Best practices for being a good buddy

[leapfrog]

I was at an AAUS Executive Committee meeting at Scripps and Jim Stewart (the DSO) had put together a dive in the canyon for those of us who wanted to. Each of us was buddied up with one of Bert Kobayashi’s (DSO – U.C. San Diego) Instructors. My buddy was a rather tall woman, who was just a little overly physically fit, in a manner almost exclusive to Southern California aerobics instructors of that era, but she was nice enough and Bert’s crew had a great reputation.

About ten of us loading into a stake bed truck with our gear, and Bert drove us up the hill and then back down to a beach close to the canyon mouth. We kitted up on the beach, talked about gear (no real differences) and procedures (surface swim to the buoy at the canyon head, she’d lead I’d follow, share air at 20 feet by the buoy chain, time and depth pairs, decompression contingencies, etc.).

So we started to swim out, she was pushing a bit harder than I though was really required by the situation, but I figured that was just to judge my level of conditioning or to make sure that I did not think she was too “girlie.” I decided it was the latter when we got to the buoy and she immediately switched to her regulator, flipped into a head first surface dive and leveled out, just ahead of me at twenty feet. We went through both a buddy breathing and an auxiliary sharing drill just as smooth as could be; and she led the way down the canyon wall; I followed.

We spent the next ten minutes, or so, moving out along the north wall of the canyon. It’s a great dive and I recommend it to anyone who is up for something a little different, you can often see deeper water organisms there because (like the canyons that head up to Monastery Beach and Moss Landing Marine Lab) deep water critters hit the wall and then wander into shallower depths. It was a neat dive, but something did not feel right.

I’m pretty comfortable in the water and I rarely feel uneasy, night dives in Central American volcanic lakes where we KNEW something evil lurked at bottom that had not been fed for centuries raised the hair on my neck, but that’s really about it. But I just could not shake a vague discomfort and unease … and it was getting worse. I was feeling clumsy in the water; I never seemed to be in the right place. Hmm … the right place, the right place? That was it.

We were headed out, side by side, the canyon wall on our right. We kept unconsciously jockeying for the outside position, that natural protective position that an instructor would take with a student, keeping themselves on the outside with the student contained by the cliff. So I ceded the outside position to her, and but for the need to suppress my desire to get the outside, the other issues disappeared. We reached our time limit before our gas limit and made our turn back.

Now, had something gone wrong while we were uncomfortable, distracted and unconsciously jockeying for position, our ability to head it off, or handle it would have been compromised because so much of our SA was being consumed by that foolishness. So it’s not just a question of being well trained, or team committed, or even agreeing on team roles … there are whole layers to the onion of optimum team interaction that need to be explored if team member are going to be at their best.

AWESOME POST! The best thing I have seen on SB in a long time! So very true! Thank you!

 

[leapfrog]

Hi all, I'm familiar with importance of pre-dive planning and buddy checks, etc, but I'm looking for advice on best practices for being a good buddy - underwater...For the purposes of this lesson assume that both buddies are inexperienced divers...

If you want to be a good buddy, dive all you can, challenge yourself to dive in sometimes not ideal conditions of visibility, stay fit, stay healthy, eat properly, exercise on a regular basis when you are out of the water, take extra pieces of kit with you when you go diving, especially spare mask straps, fin straps, maybe an extra mask. Check your own gear over and over again and make sure it is always in good working order. Know when to sit "this one out". Do your EFR Course now! Aim for Rescue Diver certification with a really good instructor within your first 40 logged dives and make sure it's not a "quick course" but very thorough.

 

[LeadTurn_SD]

This is one of the better threads I've seen in the past several weeks. Thanks to all who are contributing.... I have nothing worthwhile to add to the great advice already posted, but wanted to give this thread a gentle ----BUMP!--- so others will see it.

Best wishes.

 

[TSandM]

So it’s not just a question of being well trained, or team committed, or even agreeing on team roles … there are whole layers to the onion of optimum team interaction that need to be explored if team member are going to be at their best.

This is why, even within the kind of diving I do, where everybody is similarly trained and integration is pretty seamless, it's STILL more fun to dive with the same people on a regular basis. My regular dive buddy and I annoy the dickens out of other people, because they tell us we're basically telepathic -- we just look at one another and know what the question was, and what the answer is. Unfortunately, that works great for us when we dive as a pair, but not so well when we dive as a team of three

 

[LeadTurn_SD]

...We were headed out, side by side, the canyon wall on our right. We kept unconsciously jockeying for the outside position, that natural protective position that an instructor would take with a student, keeping themselves on the outside with the student contained by the cliff. So I ceded the outside position to her, and but for the need to suppress my desire to get the outside, the other issues disappeared....

Thal, thanks very much for posting that!

When I read your post, I realized on my past several dives with my wife I'd been guilty of the very same thing... my wife is the Hilo equivalent of the woman you described (ultra-fit, competetive swimmer, but has less "lifetime" dives than I have).

I've been unconsciously trying to move into the "protective" postion on our recent dives, which was not a problem when I lead, but she does not need (or want) me there when she is leading.... Sheesh, I didn't see it until this moment

Best wishes.

 

[Ben_ca]

Clear concise hand signals - Acknowledge the signal with a "readback" and if readback is correct confirm with an "Okey"

Try not to just flash "Okey" then turn away....

This practice ensures that the whole message is understood.... if not the message can be repeated or written down. One of the most useful signs I use is "Question"


Here's a few more signaling tips from UTD instructor Don

 

[MXGratefulDiver]

Thal, thanks very much for posting that!

When I read your post, I realized on my past several dives with my wife I'd been guilty of the very same thing... my wife is the Hilo equivalent of the woman you described (ultra-fit, competetive swimmer, but has less "lifetime" dives than I have).

I've been unconsciously trying to move into the "protective" postion on our recent dives, which was not a problem when I lead, but she does not need (or want) me there when she is leading.... Sheesh, I didn't see it until this moment

Best wishes.

It's way more common with spousal units than most people realize ... partifcularly the spousal units who are doing it in most cases.

... Bob (Grateful Diver)

 

[TSandM]

Clear concise hand signals - Acknowledge the signal with a "readback" and if readback is correct confirm with an "Okey"

Try not to just flash "Okey" then turn away....

This practice ensures that the whole message is understood.... if not the message can be repeated or written down. One of the most useful signs I use is "Question"

Oh, great post, Ben! "Readbacks" are a wonderful way to avoid ambiguity.

 

[Ben_ca]

Here's a good example:

Diver 1: signals: Let's go *15 mins* more then *surface/Thumbs*

Diver 2: (wasn't looking and just sees last signal) sees: *Surface/Thumbs*

Diver 1: Thinking diver 2 has a problem and signaled *Surface/Thumbs* replies *thumbs*

I can easily see communication errors and the dive cut short for no reason.

 

[Thalassamania]

I prefer the open palm up for "question."

For those of you who might want to read it and have not already: Thal's Handsignal/Shark Story