Buddy Line!!!

[Harvo]

Do you live in FL?

That is the kind of stuff I'm in to. I plan to look for fossils in the winter months in the Peace River.

I would love to have a mentor in this area.

About the buddy line, personally I perfer to meet at surface at a set time. This way in O VIS, you can look for what you want and not your buddy.

But with the line in O VIS help as stated above is a tug away.

 

[kavka]

Bled diving club is the only club in Slovenia where budy line is a must! There were no problems with budy line, but I still don't like it.:upset:

 

[Rick Murchison]

There are conditions where a buddy line is appropriate and "the easiest and safest" choice for the circumstances. The low vis shark tooth hunt is a good example of where a buddy line is better than touch-contact (if you're meeting on the surface you're diving solo - and that's an entirely different discussion). Many folks make the mistake of making their buddy line too long, and it can indeed become an entanglement hazard. My personal "sissy" line (I use it for a whole raft of things including a buddy line) is about four and a half feet long, but when using it as a buddy line I generally "choke up" on it to three feet or so. It's made of poly so it floats up with slack on its own. Although the line has a bolt snap on one end and a suicide snap on the other (for other uses) I never clip it off to myself or my buddy, but we wrap it around our hands in a way that is both secure and can be instantly released. (and hides the snaps so they can't grab fishing line on their own)
Conditions that dictate a buddy line are narrow, but they exist. I have used mine once (as a buddy line - it's seen use as a Jon line, fish stringer, lift line etc many times) recently, the first time in three or four years (several hundred dives).
I carry my sissy/buddy line on every dive.
Rick

 

[DennisW]

There are conditions that warrant a buddy line, I mostly use mine for hanging off the anchor line for my safety stops when it gets crowded.

When you want to keep track of your buddy at Venice Beach while hunting for sharks teeth, a buddy line is a must. Why?, because your entire concentration is on the sand in front of your face. Because of that fact, you cannot keep track of your buddy in less than 2 ft of vis. I dare you to. I won't say it can't be done, but if you do, I'll bring up more teeth than you.

 

[DA Aquamaster]

DennisW once bubbled...
There are conditions that warrant a buddy line, I mostly use mine for hanging off the anchor line for my safety stops when it gets crowded.

Sounds like a Jon line not a Buddy line. Jon lines make a lot of sense as do reef hooks in areas with strong currents.

 

[Walter]

A buddy line can easily double as a jon line. I was using a buddy line as a jon line long before I'd ever heard of a jon line.

 

[jonnythan]

DA Aquamaster once bubbled...
I agree a buddy line is a serious entanglement risk, but then I dive in reservoirs that still have trees in them.

Pactola? I went to Spearfish a few times last year and was wondering what the diving there was like...

 

[Diver0001]

DennisW once bubbled...
There are conditions that warrant a buddy line, I mostly use mine for hanging off the anchor line for my safety stops when it gets crowded.

When you want to keep track of your buddy at Venice Beach while hunting for sharks teeth, a buddy line is a must. Why?, because your entire concentration is on the sand in front of your face. Because of that fact, you cannot keep track of your buddy in less than 2 ft of vis. I dare you to. I won't say it can't be done, but if you do, I'll bring up more teeth than you.

I respectfully beg to differ. In your first case you describe something else, namely a jon line. A buddy line is something else; like a leash used to keep your buddy from getting too far away.

In your second case, a good buddy team would have one buddy looking for shark's teeth and the other buddy watching the team. Otherwise you're both diving solo and you should be kitted out for that.

R..

 

[DennisW]

I can use my buddy line as a Jon line or as a buddy line, my preference. Besides, we both want to look for shark teeth, also our preference, not yours. If you don't like it, you don't want to look for shark teeth with me. The system works well. You can like it or not, no skin off my nose.

 

[LVX]

I totally agree with Diver0001. Again, if both members of a buddy team are so preoccupied by their activities that they cannot keep track of one another then maybe a specialty course is necessary to aquaint the team to low vis diving and buddy communication. There is no excuse for loosing your buddy because you are too busy looking for sharks teeth, and I don't care if my buddy comes up with more than I do. This is about safety not how many objects I was able to retrieve.

LVX