Checking your buddy's gas
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I do what Howard does. I have technical training, though I don't do many technical dives, so I responded as a recreational diver. When doing rec dives with anybody, even those I often buddy with, I check pressure, but generally I just ask with signals, "Is your pressure okay?" This is more for me to predict what is coming up in the dive rather than to supervise my dive buddy. When I'm leading dives or diving with an unfamiliar buddy, I check to supervise as well as predict.
beanojones
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I am not seeing in this report where Out of Air was identified as a cause of 45% of fatalities.
I might well be missing it.
BabyDuck
Contributor
with my regular buddy, we only specifically ask pressures to see if a jump or other deviation at what should be close to turn-around is worth it time- & gas-wise. and, of course, at the end of the dive to determine who's buying supper.
in the rare case i'm not diving with him and on a recreational dive with someone i don't know, the brief will be that i expect them to tell me or me to tell them 'i'm at pre-agreed pressure x & it's time to turn the dive'. if i get a query, my answer will be 'ok', because if it wasn't, i'd have turned us, duh. just the opposite of the previous poster, i get annoyed if someone wants to know my numbers unless they have told me ahead of time with a reason, like trying to gauge their sac with an eye to improving it or something. my gas is either ok or we've turned, end of story.
in the rare case i'm not diving with him and on a recreational dive with someone i don't know, the brief will be that i expect them to tell me or me to tell them 'i'm at pre-agreed pressure x & it's time to turn the dive'. if i get a query, my answer will be 'ok', because if it wasn't, i'd have turned us, duh. just the opposite of the previous poster, i get annoyed if someone wants to know my numbers unless they have told me ahead of time with a reason, like trying to gauge their sac with an eye to improving it or something. my gas is either ok or we've turned, end of story.
My brain is always in "stay aware of my group's health" mode even when I'm not acting as a DM. As such I like to keep tabs on my buddy's air supply (and am willing to share my gas status too). Do I need to know the numbers? No, just it is OK. How often I inquire is up to the skill of my buddy and my comfort with them. Generally I use much less percentage of my available gas than my buddy. I also keep track in my mind when my buddy should call the turn.
I'm not trying to be controlling or condescending in doing so. My buddy is welcome to the same info sharing from me. Makes for a more aware team.
As I think about my answer here I should probably have answered: Usually, RT. But then again I'm usually mentoring a new(er) diver. Much less likely with divers I know and am comfortable with their gas management skills.
I'm not trying to be controlling or condescending in doing so. My buddy is welcome to the same info sharing from me. Makes for a more aware team.
As I think about my answer here I should probably have answered: Usually, RT. But then again I'm usually mentoring a new(er) diver. Much less likely with divers I know and am comfortable with their gas management skills.
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Dr. Lecter
Contributor
TT, under specific circumstances. There is not enough money on Earth to make me be professionally responsible for someone else underwater, so I don't have to look at the issue the way instructors/DMs do.
Generally, I dive solo for tech dives and as a solo diver in a gaggle for recreational dives. However, the latter often includes a small planned amount of deco and/or overhead penetration, so the best distinction I can draw is between how ridgidly fixed in advance the gas plan is.
If I'm diving with a buddy on a dive where there's no fixed gas plan, we will agree on turn and/or exit pressures in advance. Generally this takes the form of being buddied up with an instabuddy or diving with my wife out on a reef and agreeing at what point we'll head back and at what point we'll head up. Other times, it may involve agreeing with a buddy to go down, enter an overhead where and as far in as we both are comfortable doing so, and turning the dive whenever some fixed point first comes up (first to 2/3s, first to accrue ascent time that puts us back at or after X time, etc.). On such a dive I will be asking my buddy where they are when/a bit before I reach those points in my own consumption...unless, of course, they've already hit them and told me so.
On dives where there is a fixed gas plan in advance--go to this depth for so many minutes, then ascend and do some stops on backgas, then ascend some more and do more stops on 50%, and finally ascend some more and do remaining stops on 80%, all told burning X of 262cf backgas, Y of 77cf 50%, and Z of 77cf 80%--I'm not communicating gas pressures with my buddy on the rare occasion I have one.
On such a dive we're both focused on diving the plan, which plan doesn't include asking the other guy where he is pressure-wise, though it does include checking your own consumption and alerting the other diver if you've somehow blown the plan. If we're on schedule, the plan has us covered...unless everything's gone to
for some reason, at which point it's manifest that it's time to get out of there and we'll already be actively communicating what we each have gas-wise so we can decide what contingency plan to use for our exit.
Generally, I dive solo for tech dives and as a solo diver in a gaggle for recreational dives. However, the latter often includes a small planned amount of deco and/or overhead penetration, so the best distinction I can draw is between how ridgidly fixed in advance the gas plan is.
If I'm diving with a buddy on a dive where there's no fixed gas plan, we will agree on turn and/or exit pressures in advance. Generally this takes the form of being buddied up with an instabuddy or diving with my wife out on a reef and agreeing at what point we'll head back and at what point we'll head up. Other times, it may involve agreeing with a buddy to go down, enter an overhead where and as far in as we both are comfortable doing so, and turning the dive whenever some fixed point first comes up (first to 2/3s, first to accrue ascent time that puts us back at or after X time, etc.). On such a dive I will be asking my buddy where they are when/a bit before I reach those points in my own consumption...unless, of course, they've already hit them and told me so.
On dives where there is a fixed gas plan in advance--go to this depth for so many minutes, then ascend and do some stops on backgas, then ascend some more and do more stops on 50%, and finally ascend some more and do remaining stops on 80%, all told burning X of 262cf backgas, Y of 77cf 50%, and Z of 77cf 80%--I'm not communicating gas pressures with my buddy on the rare occasion I have one.
On such a dive we're both focused on diving the plan, which plan doesn't include asking the other guy where he is pressure-wise, though it does include checking your own consumption and alerting the other diver if you've somehow blown the plan. If we're on schedule, the plan has us covered...unless everything's gone to
for some reason, at which point it's manifest that it's time to get out of there and we'll already be actively communicating what we each have gas-wise so we can decide what contingency plan to use for our exit.
Ayisha
Contributor
The figure was 41% out of gas. I believe it was referred to in a presentation done after that report. It was also spelled out specifically "41%" (rather than having to do the calculation yourself) in one of the Alert Diver magazines from the last year or so. Here it is: http://www.alertdiver.com/No_Accident
For me theres too many options to give an answer that doesn't take a couple of pages.
Regular buddy,regular buddy with an aparent small gas leak,regular buddy after a layoff,regular buddy new gear,With my kids,with an instabuddy,In a group, On a resort dive,
Regular buddy though we just do an air check once we settle then the first to half tank signals where he's at
Regular buddy,regular buddy with an aparent small gas leak,regular buddy after a layoff,regular buddy new gear,With my kids,with an instabuddy,In a group, On a resort dive,
Regular buddy though we just do an air check once we settle then the first to half tank signals where he's at
With either of my regular buddies, I never ask and they never ask me. If doing a tech dive, I never ask, and never want to be asked. I do my utmost to avoid instabuddies, even if I have to stretch the truth a hair. If saddled with one, I'll answer their inquiries about air, but not ask them.
I'm surprised at the number of 'experienced' divers who seem to find it insulting to be asked their gas during a dive. I've been at this game over 30 years and I don't have any qualms about being asked for my remaining gas.
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