becoming a better dive and buddy

[TyGuy]

my last thread i told a story how i lost my buddies on a dive due to my fast kicks and not checking on my buddies. well yesterday my university's dive club had our last dive of the school year, there were 6 of us total in the group and we were diving jamestown, RI. seeing how i got ripped apart on that last thread i knew i had some serious work to do.

i was leading the dive again, navigating us out and back in along the wall of the cove. while navigating i made sure to check with each buddy how they were doing, their air supply and just making sure the group is staying together. i kept my head on a swivel always turning and checking to make sure everyone was within my sight.

at one time i noticed a group of 3 were lagging behind. i signaled the other 2 group members to stop and wait. the 3 were just at the end of my visibility but they were still in sight. one group member removed his knife and started signaling on my tank. after only a few seconds the remaining 3 members moved towards us and all signaled they were okay. (what had happened was a group member's tank was slowly sliding out and wasnt secured properly, after it was secured we checked and moved on)

through the whole dive i checked, re checked, and kept every group member in sight. we did 2 dives and both went well, especially since 2 members just got their OW. id call the dive an improvement from the last one.

 

[orm]

You talking about dive leader or dive buddy?

As a dive leader, you should be aware of anyone having trouble. You aren't their buddy, you're just the one showing them around, the tour guide if you like. Imagine a tour guide on roller skates flying through a museum so that you need to run to keep up with them? They want to look around and see stuff, the reason why they're there.

Just because you don't want to hang about and see stuff, you can't set the pace - unless your goal is to be somewhere at a specific time, you have to let the group set the pace.

If you have very slow people, photographers are the norm, you need to make provisions for this. Spot stuff for the non-photographers to look at while you're waiting for the slower ones to catch up.

Don't be in a hurry, you'll miss stuff like that. Maybe get into a local fish book and see the smaller stuff around the area, it can be interesting to see the little things on a dive, not everything is teaming with big paleagic fish.

Your last dive sounds like it went well, and if someone had a problem, they should have signalled you, but yes, you need to periodically check to see if they're still there, but if you dive slow enough, this shouldn't be a problem.


As a dive buddy, just make sure you're panic distance away, no more. Say to yourself. If I suddenly ran out of air, could I get over to my buddy, indicate that I needed to share air, secure the octopus and continue breathing?

I dive with my girlfriend and am ashamed to say I lost her once, she had the camera had stopped and I didn't see her. We both surfaced after a minute and all was ok, but after hundred's of dives together it was the first time it had happened, a fact I feel guilty about. It won't happen again.

 

[Bubbletrubble]

I'm glad to hear that your most recent dive went well. It can be tough managing a large group like that...particularly in low vis conditions.

It wasn't clear to me how the buddy teams were arranged on your last dive. It almost sounds like y'all were diving in two groups of 3 divers. I'd recommend maintaining 2-man groups when possible, although a 3-man group is certainly manageable when all 3 divers are hyper-aware of keeping the group together.

In my circle of dive friends, we don't like trying to keep a large group together. 2- or 3-man teams enter the water together, but it's not a big deal when dive teams head back to shore on their own schedule. The "lead" team is whatever group happens to be in front of the others. FWIW, we try to match dive buddies up with comparable rates of gas consumption, diving "style" (taking photos or not), and breathing mix. That's just how we do things.

Thanks for sharing your experience...

 

[LeadTurn_SD]

It can be a challenge leading a large group. If you exit the water with the same number of divers that entered, and everyone had fun, you had a successful dive, but:

Had you briefed the dive to be 2 groups of three, or did that just happen underwater? Or did one buddy pair separate, with one diver following you, and the other hanging back with the rear group?

If you'd all decided pre-dive on two 3-person teams, fine; if not, it is something to discuss and fix for the next dive.

Best wishes.

 

[Diver Tim]

id call the dive an improvement from the last one.

And that is what it's all about. Good work!

 

[Adobo]

my last thread i told a story how i lost my buddies on a dive due to my fast kicks and not checking on my buddies. well yesterday my university's dive club had our last dive of the school year, there were 6 of us total in the group and we were diving jamestown, RI. seeing how i got ripped apart on that last thread i knew i had some serious work to do.

i was leading the dive again, navigating us out and back in along the wall of the cove. while navigating i made sure to check with each buddy how they were doing, their air supply and just making sure the group is staying together. i kept my head on a swivel always turning and checking to make sure everyone was within my sight.

at one time i noticed a group of 3 were lagging behind. i signaled the other 2 group members to stop and wait. the 3 were just at the end of my visibility but they were still in sight. one group member removed his knife and started signaling on my tank. after only a few seconds the remaining 3 members moved towards us and all signaled they were okay. (what had happened was a group member's tank was slowly sliding out and wasnt secured properly, after it was secured we checked and moved on)

through the whole dive i checked, re checked, and kept every group member in sight. we did 2 dives and both went well, especially since 2 members just got their OW. id call the dive an improvement from the last one.

Personally, I find diving in groups greater than 3 divers to be incredibly challenging. Really, the exercise can be reasonably compared to herding cats. I have found this to be true even when diving in a group consisting of highly trained divers.

I have done a few dives that where a dive master was leading a group of greater than 4 divers. Even in those occasions where the dive master has been clear regarding how he wants the group to behave it seems that the dive master spends a lot of time rounding up divers that eventually wind up straying from the group.

One strategy that I use in these situations is to create multiple teams. For example, in a group of 5, I might make a team of 3 and a team of 2. These would be 2 separate teams that will happen to be diving the same site together. If the team of 2 wants to follow the team of 3, it's okay. If they want to fork off and do something on their own at any point in the dive, no worries. In this way, the leader of the 3 person team need only keep track of 2 other divers.

Part of being a good buddy is recognizing what you can tackle and what you can't. Leading a big group is only one example. Another example is knowing the kind of environments that you can safely dive. For example, if you have a buddy who invites you to do a 100ft wreck dive in ripping current, as a good buddy, your reply might be that you do not have the training/experience for that type of dive. Of course, there are numerous other examples.

 

[spectrum]

TyGuy

I have to really hand it you your for taking the lead like that with 0-24 dives under your belt.

For my liking leading a group of 6 in New England water is really pushing it. You may be doing a great job at trying to keep tabs on the crew but it's an over the top assignment.

Diving with 1 diver is nice. Diving as a 3 diver team can be good too. If I'm in the water with 4 divers then we are 2 buddy pairs. I may be leading with my buddy and I will try to keep tabs on at least one in the other pair but if they doddle or we otherwise get separated they are making their own dive.

Same deal with air pressure. Discuss a gas plan pre-dive including turn pressures. When someone gives the turn signal begin the exit course. Unless these are your juvenile children there is no need for you to manage their air supply. The exception would be if you need to make a strategic decision such as whether to round the point to the other cove as at Ft Wetherill that will take you into something of a blind spot for a direct retreat.

Be careful about letting others become too dependent. Conditions will not always permit you to meet expectations. With your dive count you may be on a relative fast track and a natural leader. That does not necessarily mean you are ready to assume what could get thrown at you. Mentoring is a great thing to be giving back but you should think about managing the head count.

Pete