buddy seperation and safety stop

[dmmike]

A question to the general public:

I've sat thru many classes as a DM while the instuctor's cover the classroom section, and this gives a person a lot of time to think about the information that is being presented. My question is, when the subject of being seperated from your buddy is covered I hear the same talk, look for one minute then go to the surface and wait. I belive that inclued in that section should be a reminder that based on time and depth a safety stop should be done. Some of my peers feel that this is not required and getting to the surface is first and most important. Not so I say, you need to safe guard yourself at all times so you do not become a victim. I believe that a safety stop is always important and that if your buddy is truly lost you will do more good if you arrive at the surface safe then getting there with a possible DCS hit.

Your thoughts on this subject are wecome as always.

 

[jepuskar]

Getting to the surface in a 'safe' condition should be the number one priority.

I think this depends on how long you been down and how far and the experience of your buddy. If missing a safety stop based on the above variables puts you in danger of a hit, then you should not miss your safety stop. What are you going to accomplish by missing the stop? Get to the surface quicker?? If your buddy was smart..he would be doing a safety stop wherever he was at. This is something that should be discussed in the 'what happens if we lose each other' pre-dive talk..that way you and your buddy both know the procedures.

But, what do I know...I haven't even done a open water dive yet!

 

[jbd]

a safety stop should be a given. IMHO just because you and your buddy have become seperated doesn't mean something dire has happened to the buddy. Like jepuskar says the buddy should be doing a safety stop also.

 

[Rick Murchison]

I learned to dive on the 60/60/60 tables. Still have 'em. Sixty feet for sixty minutes followed by a sixty fpm ascent to the surface. No safety stop. They didn't exist. The guys I dove with and I dove this way for two decades before I ever even heard of a safety stop. Never knew anyone to get DCS that I dove with.
What's the point? The tables are conservative. On the scale of important things, the safety stop is real low on the totem pole. Sorta depends on the conditions, but if there's even the remotest possibility that your lost buddy could be in any kind of trouble, getting to the surface and starting a proper search is far more important than a safety stop. (not to be confused with a decompression stop, which is a different matter entirely, and mandatory unless you know your buddy needs help - and even then you should have procedures in place to summon that help without missing your deco stop)
Rick

 

[Scubamedicjoe]

personally i think we should still do the safty stop why , can never be too cautious , second allways take care of number one , you cant help anyone if ou get hurt or injuried your self

 

[jepuskar]

I'm not gonna disagree with someone who obviously has way more experience than me, but I really want too.

 

[divernva]

Might be something to discuss during pre-dive. "Meet at the anchor/upline" might be appropriate.

As someone mentioned, the stop would probably depend on the depth as well as time you were in the water. If you're close to NDL, definitely do the recommended stops. If it was a shallow dive for 5 minutes, you're probably okay to surface... just ascend very slowly to help off-gas as much as possible.

I also agree that you'll probably meet your buddy near the surface, if both dive profiles were similar. If the vis is really bad, try using your light. Again, something to be discussed during pre-dive.

Ken

 

[scuba-sass]

This was brought home to me recently during the Navigation course I just completed with my buddy. We had discussed the plan that "if separated, search for 1 minute, then surface" but hadn't mentioned the safety stop. Granted we were only in 30 - 40 feet of water, and I think our longest dive was 20 minutes.

On the last dive, we'd been down about 10-12 minutes, max at 20 feet, me leading, and Lydia pulling the flag. By this time, the tide was much lower than when we started the day, so the lobster pot lines were hanging at quite an angle, and easy to miss. Lydia was swimming happily along, and then she just couldn't move forward. I look around, and she is no where to be found.

Neither of us even considered doing a safety stop. Now, I like to think that, had we been deeper, or down longer - we would have. But the point is - whe should have discussed it ahead of time. We certainly do now...

The other lesson learned - one minute is an eternity!

Dive Safe & Happy,

Scuba-sass

 

[Taz]

Here in the UK most of the Diving I do is in poor visibility.
Buddy seperation is quite common..
Myself and my buddy always cover this problem in our pre dive chat....
Yes 1 min does seem to take forever.......
I have had a scarey moment when my buddy and i were seperated in poor vis with 10mins deco to do......... we both looked for 1 min, checked for bubbles, went back the way we came did all the usual checks. then at exactly the same time we both sent up SMBs. (our suface boat cover said the SMBs came up at the same time although quite a distance apart) we proceeded to do our deco stop then surfaced........
The boat picked us both up and everything was fine........
Because we had discussed the problem in our pre dive chat, the whole seperation thing went acording to text book..................After the dive i said to my buddy where were you? he replyed .... i saw really unusuall fish and before i knew it we were seperated...............It really can be that quick in bad vis..........
please excuse my terrible spelling
Tara

As some one once said..........
Perfect planning prevents perthetic performance...
Im just thankfull all was well.

 

[Rick Murchison]

It is refreshing to me to see that our efforts to instil safe practices regarding slow ascent rates and precautionary safety stops have taken a strong hold in the general recreational diving community. It is distressing, however, to see a level of either misunderstanding of the margins or a preference for an absolutely huge margin of safety for one's own delicate little body over the distinct possibility that someone else may need help.
Let's look at some real numbers -
Using the "doppler" version of the Navy tables, you have a maximum NDL of 50 minutes at 60 feet. According to the reasoning I've seen expressed here, many feel they are on the verge of DCS at this point and a safety stop is "mandatory" - or certainly more important than cutting three minutes off the time to find a lost buddy. But a closer look at the whole table reveals that no stop at all is required until bottom time has exceeded 60 minutes, and at 70 minutes the deco stop required is 2 minutes at 10 feet.
The wording for the safety stop is "recommended" - the basis for the recommendation is the large reduction in asymptomatic ("silent") bubbles that can result in cases where these bubbles exist (which is by no means every dive) from doing such a stop.
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Let me try to put this yet another way:
I would never, ever put a "recommended" procedure ahead of my buddy's safety, nor would I dive with anyone who would put a "recommended" procedure ahead of mine.
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There are a few things less important than a safety stop - for example, if you reach 500 psi before you've finished your safety stop, don't abandon the saftey stop to get back aboard with 500 psi. We plan for that 500 psi pad for just such an occasion.
Rick