Buddy responsibilities

[OldNSalty]

I’ve been reading about a few OOA situations recently and I am wondering about my own habits, good and bad. I try and go it alone as much as I can but when I do have an insta-buddy I find myself constantly communicating my PSI and expect them to do the same (constantly being about every 500 to 1000 PSI).

I don’t know if this annoys them or not but I’ve been paired with a lot of new or bad divers and frankly I don’t want you using up all my air, I may need it later and I don’t want to be put in a situation where I have to remember all that stuff from rescue class.

So what is your responsibility to your buddy and am I being insufferable or cautious?

 

[RJP]

Your obligation to your buddy - and their obligation to you - is comprised of whatever the two of you discuss and agree to during your pre-dive planning.

You mention that you "expect" your buddy to do certain things... and that you're unsure whether things you do are annoying to them. I'm imagining that these things are not discussed pre-dive?

You're making a big assumption that you're entitled to the air in anyone else's tank if you haven't had a conversation about that (gas plan, turn pressure/time, etc) before getting in the water with them.

 

[nolatom]

I often dive with instabuddies. And I discuss with each how I signal air, and when I'll do it.. 2000, 1500, 1000, maybe more. I want to know early on if we are much different in air usage rate.

I have always taken it as gospel that the last 500 pounds is for buddy if needed, so try not to use it yourself. I think that's a moral, rather than a legal, "rule". And if we agree to start the ascent at say 1000, then the 500 to spare should take care of itself.

So I vote "no" to insufferable, and "yes" to cautious. But of course, I wasn't there ;-)


Oh, and if your buddy is a photographer, all bets are off....

 

[wetb4igetinthewater]

Oh, and if your buddy is a photographer, all bets are off....

If my dive buddy looks for critters for me to take pictures of, then I'm more than happy to buddy breath off my pony bottle if necessary. Such dive buddies are gold!

 

[timz]

Talking about photography...

I had my Open Water on the 1st April this year. Yeah, on a funny day. I booked for a 4D/3N trip with 7 dives in total.

My instructor and I did 2 dives at house reef(shore dive) around 10m depth on the day of arival and the next day onward, it'll all boat dives with 15-18m depth.

On my 3rd dive, I was already diving with other divers and I remained buddy pair with my instructor and she've been constantly checking on my air. At the same time, there was this guy whom bought a new strobe and was excited about it. He kept taking picture whenever he see something that trigger his interest. 35 minutes into the dive, while i was communicating with my intructor, the camera man swam to us panickly signalling OOA and don't know what to do. My instructor pull out her alternate air source with one hand and pull out his primary second stage. And quickly push it into his mouth.

And 3 of us ascended and ended the dive.

On the boat, i peep onto his SPG and it was 15bar(217psi) left in the tank!!!

At the end of dive, when the group ascent, his buddy came onto the boat and the first thing he said to his buddy was "Yo brother, what happened???"

my instrustor was a little pissed and she told me never ever leave your buddy unless he/she is doing something stupid that may harm you. And always make it a habbit to check your buddy's air regularly. When u check his, you will check yours as well.

On my next dive onwards, my instructor made me estimate my consumption ocasionally without looking on my SPG.

 

[glassbottom]

I’ve been reading about a few OOA situations recently and I am wondering about my own habits, good and bad. I try and go it alone as much as I can but when I do have an insta-buddy I find myself constantly communicating my PSI and expect them to do the same (constantly being about every 500 to 1000 PSI).

I don’t know if this annoys them or not but I’ve been paired with a lot of new or bad divers and frankly I don’t want you using up all my air, I may need it later and I don’t want to be put in a situation where I have to remember all that stuff from rescue class.

So what is your responsibility to your buddy and am I being insufferable or cautious?

I have found that over-communicating your psig can cause confusion to a buddy, who may think you want to surface or are anxious to surface. I usually try to agree on a pre-determined "time to ascend psig" and that the first to get halfway to that point should communicate their psig at that point as well as when its time to begin ascent.


For example my perma-buddy and I typically stay 60 fsw or shallower. For a 60 fsw dive we agree to being surfacing at 1000 PSI so we have enough for a safety stop if we need to buddy breath/use an octo. We typically start with 3000-3200 psig, we hit 2k we inform each other we are half way through.


For shallower dives like 30 fsw, that number is closer to 750-500 psig

I try to do the same with an insta-buddy but stay more conservative (ie: surface at 1500 psig). But I have also resolved to carry a pony when this occurs as ive been left a few times recently which left me a little less than happy.

 

[OldNSalty]

You mention that you "expect" your buddy to do certain things... and that you're unsure whether things you do are annoying to them. I'm imagining that these things are not discussed pre-dive?

You are imagining all wrong.

You're making a big assumption that you're entitled to the air in anyone else's tank if you haven't had a conversation about that (gas plan, turn pressure/time, etc) before getting in the water with them.

I attempt to have these conversations, sometimes it is with disinterested people. I always assume that a certain amount of air in my tank is for someone else even if they didn't discuss it with me pre-dive. Do you turn people away when they are out of air and hadn't discussed it with you before hand?

 

[TMHeimer]

With instabuddies (always the case), I discuss turn around point and total bottom time planned at said depth (as well as where we'll explore, etc.). Many times I have been buddied with experienced divers so there's not a need to constantly ask air pressure (unlike with student or very new divers). My big thing is always be right with your buddy and agree on a "formation". This seems to be a problem for a lot of new divers and some not so new. Does no good to agree on a plan then not be right together. Doesn't matter how well you know buddy skills if not close enough to do them.