Buddy missing on surface - What would you have done?

[Ber Rabbit]

And again - I am not going to try to defend my actions, but ask for "what would you do" responses.

I'm going another direction with this. How about what I'm willing to do. Find yourself in Ohio sometime when I'm available and we'll go dive for a weekend and see if we can fix any bad habits you may have developed over your diving career. Have I seen horror stories about your diving? Yes. You are willing to put your experiences out here to learn from the board even though you get slammed--sometimes rather roughly, and I can respect that. I'm willing to put time into you if you're willing to change; meet me at the water.
Ber :lilbunny:

 

[DandyDon]

What was the Viz like? Just out of curiosity...

Very clear from strong spring flow - shadows at the bottom of the hole, always have two dive liights ready, but it was late morning so they weren't bad.

Thanks Ber Rabbits, appreciate the offer. Might be worth the trip.

 

[lamont]

Signalling to the person on shore and checking the shore and parking lot should have been the first idea. Next thought is that the person may be extending a safety stop, but you should be able to see them or their bubbles from the surface. Doing a search for the lost buddy underwater, even with a buddy with you, is going to have a pretty low chance of success. Either they're hanging on the line right under you and you should be able to see their bubbles, or else they're off the line and you don't have enough gas for a proper search of the whole site.

All the options suck here, which is why buddy separation is bad. Staying on the surface, alerting shore support, alerting other divers entering the water to be on the lookout for a lost buddy, looking for the lost buddy surfacing downcurrent, getting out of the water and checking the parking lot, and alerting the authorities is the best course of action.

 

[pants!]

This is something like the third near miss I've read from you in the very few weeks I've been on the board, Don. Wow! Forgive me if I don't adopt you as a role model

I've got to agree.

Don, I'm not trying to bash on you here, but your judgement seems to be lacking. I wouldn't have said anything if I hadn't gone and read your other posts.

I suppose you're welcome to take all the risks you want, but it seems like you don't even view this kind of thing as risky. You began a solo, goal-oriented dive with insufficient gas and seem to blame it on the guy you were looking for!! You got into the water in the first place with a poor team of which you had certain expectations, but no reason to have those expectations. You began the dive not with a team at all, but with two possibly poor buddies.. which is quite a bit worse than one bad buddy, IMO.

We're not cowboys, and there's no glory in drowning while attempting a rescue of someone who is perfectly fine.

 

[ShakaZulu]

Would have walked to his car and beat the @#$%23 out of him..........this is where the "TEAM" concept works so well. The only way I get these dives to work is to be the buddy to both divers, and they in turn mine, not each other. I get very annoyed when my buddy doesn't stay close, since he is my secondary air source and I will call a dive if he doesn't comply to our dive plan. The solo rescue attempt will get shot down. Did you have enough O2, I think you know that answer...........avoid these situations and never put yourself in a dangerous situation.

 

[cyklon_300]

go wrong? You had 'stay close' written on your slate.

 

[redacted]

I would not put my well being at serious risk to conduct a solo UW search for an unknown (stranger) buddy who might or might not have a problem. I would have assumed he got out ahead of us or is still at the rest stop and checked those two likely possibilities before raising a general alarm. I would not consider going back to depth without a reasonable indication he is there.

 

[gangrel441]

go wrong? You had 'stay close' written on your slate.

LOL

Check his previous posts. He also had "Let me know when you reach 1500psi" and "let me know when you reach 1000psi" written on there. Pretty much covers all bases, don't it?

 

[DandyDon]

I would not put my well being at serious risk to conduct a solo UW search for an unknown (stranger) buddy who might or might not have a problem. I would have assumed he got out ahead of us or is still at the rest stop and checked those two likely possibilities before raising a general alarm. I would not consider going back to depth without a reasonable indication he is there.

Seems to be the general thought here, and I think you're all right.

Would have walked to his car and beat the @#$%23 out of him..........

A tempting thought that did cross my mind.

 

[gangrel441]

Seems to be the general thought here, and I think you're all right.

And suddenly, the light switch is turned on...