This is what we do. I don't like doing them on the surface because any splashing around, or even wave action, can create bubbles that I'm afraid will make me overlook some problem I should have seen.
R..
Buddy Checks - do you do them?
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This is what we do. I don't like doing them on the surface because any splashing around, or even wave action, can create bubbles that I'm afraid will make me overlook some problem I should have seen.
R..
lavachickie
Contributor
dbulmer
Contributor
For the new diver reading this thread never forget that there is no harm in asking for help if you need it either from your buddy or boat crew nor is there any harm in offering help either to any diver. Experienced tech divers will often decline help but that does not mean they don't appreciate the gesture - even the most self sufficient divers out there need a helping hand from time to time.
On a UK boat 10 minutes before a dive you could hear a pin drop - buddy checks are being done but silently - banter ensues when something isn't quite right - for example you've got kitted up but you've forgotten about the line used to secure your tanks - guilty
or somehow you forgot your weight belt or you can't reach your fins. At times like that a helping hand is really welcome.
On a UK boat 10 minutes before a dive you could hear a pin drop - buddy checks are being done but silently - banter ensues when something isn't quite right - for example you've got kitted up but you've forgotten about the line used to secure your tanks - guilty
or somehow you forgot your weight belt or you can't reach your fins. At times like that a helping hand is really welcome.
Mike Boswell
Contributor
When we feel we have the time, my wife and I do a pretty thorough buddy check.
In those cases where time is critical, we omit the checks, because it's faster to find out what's wrong after jumping into the water, and to climb back into the boat and fix it.
In those cases where time is critical, we omit the checks, because it's faster to find out what's wrong after jumping into the water, and to climb back into the boat and fix it.
Not only do I do buddy checks, but I then check each one of my students and assistants. I want to be sure that everyone is ready to go into the water and be safe, but also that they are ready to enjoy the up coming dive. Buddy checks are a MUST for all divers.
huzenhagen
Registered
wrong thread
DaleC
Contributor
Bob and Lynne,
I'm not criticizing the technique; just curious as to what would be checked in such a situation.
Lavachickie. I don't think what happened to you was acceptable either. If we agree to be a buddy team I will accompany you all the way to the exit or make sure you are knowingly making an alternative decision. If you're a new diver I won't let you do it anyways.
While I may have a certain degree of self sufficiency towards my own diving I am, in fact, somewhat of a mother hen when it comes to less experienced divers within a group. It doesn't bother me to dive conservatively with a newer diver. However I also team up with some fairly experienced and independant divers and we tend to have a "pack your own chute" mentality towards some things. That's just the way it is. Some have been diving way longer than me and some of us solo on a regular basis.
There are also a lot of subtle things going on that a new diver may not pick up on if simply observing a regular buddy team. My last dive was such a case in point:
We knew days in advance where we were going, what our MODs would be and what gas we would be choosing. A discussion with the boat captain during the ride out covered much of the weather, currents, location features and drop and boarding procedures. Knowing my partner was an experienced, conservative diver who would not go into deco I knew we would be limited by our NDL's, not gas and, seeing as he uses the same BCD/weight integration system as my poodle jacket, I was already familiar with his releases. As previously stated, the way we don our gear ensured we had bouyancy, air and releases covered.
A brief discussion in the water as to our operating depth and direction with a note to RZ at depth, combined with a buddy distance rated for visibility conditions and we were good to go.
With a new diver I would act differently but I would also try to explain a lot of the thinking behind some of our decisions and hopefully help them to understand the why and not just the what.
I'm not criticizing the technique; just curious as to what would be checked in such a situation.
Lavachickie. I don't think what happened to you was acceptable either. If we agree to be a buddy team I will accompany you all the way to the exit or make sure you are knowingly making an alternative decision. If you're a new diver I won't let you do it anyways.
While I may have a certain degree of self sufficiency towards my own diving I am, in fact, somewhat of a mother hen when it comes to less experienced divers within a group. It doesn't bother me to dive conservatively with a newer diver. However I also team up with some fairly experienced and independant divers and we tend to have a "pack your own chute" mentality towards some things. That's just the way it is. Some have been diving way longer than me and some of us solo on a regular basis.
There are also a lot of subtle things going on that a new diver may not pick up on if simply observing a regular buddy team. My last dive was such a case in point:
We knew days in advance where we were going, what our MODs would be and what gas we would be choosing. A discussion with the boat captain during the ride out covered much of the weather, currents, location features and drop and boarding procedures. Knowing my partner was an experienced, conservative diver who would not go into deco I knew we would be limited by our NDL's, not gas and, seeing as he uses the same BCD/weight integration system as my poodle jacket, I was already familiar with his releases. As previously stated, the way we don our gear ensured we had bouyancy, air and releases covered.
A brief discussion in the water as to our operating depth and direction with a note to RZ at depth, combined with a buddy distance rated for visibility conditions and we were good to go.
With a new diver I would act differently but I would also try to explain a lot of the thinking behind some of our decisions and hopefully help them to understand the why and not just the what.
Buddy check for 12 foot lumpsucker dive:
Got your hood? Got your mask? Check primary in the water (eliminates folded diaphragms and catches subtle freeflowing) Check backup. Wing inflate/deflate/dump valve? Drysuit inflate/dump valve open? Gauges? Weights? Cutting implement? Pocket contents? Fins? Takes about as long to do as it does to read (With non-DIR buddies, I'll also ask about releases and how somebody's weight is configured. I'll make sure I know where all their dump valves are and how they are operated -- you'd be amazed at how many people don't even KNOW where all their options for venting their BC are! --and I'll have a quick look at their inflator, so I know how IT works. I got stuck once with a buddy with severe buoyancy issues, and his inflator had little colored PLATES on it instead of buttons. I had no idea which did what, and some of them seemed to do nothing.)
Dive plan for 12 foot lumpsucker dive: Goals -- to look for lumpsuckers! Course described. Team: Bob leading, me and Kathy flanking him. Special equipment? Bob's camera. Exposure? 20 feet max, time around an hour or until somebody got cold. Deco? Irrelevant. Gas? Who has what, where we head home. Environment? Shallow, silty, sometimes unpredictable current.
Again, took about as much time to run through as to read. And when we got in the water, everybody knew where we were going, how we were going there, how long we were going to be there and what parameter would determine that, and what to expect from the dive. We also knew everything was working and nobody had forgotten anything or had any issues.
Contrast that with the dive I did at the same site, where I did a ten minute surface swim to discover I couldn't descend because I had forgotten my weight belt -- we had all geared up in different cars, and hadn't run through a team check before getting in the water. It was a long swim and a long walk back to get it.
It's not hard to do! And it saves a bunch of inconvenience.
Got your hood? Got your mask? Check primary in the water (eliminates folded diaphragms and catches subtle freeflowing) Check backup. Wing inflate/deflate/dump valve? Drysuit inflate/dump valve open? Gauges? Weights? Cutting implement? Pocket contents? Fins? Takes about as long to do as it does to read
(With non-DIR buddies, I'll also ask about releases and how somebody's weight is configured. I'll make sure I know where all their dump valves are and how they are operated -- you'd be amazed at how many people don't even KNOW where all their options for venting their BC are! --and I'll have a quick look at their inflator, so I know how IT works. I got stuck once with a buddy with severe buoyancy issues, and his inflator had little colored PLATES on it instead of buttons. I had no idea which did what, and some of them seemed to do nothing.)Dive plan for 12 foot lumpsucker dive: Goals -- to look for lumpsuckers! Course described. Team: Bob leading, me and Kathy flanking him. Special equipment? Bob's camera. Exposure? 20 feet max, time around an hour or until somebody got cold. Deco? Irrelevant. Gas? Who has what, where we head home. Environment? Shallow, silty, sometimes unpredictable current.
Again, took about as much time to run through as to read. And when we got in the water, everybody knew where we were going, how we were going there, how long we were going to be there and what parameter would determine that, and what to expect from the dive. We also knew everything was working and nobody had forgotten anything or had any issues.
Contrast that with the dive I did at the same site, where I did a ten minute surface swim to discover I couldn't descend because I had forgotten my weight belt -- we had all geared up in different cars, and hadn't run through a team check before getting in the water. It was a long swim and a long walk back to get it.
It's not hard to do! And it saves a bunch of inconvenience.
I would like to also add that in class, I pull something special out of the hat for my students if they don't see me doing self-checks, buddy checking with the team, buddy checking with an assistant or other dive pro, or if they don't check me themselves.
Often, instructors (and I used to be guilty of this myself) somehow remove themselves from the team and from reinforcing the fact that everyone should perform checks on all dives. Thanks to a divemaster student who was kind of a pain in the butt because he insisted on complete checks for all our dives - even when he and I were diving together for fun in shallow water, I started emphasizing that students should watch their dive leaders and not just their buddies and make sure that the dive leaders do some sort of check. It doesn't have to be elaborate.
I teach them to never let a tech or cave instructor get away with not being checked by the student team just to be thorough and bust some 'nads.
Often, instructors (and I used to be guilty of this myself) somehow remove themselves from the team and from reinforcing the fact that everyone should perform checks on all dives. Thanks to a divemaster student who was kind of a pain in the butt because he insisted on complete checks for all our dives - even when he and I were diving together for fun in shallow water, I started emphasizing that students should watch their dive leaders and not just their buddies and make sure that the dive leaders do some sort of check. It doesn't have to be elaborate.
I teach them to never let a tech or cave instructor get away with not being checked by the student team just to be thorough and bust some 'nads.
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