Defined Skills/body of knowledge for Solo

[padrediver]

My dad was from L.A./California. I was b&r'd in Ft. Lauderdale Fla.
Live in TEXAS now....luuuuv it!
California/Florida are so overpopulated that they're probably hoping you'll off yourself....one less car on the freeway.

In Naui, in 1966, they said it was good to always dive with
a buddy because in the event of a shark attack, there was a 50% chance that the shark would go for your buddy.
(Yes it was a joke....but a darkly true one, and we knew it!)

 

[PRL]

I almost can't believe I'm seeing this "dive alone" stuff.
Have you ever heard of the Darwin Awards?
They have web site (and ceremony) devoted to people
who've removed their own genes from the gene pool.
Several lone divers have received awards. (posthumously)


"remember boys and girls, never dive alone"
Mike Nelson/Sea Hunt TV show(late fifties)ZIV/Ivan Tors producers

There was an early 60's show called "the Aquanauts" about a pair of SoCal
dive shop owners....to encourage the buddy system.

And this week's Darwin Award goes to......

Later

This is a no-troll zone! The discussion is not to be centered around whether to do a solo dive, but in the techniques and strategies involved. Do not participate if you have already decided that solo diving is not for you! Thanks in advance.

Later

 

[budgy]

These days I mostly dive solo, though I've never done a solo diving course. I would expect anyone going solo already has the ordinary skills and experience to lead a dive. I suppose a solo course can only point out or teach divers self sufficiency techniques.
The first solo skills I had to learn was to put on and take off my equipment without assistance.
The suit was the first problem, without a front entry, I find a double piston clip useful to open and fasten a back zip on a dry suit, I fasten one end to a support beam of my hatch-back and just work it around.
Regards choice of rig, each rig has its merits. Maybe less is better. I wonder how many are like me and sometimes forget to pack things.
I guess at one time and not doing proper system checks I have put on a rig and gone into the water forgotting to turn on the air, put on my weight belt, connect up the suit or jacket inflator, zip up my suit, and leave behind on shore essential tools like a knife, compass, depth gauge/timer, hood, mask etc. Strange but I seem to make less mistakes when I'm by myself than when I'm with another.
I have a habit of forgetting thigs without systematic pre-dive checks.
If you put on your cylinder rig on your own and sometimes end up with unreachable regulator hose inflators pressure gauges and the securing belts in unreachable places. You obviously need to change the way you pre-fasten your diving rig so that every thing is to hand in the right place when you get it on your back. Underwater I find anything that isn't clipped on securely is liable to be lost, i.e torches, goody bags, reels knives tools etc.
After standing on one leg to take off my fins and falling over and losing a fin, I found it best to put on and take off fins whilst floating on my back. Home made bungy fin straps make it easier.

 

[bottomrunner]

Hello every one
Glad to see that there is a site for the solo diver
I have learned from experience.
That you are no help to your buddy, if you cannot take care of your self.
From early in my diving career I had always carried a pony bottle, of some sort.
On a cold winter day, the day after both my regulators were serviced. I got into the water with my last true buddy. The dive started well, but when we got to 60 feet my primary first stage failed closed.
By them my buddy was 40 feet away from me.
I got 1/2 a breath out of my primary, and no air.
Checked pressure gauge, it reads 2500.
Grabbed octopus, got first breath, reached for my knife to beat on bottom of my tank to get buddies attention. with no luck.
Got another 1/2 breath on octopus, and it too, gave me no more air.
Still hammering on tank with no response from buddy
I reached for my pony regulator
Crossed my fingers, drew my first breath, that resulted in a free flow.
But still got me to the surface in a controlled accent.
Buddy noticed that I was not with him and surfaced 2 min. later.
So now my standard equipment consists of a set of twin tanks with an independent manifold and 2 first stages.
I have 2 independent wing BCD,s
I carry 3 knives
I also have 3 diving computers, that I use on every dive
I now service all my own equipment, and check it all before every dive.
I still enjoy diving with a buddy. but now carry a 10 foot hose on one of my secondary regulators.
All of my diving is now solo.
and when no one else is in the water with me I carry a stage bottle for back up.
PLAN your DIVE, DIVE your PLAN
Later

 

[MikeFerrara]

The dive started well, but when we got to 60 feet my primary first stage failed closed.

That's pretty rare. Did you ever find out what was wrong with it?

By them my buddy was 40 feet away from me.
I got 1/2 a breath out of my primary, and no air.
Checked pressure gauge, it reads 2500.
Grabbed octopus, got first breath, reached for my knife to beat on bottom of my tank to get buddies attention. with no luck.
Got another 1/2 breath on octopus, and it too, gave me no more air.
Still hammering on tank with no response from buddy
I reached for my pony regulator
Crossed my fingers, drew my first breath, that resulted in a free flow.But still got me to the surface in a controlled accent.
Buddy noticed that I was not with him and surfaced 2 min. later.

You could have feathered the valve of the free flowing pony reg to avoid wasting gas and just swam the 40 ft to your buddy. Better yet he would have noticed what was going on and the there was a screw up in getting so far away and came to you.

I still enjoy diving with a buddy. but now carry a 10 foot hose on one of my secondary regulators.

I'm not sure why you would ever need a 10 ft hose especially when diving alone. A long hose is to make sharing gas easier. If you're alone who are you going to share with?

 

[novadiver]

I almost can't believe I'm seeing this "dive alone" stuff.
Have you ever heard of the Darwin Awards?
They have web site (and ceremony) devoted to people
who've removed their own genes from the gene pool.
Several lone divers have received awards. (posthumously)


"remember boys and girls, never dive alone"
Mike Nelson/Sea Hunt TV show(late fifties)ZIV/Ivan Tors producers

There was an early 60's show called "the Aquanauts" about a pair of SoCal
dive shop owners....to encourage the buddy system.

And this week's Darwin Award goes to......

Later

This dive along stuff is called SOLO diving and it is not for everyone. It's also a form of diving that is alot more complicated than it looks or sounds, This diving is closer to tech.diving than most will admit. If you don't solo dive that fine too, but please understand this is the way we live, and we as a group can't let other people run our lives, I'm more at home in the water than any one I know, and I won't let a phobia of some sixties actor stop me from seeing the world.

 

[Blitz]

I think that redundancy and experience are the two keys. I do a lot of photography, but I try to remain as Hogarthian as possible

 

[scottfiji]

My Rules for Solo Diving

• Be very familiar with the site. Solo diving isn't the time to be exploring new territory.
• Be truly redundant in all critical gear. Doubles (or a sling bottle) are mandatory, as is inflation, etc. If you need it, you need at least two of it.
• No new gear. Again, this isn't the time to be experimenting.
• File a dive plan with a friend. I know my family would like to be able to recover my corpse if something goes wrong.
• Good conditions only. Storm tossed waters, low visibility, extreme cold, any harsh conditions means no solo diving.
• Be trained (and proficient) at least through Rescue. Competence counts, new divers just don't have the experience base to solo. Until you've stared serious trouble in the face, you don't know how you will react to it, so gauge yourself and your tempermant carefully before putting yourself in a situation where panic might be an issue for you.
• Short (or no) penetration. Solo isn't the time to wriggle through that narrow hatch that leads from the chain locker to the coal bunkers - no matter how many times you've done it in the past.
• The Rule of Thirds might not be conservative enough. If you can't reach the surface on a breath-hold and exit the water without gas, you should turn at 1/4.

Of course, solo diving is only for heretical iconoclasts, so opinions are going to vary wildly on these rules.

Oh-oh...
I think I'm breaking almost every one of Reefraff's rules. Lets see:
- using new gear
- no redundancy
- unfamiliar sites
- low vis
- little training
- not turning around on 1/3 tank
- deep kelp penetration (o.k. - this doesn't really count)
(I do file a dive plan)

But I still feel fine with my solo diving. But maybe I shouldn't? after all, I'm on this ScubaBoard to learn, and most people here have a lot more experience than me, and some of them even seem smart. But seriously, if people think I'm doing something dangerous (more dangerous than the solo diving you do), I'd like to know why, because maybe I need to do things differently, or not at all. So I'm looking for constructive feedback.

Here are the rest of the facts:
- I'm NAUI OW, had 30 dives when I started going solo, now I have 40
- all dives have been Malibu, CA beach dives, no more than a couple minutes swim from shore
- I limit myself to sites with max depth 29 feet
- no sites with strong currents, walls, canyons, dropoffs, etc.
- no spare air or pony bottle, or inflation redundancy

If I had a problem, I would just slowly surface and swim to shore. If I got caught in Kelp or a fishing line, I don't think I'd panic, I think I'd cut myself out of it (although Malibu kelp is pretty weak).

What does everyone think?

thanks upfront for being polite,
scottfiji

(btw, reefraff - I'm not trying to be disrespectful to your rules at all, I just saw them, realized I wasn't following them, and now I'm trying to understand if I want/need to apply them to my shallow shore diving).

 

[novadiver]

Oh-oh...
I think I'm breaking almost every one of Reefraff's rules. Lets see:
- using new gear
- no redundancy
- unfamiliar sites
- low vis
- little training
- not turning around on 1/3 tank
- deep kelp penetration (o.k. - this doesn't really count)
(I do file a dive plan)

But I still feel fine with my solo diving. But maybe I shouldn't? after all, I'm on this ScubaBoard to learn, and most people here have a lot more experience than me, and some of them even seem smart. But seriously, if people think I'm doing something dangerous (more dangerous than the solo diving you do), I'd like to know why, because maybe I need to do things differently, or not at all. So I'm looking for constructive feedback.

Here are the rest of the facts:
- I'm NAUI OW, had 30 dives when I started going solo, now I have 40
- all dives have been Malibu, CA beach dives, no more than a couple minutes swim from shore
- I limit myself to sites with max depth 29 feet
- no sites with strong currents, walls, canyons, dropoffs, etc.
- no spare air or pony bottle, or inflation redundancy

If I had a problem, I would just slowly surface and swim to shore. If I got caught in Kelp or a fishing line, I don't think I'd panic, I think I'd cut myself out of it (although Malibu kelp is pretty weak).

What does everyone think?

thanks upfront for being polite,
scottfiji

Scott It's only a matter of time before you make a critical mistake. the solo class was developed to mitigate the risk involved in solo diving. It's not the fishing line that will get you ,it's the hook. If that hook is on a steel leader and hooks you, do you have safety sheers because a knife wont help. I hope in the future if you keep solo diving you will get a pony bottle for back up.It's your life I think you should value it highly.

 

[scottfiji]

Scott It's only a matter of time before you make a critical mistake. the solo class was developed to mitigate the risk involved in solo diving. It's not the fishing line that will get you ,it's the hook. If that hook is on a steel leader and hooks you, do you have safety sheers because a knife wont help. I hope in the future if you keep solo diving you will get a pony bottle for back up.It's your life I think you should value it highly.

Novadiver,
thanks for the advice. just a couple comments -

1) do most solo divers carry safety sheers? add whatabout on a buddy dive, won't they be needed then too? Maybe I should get a pair, I hadn't realized that was a danger. Perhaps we should add this to the rules? Sounds like a good one to follow.

2) Are you saying I am destined to make a critical mistake at 25 feet? By critical I assume you mean I will be hurt severely or killed. I don't know, I still feel safe doing it. I'm not saying it is, I'm just be honest, saying that I don't yet feel compelled to take a solo diving class just for shallow solo diving.

3) I guess I don't carry a pony bottle, because at 25 feet, I figure I'll just go up to the surface. I do value my life, but I figure that I have a greater chance of dying driving to the dive site than dying at 25 feet because I don't have a pony bottle (I'm at 20-25 feet most of the time on my solo dives). Also, I don't own one. I will be buying a pony bottle, though, because I think even with a buddy, someone can get separated, and what are going to do if you are separated from your buddy at 50 or 75 or 100 feet, and your regulator fails, and you can't reach them?

Scott