you can see bubbles on the surface, then it would probably make sense to descend down the bubble stream to locate the buddy. It is possible that the son could be entangled on the bottom and is having trouble getting out or assumes his buddy will show up any moment and could be patiently waiting for assistance. I disagree that waiting on the surface is the only thing you can do.

If there are strong currents, super low visibility, lack of navigational clues, excessive depths or some combination of those making the probability of finding the lost diver on the bottom impossible or very unlikely, then waiting on the surface and being able to provide assistance at the surface (IF the lost diver makes it) would probably be a better option.

 

[Altamira]

For me, it depends on many conditions, some of which are who is my buddy, amount of air remaining, availability of surface support, and diving conditions. What I am willing to do for a family member or close friend is different from risks I would take to find an instabuddy. This is where individual judgment takes precedence over a single response fitting all situations.

 

[Norrm]

If your buddy isn't on the surface then you should go look for them because they could be unconscious and if left down there alone they could die. You certainly aren't doing them any good just sitting there on top of the water waiting around!

Seems simple enough.

 

[doctormike]

If your buddy isn't on the surface then you should go look for them because they could be unconscious and if left down there alone they could die. You certainly aren't doing them any good just sitting there on top of the water waiting around!

Seems simple enough.

If you have lost your buddy and they are unconscious, they are dead (unless they are diving a rebreather with a gag strap or a full face mask).

One of the problems with this is that one buddy surfaces as per the plan, then descends just before the other buddy surfaces, etc... The important thing is the plan ahead of time. If both members of the team are OK diving alone, they you may plan to just meet on the boat if separated at the end of the dive. But if that isn't the case, both buddies should commit to just surfacing and looking for each other, even though it means the end of the dive. The problem usually comes from not being in sync with the plan...

It can be pretty hard to see a bubble stream from significant depth if you are floating on the surface - sometimes hard to see even from the elevated position of a boat.

 

[johndiver999]

I agree, the chance of seeing the bubble stream is pretty low. You have to be close, the surface conditions need to be relatively calm, visibility needs to be decent for it to work and if the buddy is swimming or if there is a current dispersing the bubbles, then swimming down the bubble steam is close to wishful thinking.

 

[Doc]

^ As above

Highly situationally dependent. One story: (let the old man ramble)

We were in Nowhere, Philippines. Not at all the normal dive spots or anywhere near anything that anyone would know, even today. Ambulong Island if you gotta know. Five flop in, just to intentionally ride a just-plain-nuts current. Really not much of a dive as it was a very fast shallow cloudy ride over what looked like smooth river stone, worn away by millennia of currents. Our DM would often look for roiling waves in the middle of the Ocean just to keep us amused. Looked like whitewater.

One diver was a heavy metal guy with 2x80 and slung 30. The rest of us (and DM) were Alu80 tourist types. It was a "group buddy system", thus no one was really buddy with anyone else....have no illusions- other than 1:1 buddy system, that's how it's always going to work. This applies to threesomes (the u/w kind). Kind of like "everybody cleans the litter box". DNW.

So the Iron Man disappears. Maybe he thought that the four of us disappeared. Whatever, we got separated, an underwater discussion between me and the DM ensued. The facts: Four maybe 5 MPH whitewater river caused by 4' tidal shift, 25' hard bottom, milky grey water with 35' lateral viz. We are pretty much so tumbling along, no real control except vertical.

No point in surfacing, what could be seen? What would be accomplished? After the dive, the DM and I laid out our similar logic decision tree and thinking. We couldn't help him no matter what and it seemed best to continue along to our prearranged pickup rendezvous- the boatsman really could not track our bubbles. We also figured that lost diver would be forced to float our same route, dead or alive. Besides, he had 110cf more air than did we, so he might have made it u/w to Vietnam on that load out. We just agreed to finish the dive as planned, nothing else to gain by deviating.

It worked out pretty much as we had planned, except a fishing boat saw his SMB and they had seen us- the one known local fishing boat that also worked the SCUBA trade being operational, so since it was not hovering nearby...they plucked him out. He wasn't really stressed, but for a minute he didn't even recognize it was the wrong boat.

We got picked up by our boat and they had seen the other SMB and knew the guys on the fishing boat. Oh, hey, look who showed up. Beers bought for all Boatsmen concerned.

Very situational, specific set of facts. Your mileage may vary.