Checking your buddy's gas

Do you check your buddy's gas during a dive?

  • Always; I am recreationally trained

    Votes: 96 46.4%
  • Always; I am technically trained

    Votes: 19 9.2%
  • Under specific circumstances; RT

    Votes: 34 16.4%
  • Under specific circumstances, TT

    Votes: 28 13.5%
  • Rarely or never, RT

    Votes: 16 7.7%
  • Rarely or never, TT

    Votes: 14 6.8%

  • Total voters
    207

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rjp hits it well
i know what my buddy of 100 dives uses
he knows my usage...
now new buddys,thats a whole different diving picture.
period.
out of habit with students,and to show mentorship,i always ask remaining air
makes them think it's important somehow!
have fun
yaeg
 
Non-Technical

Usually only with new buddies. I tell them prior to the dive that it's not my intention to ask or check and we talk about signalling that a turn point has been reached. If credibility is getting strained I will ask to see, sometimes with results to my horror despite the briefing.

I was at the local training quarry years ago, meeting a new diver who I had connected with on the local diving website. He was green, but seemed to have his stuff relatively together. We agreed we'd let the other know when 1/2 tank was reached. At about 30min "apparently" I reached 1/2 tank before he did. Surprised at his great gas consumption I signaled "what's your pressure" to him, to which he responded "2,100" with a flurry of fingers. Now we were 30min into a dive, I'm very good on gas, he's new and flailing everywhere, so there's no way he's got more gas left than I do. So I signal him again, and again he responds "2,100." So I swim over and take his console in hand. It reads "100psi" - and we're at about 50ft in the middle of the quarry! I deployed my long-hose to him - which he accepted, but with a clear look of confusion - and signaled that we'd ascend on a nearby line. Did a three minute stop and surfaced. When I asked him WTF he did admit that when I asked him about his pressure that was actually the first time he checked, but he did indeed have 2,100psi left, so it obviously wasn't a problem. When I told him he had 100psi he looked at the console and said, "Nope. Says 21-hundred right here... see." As soon as he turned it around I wanted to smack him in the head.

Me: "That number is not your PSI, that's your nitrox percentage you idiot!"
He: "Really? Cool! I had no idea this computer had a nitrox analyzer built in!"

Needless to say, I did not dive with him again.
 
I have three usual dive buddies. I never ask to see their tank pressure. Even if I were paired with someone I had never dove with, I wouldn't check their pressure. On a typical dive we may agree before we start the dive we will turn the dive at maybe half a tank but it is up to me to let them know when I am at half tank and I expect the same from them.
 
I checked "always, rec. trained". I have OCS with air, constantly aware of mine. When I had a buddy I checked him too. Now I mostly dive solo-- still OCS. Air is the main thing, no matter what.
 
Always always always. I dive almost exclusively with my wife. Our gas consumption rates are within 10% of each other. I still ask her in regular intervals, but more frequently as we get closer to our turnaround/ascent pressure, even though she lets me know when she gets low on her own. It never hurts to double check.
 
Before we splash we discuss it. The first one to reach 1/2 notifies the other, who ever gets to 700 psi first notifies the other. I have never done a dive that I did not check with my buddy to see how much air s/he has at some point.
 
When I dive with my usual buddy there's nothing to it. We both have galileo luna's and the computer will pair to the buddy's transmitter. I do usually check my buddy's gas when diving with other buddies the regular way, though.
 
Having gotten involved in "the other thread" I'll give the same answer: I'll confirm gas supplies during the pre-dive check and then not ask at all during the dive WITH A REGULAR BUDDY. OTOH, if I'm diving with someone new (that is, a new diver) I will query or look several times during the dive.

Yes, ALL "technical" diving is "recreational" diving BUT, come-on guys, we all know that "common usage" has created a split in the training of "recreational" (non-overhead, non-deco, above 130 feet) and "technical" (overhead, real or virtual).
 
Yes, ALL "technical" diving is "recreational" diving BUT, come-on guys, we all know that "common usage" has created a split in the training of "recreational" (non-overhead, non-deco, above 130 feet) and "technical" (overhead, real or virtual).

I don't think the split is that simple. Personally I think I have a lot of skills and mindset of the latter but I choose to dive profiles that are of the former. If I wanted to drop (quite) a few more thousand on gear and training I'm sure I could be full trimix / cave certified in no time.
 
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