Dealing with stragglers in low-vis

[Hepcat62]

Yesterday was the first time that I've gone diving exclusively with people other than my usual set of buddies (I didn't know any of them before the dive), and on the second dive of the day I found myself in an interesting situation. Fortunately we were diving at an extremely easy site that I'm pretty familiar with, so there were no major problems, but I'm still interested in trying to improve my handling of these types of situations.

The dive was along the coast-guard pier/breakwater at San Carlos Beach in Monterey, CA. The group was comprised on 3 divers (unfortunately, the fourth diver in our group wasn't able to make it), two of which had been to the site before. The other diver had no prior cold-water experience. There were a lot of classes in the water that day, which combined with the usual california shore-dive vis to produce vis that was pretty low (3-4 feet @ 50' of depth). The first dive of the day had the plan violated by (dive count-wise) the most experienced diver (and leader on that dive) in the group when they read their compass backwards the entire dive. I had to pull rank on the bottom to prevent them from sending us out into deeper water while we were trying to head for shore. Since my confidence in their compass navigation skills was obviously not high and I was more familiar with the site, I decided to lead the group. I'm a very new diver (see my dive count), but when I considered the options I decided I had the most faith in myself. The navigation plan was very simple, we were able to follow it without incident (though the poor vis made judging distance a bit difficult). I wasn't expecting the vis to be quite as bad as it was (it was much better 20-30 yards down the beach @ the same depth), so I did not have my light with me (it was on shore). None of the other divers had brought a light to the site.

The problem with the dive was that one of the three divers would consistently hang back further than I felt the vis allowed for, forcing me to regularly stop and wait for him to come within range. Several times, he started to hang even further back, barely making it back into mostly-full view before before I would have started for the surface (1 minute with no contact on the bottom before ascending was the agreed upon plan). This turned the dive into a start-stop affair, and had me very concerned throughout much of the dive. It also exacerbated some buoyancy issues that the diver new to cold water was having, forcing me to grab his fins once when he started to inadvertently ascend.

Here are some things I took away from this...

1) Diving with an odd number of divers is much less tolerant of error than diving with even pairs of divers
2) From now on, diver formation while traveling will be on the agenda while discussing the dive plan
3) From now on, I'll be carrying a small light at all times
4) I value my usual buddies even more highly now, because this never would've happened with them.

My question for all of you is, what else could I have done to improve things on this dive? Like I said, everything turned out just fine on this dive, but we were definitely pushed to the edge of my comfort zone by the straggler. Was this really just a matter of my inexperience, or is this a difficult situation for anyone?

Thanks for any advice you can offer.

 

[Jim Lapenta]

First of all you could have called the dive. Taking a new diver with no cold water experience out into those kinds of conditions is asking for trouble. Odd numbers are no more difficult than buddy pairs if a plan is made and stuck to. Once the plan gets violated to the point that someone gets uncomfortable the dive is over, period. Next point is if the group is comprised of divers who are new to each other skills and signals are reviewed thoroughly. If compass navigation is called for then everyone checks their compass ON LAND against the others because they do vary. It is at this point the nav error could have been corrected.

Next if one diver is hanging back consistently then he becomes the defacto leader of the dive as far as pace goes. Trying to keep up with the others must have been equally as uncomfortable for him if not more so. In fact it could have been dangerous if he was experiencing problems. I can keep up with anyone. More importantly I can dive as slow as anyone and sometimes with newer or less experienced divers that is the more important skill.

Now the fact that no one brought a light with them is also a red flag to me. I carry a light on every dive(usually two) and would have had them on me. THey are always on the harness. THat no one else even brought on would have been cause for me to reevaluate whether I would even dive with people so ill-prepared. When the number of divers in the water was noted and conditions being what they were the new guy would not have gone in with less than a DM or Instructor familiar with the site on hand and as a buddy.

Again to your final point stragglers are not difficult. How we handle them makes the situation what it will be. I have also observed some of the most amazing things diving with "stragglers" who allowed me to see those tiny little things I'd have otherwise zoomed over. The little nudi's and worms, snails, an oyster so embedded in the coral and evidently so old that the coral actually grew around it. The fish that look like boxes in the stage that they actually look like a tiny box fluttering around. And the octopus who only had the tip of one tentacle flicking out that led me to go around the coral head and see most of his body.

ALso 50 feet is a little deep to take someone who has never been in cold water before. A shallower easier dive would have bee called for. Even if the vis was crappy it would have given everyone a perfect opportunity to work on buoyancy skills.

 

[Hepcat62]

First of all you could have called the dive. (snip) Next point is if the group is comprised of divers who are new to each other skills and signals are reviewed thoroughly. If compass navigation is called for then everyone checks their compass ON LAND against the others because they do vary. It is at this point the nav error could have been corrected.

I swear, it's always the most obvious things that make you slap your head the hardest in hindsight. I think that in the case of the first dive, I put too much faith in a leader I didn't know personally based on their supposed experience level (and my relative lack thereof). I did make sure to check our headings on the surface though. They actually called the right heading on the surface; they started doing everything 180 degrees wrong on the bottom. They weren't receptive to my attempts during the dive to correct the situation, until I demanded to surface when they started leading us out to deeper waters, seemingly oblivious to the fact.

Next if one diver is hanging back consistently then he becomes the defacto leader of the dive as far as pace goes.

I totally agree, and actually tried on several times to fall behind him, letting him know to move ahead. It wasn't so much a matter of pacing/travel-speed. He simply seemed determine to position himself to the far rear of the group - he was traveling at the same rate as I was. Given that, I suppose straggler may actually be the wrong word to use. I'm not trying to hang blame on somebody other than myself here (far from it), but that was very frustrating.

Now the fact that no one brought a light with them is also a red flag to me. I carry a light on every dive(usually two) and would have had them on me. THey are always on the harness. THat no one else even brought on would have been cause for me to reevaluate whether I would even dive with people so ill-prepared. When the number of divers in the water was noted and conditions being what they were the new guy would not have gone in with less than a DM or Instructor familiar with the site on hand and as a buddy.

Agreed. I definitely had misgivings, but I didn't evaluate the situation carefully enough, so I let them slide. The visibility on the first dive was actually quite good, and I allowed that to lull me into a false sense of security about our second dive's conditions. That was definitely a big mistake on my part, and one I will definitely be trying hard not to repeat.

ALso 50 feet is a little deep to take someone who has never been in cold water before. A shallower easier dive would have bee called for. Even if the vis was crappy it would have given everyone a perfect opportunity to work on buoyancy skills.

Not trying to justify the plan necessarily, but our first dive of the day had a maximum depth of 61 feet, and he didn't have these bouyancy problems then. The problems he had on the second dive mostly occured while stopped on the way back towards shore, in less than 40' of depth, mostly under 30'.

Thanks again for your response - I really appreciate it. My major takeaway here is that there was no reason for me to even be in that situation to begin with. If I had been evaluating the situation more closely, I probably would've passed on getting into the water in the first place. Like they say, our failures are much more instructive than our successes.

 

[TSandM]

I guess one of the questions is why the straggler was straggling. If he couldn't move any faster, then the whole group had to slow down to his pace. If he was behind because that's where he's accustomed to diving and he likes it there, that had to change.

One can try turning around and signalling, "Come over here!" with some emphasis to make it clear you want them to group up. If they shake their head, or don't respond and don't change, then I'd drag out the wetnotes and ask quickly, "Is something wrong? Are we going too fast for you?" If the answer is no, then the next note says, "Please stay up with the group, then." At that point, you know the person at least KNOWS what you want from them. If they still hang back, you have two choices -- abort the dive, or spend it waiting for them. I've been there, too. I waited. It made for a very slow dive, and we didn't ever get to where the really interesting things were.

I do agree that diving in pairs is easier. Each person only has one to watch. In a trio, the leader is trying to keep track of two, which is easy if they're "diving to stay found" but terribly stressful if they aren't.

I basically won't dive in low viz water without a good light, and if I'm diving with somebody I don't know, I often bring one for them in case they don't have one. You get real spoiled by carrying them -- Having to keep physical track of one's buddy instead of just keeping their light in the corner of your eye is much more work!

Anyway, as to your question about what you could have done to make this go better: Discuss team positioning before the dive. Make sure everybody understands the formation you want to use, and what you expect from them as far as checking in. Make sure everybody understands the signals you may use, including "come up here". When you see someone lagging, be proactive about it -- try to determine why and use that information to revise the way you are leading the dive.

I dive with a lot of new divers, and they're rarely polished in terms of positioning or communication, and the trick is to go over as much as you can on land, where you can talk and people can ask questions, and then don't be passive and allow something irritating to go on forever underwater (this is my favorite trick). If something isn't right, take steps to correct it right then and there, if any are possible.