Did buddy separation cause panic that contributed to this accident?

[MauiScubaSteve]

I also don't think this thread belongs in the Solo Divers forum. I think a good discussion might happen in the Going Pro forum. It would seem there continues to be some disconnect (today's word?) with regards to DMC's or DMT's and their place in training courses other than their own.

As I understand it a Candidate or Trainee is just observing other courses, as part of the DM course. Often the stories we read here on SB and elsewhere have non-certified DM students "assisting" in a class, instead of "observing."

 

[RYCO]

i agree, solo diving is planning to start the dive and end it solo. this is clearly not that and i imagine all solo divers think diving with a buddy and getting seperated is a bad idea.

 

[Doc Harry]

I do not consider this to have any relationship to solo diving. Doesn't really belong here.

I concur. This unfortunate accident has nothing to do with solo diving.

The accident described by Kathy has some valuable lessons, nonetheless. So many accidents occur when buddies become separated. You've got stay with your buddy at all times, or you've got to go solo, but you can't mix it up on the fly.

 

[Diver0001]

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A ScubaBoard Staff Message...

Ok, after a brief tour in the solo forum it's now back in the lessons learned forum

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[Sloth]

While the accident that lead to the incident cant be blamed on solo diving if he was truly solo diving without another soul nearby then he would be dead.

Regardless of what caused the accident its pretty apparent that he couldn't have self-rescued himself while passed out face first in the water. Feel free to arm chair all you want on how a trained solo diver wouldn't find himself in that predicament.

 

[idocsteve]

While the accident that lead to the incident cant be blamed on solo diving if he was truly solo diving without another soul nearby then he would be dead.

Regardless of what caused the accident its pretty apparent that he couldn't have self-rescued himself while passed out face first in the water. Feel free to arm chair all you want on how a trained solo diver wouldn't find himself in that predicament.

It's believed that this diver panicked because he found himself alone.

A trained and experienced solo diver would not panic if he found himself alone, therefore he would not have been in that predicament.

Your statement is about as ludicrous as saying what would I do if I found myself on the moon with no way to get home.

 

[MXGratefulDiver]

It's believed that this diver panicked because he found himself alone.

A trained and experienced solo diver would not panic if he found himself alone, therefore he would not have been in that predicament.

Your statement is about as ludicrous as saying what would I do if I found myself on the moon with no way to get home.

As a trained and experienced solo diver, I will disagree with the above statement.

Diving solo is a planned event. When you do it, you go into the dive with a particular mindset.

Buddy separation is an unplanned event. Even though, physically, you find yourself diving solo, EVEN IF YOU ARE A TRAINED AND EXPERIENCED SOLO DIVER you are not solo diving. You have a buddy out there somewhere that you don't know what happened to. It takes your mind off your dive. It causes you to second-guess yourself and focus on things you may not be prepared to focus on. Depending on the buddy, it might lead anywhere from mild irritation to a serious case of stress ... and the further up the stress ladder it takes you, the more likely you will be to do something that will eventually lead to an accident.

Diving is at least 50% mental ... taking your mind out of the game is the best way in the world to put yourself onto that chain of events that eventually leads to an accident.

This situation has nothing to do with solo diving ... or even with being trained and experienced as a solo diver. It has everything to do with what happens to a diver's mentality when the unexpected happens. Everyone's different ... some people have an easier time staying calm in a crisis than others. Personality has as much to do with that as training and experience.

So unless you know the person involved, you have no way of knowing how they will respond. And in a lot of cases, you won't know how a diver will respond until they find themselves in the situation that causes the stress.

And FWIW - it doesn't take panic to lead to an accident. All it takes is enough stress to take your mind off what you're supposed to be paying attention to ... underwater, stress is NOT your friend ...

... Bob (Grateful Diver)

 

[Sloth]

It's believed that this diver panicked because he found himself alone.

A trained and experienced solo diver would not panic if he found himself alone, therefore he would not have been in that predicament.

Your statement is about as ludicrous as saying what would I do if I found myself on the moon with no way to get home.

Finding yourself face down in the water on the surface equates to finding yourself on the moon?

There are many events that could cause you to end up face down, passed out on the surface. A lot of which could totally be outside your control. What is irrefutable is that if you are passed out, face down in the water and there is no one to turn you right side up then you drown.

I loved solo diving before I switched to team focused diving but I was never under any disillusions about the greater risks of doing so.

 

[idocsteve]

As a trained and experienced solo diver, I will disagree with the above statement.

I think you misunderstood my statement because you followed up that statement with a post that pretty much says the same thing I did.

The incident which is the subject of this thread has absolutely nothing to so with solo diving, which is a planned event. Solo divers are trained and experienced to dive alone, they don't have a "buddy out there somewhere" if they are in fact diving solo as part of their dive plan.

If you're trying to say that a trained and experienced solo diver is in fact likely to panic if he loses a buddy during a dive that was planned as a buddy dive...then I'm not going to agree with you on that one, although I could see it being a mild stressor to some or even most divers.