Buddy Checks - Old school or really Cool?

[Diver0001]

It's been a couple of years since we had a poll about buddy checks.

What's different about this poll as compared to the previous one is that I don't only want to know IF you do or don't perform a buddy check but if you do it how you were taught

If you don't do it how you were taught, please post and explain why.

R..

 

[Cave Diver]

I've been taught a different form of buddy check by almost every different agency/class I've taken.

My buddy checks vary by buddy and dive situation. The less I know someone or more complicated the dive, the more thorough the check.

For my regular dive buddy, I'm always present as we go through prep and he just gets a quick once over before we hit the water then again during s-drills. Anyone else I dive with gets more extensive checks.

 

[MXGratefulDiver]

My buddy checks are going to depend on who I'm diving with and what type of dive we're doing. Some of that has to do with circumstances, and some with comfort level.

I have some buddies who go through the exact same routine no matter what or where we're diving. I'll happily comply. People who trained PADI will want to do a very different kind of buddy check than those who trained GUE. On a lot of simple dives with familiar buddies, the only "formality" will be a bubble check ... pretty much everything else gets a visual once-over before we ever get to that point. On more complex dives, we'll be more thorough ... as appropriate to the dive ... and can involve a quick verbal review of the dive plan and a final gas check before we descend.

Pretty much none of it is exactly as I was taught in my original YMCA OW class ... except the notion that we should be doing one. And even then there are exceptions ... I do dive with some folks who's attitude is that they're capable of checking their own gear. I can respect that ... because I'm familiar enough with their skill level to know that they are right.

... Bob (Grateful Diver)

 

[Crowley]

It is in everybody's interest to perform a good buddy check before entering the water. Many people do not. Last month my dive centre had a complaint that the DM allowed a customer to gear up on an empty tank. We're a busy dive centre, every now and then an empty tank gets left on the boat and one couple (hundreds of dives each) flopped off the boat and surfaced 5 minutes later having run very low on air indeed. I would suggest that the outcome could have been a lot worse.

Our manager's response was to remind them about buddy checks.

They may well be taught differently and there may be arguments for or against a particular sequence to the check but as long as we are doing them correctly, many problems can be avoided. People of different experience levels will perform them differently - I can pretty much perform a buddy check just by looking at a diver - but that is kinda part of my job. I still do them though.

All too often, I find people go through the routine but don't pay attention to it.
- is the weight belt correctly fastened?
- are they wearing integrated weights and do you know how to use them?
- do they have push fasteners or clips on their BCD?
- where is their alternate air source located and how does it function?
- what the hell is that weird harness?
- how much air is really in the tank and is the SPG needle wobbling?
- do they have metric or imperial gauges?

When I am teaching I will often set up on a short tank and when my student performs the buddy check I will hide my SPG afterwards and ask what my tank pressure is. 90% of the response is an automatic "200 bar" - ie the standard fill. I then display my SPG and they realise my tank is half-empty and don't make the same mistake again!

BWRAF is fine, as long as you're doing it properly.

I suspect a number of diving fatalities could have been prevented by a proper buddy check.

Safe diving,

C.

 

[H2O 70]

I find when I'm diving with my regular buddies, about the only thing we check is if our air is on, how much air we have, and a quick bubble check.

I find when I'm in a DM role, I'm supervising the others doing their buddy checks as well as I'm going through and checking their stuff. My personal buddy check is making sure I've got my stuff I need...fins, computer, mask, tank, BP/W, reel lift bag, both air sources work while looking at my SPG to make sure my needle isn't moving.

I wouldn't say buddy checks are for noobs only, but they become more a motor skill and almost subconscious the more you dive. Currently I'm not at the level where I doing technical dives where I'm sure the checks are more deliberate.

 

[OldNSalty]

I don't even remember how I was taught so I am guessing 'No: I have my own form of buddy check' but it could actually be 'Yes: I do it exactly how I was taught'.

I wonder how many of us, if we took a refresher, would find that we have forgotten something important...

 

[TSandM]

I have some buddies who go through the exact same routine no matter what or where we're diving.

Now, Bob, who in the world could you be talking about?

I'm a PITA. I do a basic dive plan review and a head-to-toe equipment check, precisely as I was taught, for virtually every single dive. (The exceptions are things like taking a new diver into the water to do a weighting or trim check, that kind of thing where you're only going to be underwater for three or four minutes and very shallow.) In fact, the first dive I did with kathydee, who is currently about as rabidly DIR as the worst immediate post-Fundies person, she looked at Bob and said, "Does she always go through this for a 10 foot shore dive?"

The answer is yes. The reason is simple. It takes very little time, prevents all kinds of inconveniences, and puts the team on the same page.

The only place I get into trouble is that sometimes, when I'm diving with new divers, I forget to go through some of the things that aren't IN my check, like releases, or reviewing where inflation mechanisms are and how they work.

 

[dhuskins]

It has been drilled into me in numerous activities in my life: The two groups of people who get hurt are: Beginners who don't know what they need to know and experienced people who skip preparation steps often through oversight or making assumptions it is still okay. Diving seems to be one of those activities.

When I recreation dive with my wife, we set up our gear together at the same pace. We do some of our buddy check as we assemble (I'm using 18# on this dive with it split 8 and 8 in my dump bags, and one pound in each trim pouch.) If we leave our gear unattended for ANY amount of time (or someone is closer to our gear than we are), we ignore any "pre-check" and go through it all over again. Back when I dove with a setup that closely matched the rental gear of a dive operator, I have seen people checking what they thought was their rental stuff. Now that my gear is pretty distinctive looking, that doesn't happen.

When working as a DM, we go through the full check just before diving in addition to our usual check. We are also pretty loud about it because we want our students to realize that even the "pros" do it religiously.

We typically find something needing adjusting or something new on one or the other rig on every vacation. It can be small like changing weight part way through the vacation to big like forgetting to turn on our air. The pre-dive check catches these things.

 

[LeadTurn_SD]

...If you don't do it how you were taught, please post and explain why.

R..

I've needed to add checks for equipment that I did not use when I started diving, and eliminate checks for equiment I no longer use:

Add: BC, Octo and associated hoses, dive computer.

Subtract: J-valve

I was not taught a "formal" buddy check (in the way I think you mean it), other than to perform a complete head-to-toe visual of our buddy, be sure the tank valve was on (and tank was full!).... The gear was less complicated, and there was less of it, and you could quickly see if something was not "right" with your buddy's gear.

I still do a complete head-to-toe check, it just takes a little longer now

Best wishes.

 

[gcbryan]

I can't describe my habits or thinking any better than Bob described them.