Beginning to understand why people dive solo

[art.chick]

If some divers are not getting adequate training as buddies, that is something worth addressing! What I fear is a greater problem is the mindset of some sportsmen that everything in the world is competitive. Being the "best" underwater does not make any more sense than being the best astronaut; you are surviving in an alien element. Nonetheless, I get the feeling that some folks just have to find some way to out-do other divers, and that contradicts the whole idea of buddies. Cooperation is not as glamourous as getting the biggest lobster or getting thru the biggest waves, but there is little to laugh about at the post-dive luau if someone got hurt or lost. I say that competition in diving should be saved for things like, "Safest Instructor of the Year Award."

 

[Ron Brandt]

Stacey. In another post you say you are an instructor. When you are an instructor , every dive is a solo dive.

By now you should have eyes in the back of your head and coached the guy with weight problems. How bad was the vis ?

We routienely take OW students out in less than 10 feet of vis. No other choice.

Just wait until you take your students for their first check out dive.

Ron

 

[fiddler]

Stacey: Wondering where you were diving? I'm from the same locale as you and always looking for places to dive.

 

[WreckWriter]

Originally posted by jtl01
A DRY SUIT IN FLORIDA! HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA

Did I see something about "number of logged dives-1"? Your expertise is clear in this matter. Ever been below 20 feet? Probably not, huh? At least get your c-card before you run your mouth.

Tom

 

[Kat]

art.chick summed it up perfectly. Adequate training is key. But only if the person wants to learn. You have to admit you have a problem in order to fix it. Most of these cocky, egomaniacs think they are great divers-no improvement necessary. I'm lucky that I have never had to have an 'unknown' dive buddy. But I still have experienced the obnoxious diver, who has no consideration for anyone else. There is no room in diving for the 'every man for himself' attitude. I'm just glad they are not my dive buddy.

 

[kodiak]

Ive always dove solo, but its only because I dont get to dive much and I dont really know anyone else who dives. I would love to find someone in this area to dive with, I think then that I would do it more often. At my age I would rather be safe than sorry.

 

[RiverRat]

Wow, I see the "buddy problem" exists in diving as well as other sports/hobbies! As a newbie that took a discover scuba trip on a cruise last year and scheduled to take my first pool classes in 2 weeks, I don't get the warm and fuzzies about finding a local dive buddy. Looks like I'll go on some trips with the local dive shop until I get to know some decent divers. Seems to me that in a sport that could kill you one would want to practice safety procedures religiously? All I know is that I would not want to be the guy who swam off on his own while someone else was in trouble. I would not want to have to live with the fact that I let my buddy get hurt or worse............

 

[Snowbear]

I have several people I enjoy diving with, but as a DM candidate and sometimes the only diver familiar with a site when I'm out on the boat, I often get buddied with someone I don't know. Case in point last weekend - The boat holds 6 divers, captain and deck hand/DM. On Saturday, the Boat Captain is also the instructor for 3 dry suit students doing their OW dry suit dives. I am one of 3 DM students who happen to be in the same class onder this same instructor. One of the others is the deck hand for the day (has to do with Coast Guard regs, so she can't dive. The 6th diver is a supposedly "experienced" cold water diver from out of state who just wants to dive. For the first dive, the other DMC gets to halp with the class and I get buddied with the out-of-state guy. The class will dive in a protected cove and the guy and I will explore the slope/walls towards and possibly past the mouth of this cove. So - I ask the guy how deep he's comfortable diving. Response - "I'm a deep diver, so don't worry about me." OK, I ask what size tank he's using. 80 cf and oh and by the way, mentions he's diving 40% Nitrox and he's an air hog, so says he'll be OK to 120'!!!!! I mention I'm not comfortable with that O2 exposure in a buddy and suggest perhaps 80' would be a more reasonable limit. Yeah, whatever. I also mentioned I would be doing a safety stop. Again - Yeah, whatever. So we head out. The guy takes the lead and is CRUISING, (no wonder he's an air hog, I think to myself - besides that he's a bit "portly") and silting the bottom all the way out. I manage to finally catch the guy and turn the dive at 99'!! I'm leading on the way back up the slope so at least I get to slow down and see all the stuff we missed on the way down (Yep and a sneaky way to control our ascent rate). At 18' I signalled I'm doing a 3 min safety stop. OK is signalled. I stick my head under a piece of kelp. 2 seconds later I look around and the guy's gone!! Dangit! BTW - 20' of viz at this depth, so I can't tell where the dude went. Turns out he didn't think he needed a safety stop so he left
Lucky for me I got to help with the class for the second dive and the other DMC got to be The Guy's buddy.

 

[RiverRat]

You guys are "killing me" (from laughter ) with your dive buddy horror stories. Again, I'm new to this but thanks for the info.
What happened to slowwwww and steadyyyyy, and controlled breathing, profile etc. that I'm learning about?

 

[Braunbehrens]

I'm probably going to get accused of turning this into a DIR thread...but here goes. I had some horrible experiences with dive buddies, and was diving solo fairly often. Then I got turned on to DIR, and now I never dive solo. The reason is that I have met a whole bunch of DIR divers, who also don't dive solo, and who are excellent buddies. I never have to worry about finding a good buddy, at least locally, there is always someone available.

Also, if I travel I can check to see if there are GUE trained divers where I'm going, and if there are, they will probably be happy to dive with me.

This is one really cool aspect of GUE.

Maybe we should start a thread on buddy horror stories...I have a few. I'll just mention one briefly, because it's kind of funny.

My buddy thinks he's tangled in kelp, but it's really his weight belt that has slipped around his knees. He's pinned to the bottom, and there is a ton of surge.

I'm going toward him, to help him out, and just as the surge is picking me up and really pushing my in his face, he pulls out a HUGE knife and waves it in front of me....to cut at the kelp, of course.

I learned that day that you CAN fight the surge...if you really have to.