ClevelandDiver:
My question is, does the training making any recomendations for those times when you are unable to pair up with a diver of comparable training/experience? For example: you have paid for a trip, your regular buddy falls ill and you get paired up with a diver you have never dove with before.
...My current inclination in these situations is to plan my dive as a solo dive and stick with the buddy as long as he doesn't do anything really stupid.
BTW, this is a very good question. It's a dilemma that impact divers frequently, and not only "DIR" divers.
The answers you've received are spot on - the DIR response is that you call the dive rather than dive with a diver of unknown skills, abilities, etc. The rationale is that you have no clue how they will react to sudden problems. The best way to avoid an emergency is to not be there when one happens. The best way to not be there when one happens is to not put yourself in the position where it can happen in the first place. So, you call the dive rather than dive with someone who is potentially going to put you at considerably greater risk than you'd planned on originally.
While it IS (as noted previously) a judgement call, and some are easier decisions to make (e.g. a trimix wreck dive to 160' for example), remember that even on moderate level dives - depending on where they're done - having an unknown for a buddy could have some severely negative consequences. The difficulty seldom occurs so long as everything goes right. The problem is the compounding effect that is set into motion as soon as something begins to go wrong.
Simple lack of communication and familiarity with one another can turn a mildly annoying situation into something much worse. Then too, you each assume
some level of responsibility to one another...you don't want to surface and have someone ask 'where's your buddy' and respond 'hell, I don't know...he drifted off somewhere'. If you get blown off a wreck by current, do you expect him to let go and stick with you? Do you let go if he gets blown off a wreck by a stiff current, so you stick with him? Do you tell him up front "if you do something stupid don't count on me to stick with you"? It can be problematic.
It's complicated by the fact that you've paid a lot of money to get out on the boat, the hotel, the gas, the transportation, plus you've been blown out by weather a few times, and this might be your only chance to get a dive on the wreck during this season, etc. It's not always an easy decision.
It comes down to being a judgement call, but one that - if something goes wrong - can be an extremely important judgement call. Its like gambling: so long as nothing goes wrong, all is good. If something goes wrong, however, you're potentially much worse off than you would have been with a prepared, drilled and committed buddy. Depending on which circumstances we're talking about, how far offshore, weather and currents, etc., it can be real similar to gambling with your life.
FWIW. YMMV.
