Checking your buddy's gas

[MXGratefulDiver]

My rules of thumb ...

- When I'm teaching, I check by looking at their gauge
- When I'm diving with unfamiliar, but experienced divers, I ask at least once during the dive, and gauge their consumption relative to mine
- When I'm diving with familiar, and experienced divers, I assume they're capable of letting me know if we need to deviate from the plan based on gas consumption

... Bob (Grateful Diver)

 

[Paulmal]

If I remember my Adv Nitrox book correctly, you can do 200 OTU's a day for respective dives and 800 OTU for a single day of diving, but that is a bit beyond the training of most rec divers.

 

[windapp]

I check my buddy's air occasionally to keep track of things like turnaround points. At the same time, I let my buddy know how much air I have left so that he/she can also keep track of the same things.

 

[AfterDark]

At the start of the dive

If during the dive I see bubbles coming from my buddies rig, that deserves a pressure check.

When my gas is approaching turn around, how's yours?

When diving with a new or new to me diver and I haven't seen them check their gas by the halfway point in the dive.

After swimming in a fast current, I'll check my pressure and signal my buddy to do the same.

 

[Abdullah]

I'm tec trained and I was trained to always check. Even with buddies I know very well, we check once during the dive about half way to the turn pressure. A lot of things not related to diving can affect SAC. Work stress, injuries, illness, and the like can have an effect on the body and on air consumption. It's like a bubble check, a little insurance that we're still on plan.

 

[soltari675]

Depends. My two regular dive buddies? Not often. Usually when I get to about half I'll ask theirs. But they are solid divers and will tell me when they want to turn around. Anyone else and I ask regularly, more often if the buddy is new to me.

 

[KD8NPB]

At about 15-20 min, I'll ask what their pressure is to see if their gas consumption is about on par with mine.

 

[dmoore19]

I ask and I demand an answer. If you don't like it then we will likely not make good buddies. Your personal problems with answering my question is not of importance. You can deny me an answer to my question if you want. In response I will likely not care if you feel you are superior to me. Answer my question or dive on your own. I do not care, if you do not give me the courtesy of answering my inquiry you are obviously too good (in your mind) to answer me.

 

[freewillie]

I am rec trained with AOW. My usual dive buddies are my 15 yo daughter and 25 yo nephew, both are relatively new to diving.

Gas planning is simply first person gets to specified PSI give the turn around signal. During the dive there are frequent checks but not every few minutes. I usually start checking their air once I hit 2400 PSI to see where they are compared to me. Depending on how close they are to the turn around time dictates how often I check.

We also quickly review the hand signals before each dive to make sure we are all on the same page and as a quick review. During dive brief I ask them to show me how to indicate "x" PSI. If I'm still not sure what they gave me during the dive I will grab their gauge and check it myself. I know this won't fly on an instabuddy setting with a stranger but we are family. Besides, I couldnt go home if something happened to either of them.

DAN statistics regarding fatalities shows almost half (around 45%) are triggered by out of gas situations. Diver gets low on gas, panics, and bad things happen. That means a significant number of deaths were preventable by just being more aware of your situation while diving. I don't think it's a rec or tec question. I think it is a how attentive are you to safety and pay attention question.

 

[beanojones]

DAN statistics regarding fatalities shows almost half (around 45%) are triggered by out of gas situations. Diver gets low on gas, panics, and bad things happen. That means a significant number of deaths were preventable by just being more aware of your situation while diving. I don't think it's a rec or tec question. I think it is a how attentive are you to safety and pay attention question.

Can you link where you got that stat? I have seen it before, but...