Discussion topic - buddy separation protocol

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As always TSandM, a thoughtful, detailed, considered response. Thanks for your contributions on SB. I find you provide a valued perspective here.

To the Original Post - The term "required" for a safety stop is perhaps a bit imprecise. Yes, safety stops are valuable and definitely should be done. My understanding is that research on how offgassing occurs in the nervous systems (spinal column tissues etc) demonstrates that those few minutes maintaining the 15ft of water pressure helps significantly to manage the pressure differences key in bubble formation in tissues of this type given their half times - important for safety. However, if I'm separated from my buddy, I will miss the stop.

Sure there are tough scenarios - what if it was the very end of a dive where I had pushed my tables/computer to the max and only had 1 minute left for my NDL when my buddy got separated from me?... I'd be cursing myself for being so stupid - since I shouldn't be working tables, or a computer, that close (IMO)... and i'd still be looking for my buddy at depth for 1 minute if possible, and ascend to the surface without the safety stop to find him/her.

In my view - with Basic OW training or AOW training -keep within a safety margin so you could look for a minute and surface safely and find your buddy either at depth, on ascent, or on the surface. Also, remember that without your buddy you are now solo diving without redundancy...
 
Personally I'd spend more than the recommended minute looking for a buddy at 100 ft. If my buddy is in trouble on the bottom, my surfacing is not going to do him any good. If I surface and I don't see my buddy it means he's still down there, now what, I've drifted and have no idea where my buddy is.

Now what, go back down to 100' with a half tank? Swim back to the boat, look on the surface for what, 5 minutes, 10 minutes, 20 minutes an hour and then call the coast guard for a recovery? Go back to the boat, get a second tank? Or try to find my buddy at 100' initially.
 
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Personally I'd spend more than the recommended minute looking for a buddy at 100 ft. If my buddy is in trouble on the bottom, my surfacing is not going to do him any good. If I surface and I don't see my buddy it means he's still down there, now what, I've drifted and have no idea where my buddy is.

Now what, go back down to 100' with a half tank? Swim back to the boat, look on the surface for what, 5 minutes, 10 minutes, 20 minutes an hour and then call the coast guard for a recovery? Go back to the boat, get a second tank? Or try to find my buddy at 100' initially.

Good point. The point you make here and TSandM's post are excellent.

I think the "search for 1 minute then surface" certainly gets modified by the depth and conditions of the dive. What is a tough call for me on a deeper dive is "how long" past a minute to keep looking. Like you say, at 100 feet I'd look longer.

But based on the original post (whether or not to do the safety stop once the decision to surface is made) I would still personally ignore the safety stop.

Once I've decided I can't locate the diver at depth and need to surface to try to find them, I don't want to waste time, I want to get up there and see if I can see the lost diver.

DaleC, thanks again for bringing this topic up. For me this is an "academic" exercise (and I hope it always remains that way), because I've been really lucky, dive in an area with good-to-excellent viz, and the only separations from my buddies were during spearfishing or lobster hunting years ago, and only lasted a few moments before we reunited underwater. But discussing and following a basic "lost diver" game plan is important, so thanks for bringing it up.
 
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Good replies by all so far, thanks for understanding the spirit of the post :) I'm not looking for an answer personally, I just saw a vague spot in procedures that I thought warrented discussion so I threw it out there. I'm not sure about other regions but buddy seperation is just a fact of life up here in the PNW/Canada.

When the incident that inspired this question occured we had just done a deep dive and were beginning our usual gradual ascent up slope. There was no indication that the buddy was in trouble and after searching for about a minute I thought "hum, do I take a slight DCS risk for a buddy I don't think is in trouble or do I do my SS and find him in due course". Which action poses the greater threat? It was the first time such a question had occured and it had not been covered in training. Even the instructor had to chew on it for a bit.

Is a SS required or not? I don't really know (I didn't write the PADI manuals) In the PADI RDP it says required. That's all.

Does everyone carries a bag and spool/reel? I don't assume so. I do, and my main buddy group does and I can deploy it in about 30 - 45 seconds. As another poster wrote not everybody buys one or practices with it. In PADI AOW we shot one once and that was it.

Is the buddy experienced or not? That throws a big monkey wrench into things. I would worry much more about seperation from an inexperienced buddy than my regular dive group.

And currents... ahh yes... My most gut wrenching lost buddy incident involved low/no vis, SS's and high current. Nothing like sitting on the surface for 20 minutes waiting for the CG and coming to terms with the fact that your buddy just died.
 
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... ummm... assuming that your buddy is simply *lost* rather than something more horrid, wouldn't it be reasonable to assume that your buddy would ALSO be doing a SS on the way to the surface to look for YOU? ... and that *if* you did a SS wouldn't you (theoretically) surfacing at roughly the same time? What would be accomplished by NOT doing a SS?

Best course is stay calm... don't compound the problem... I'm minded of the Rescue mantra that goes, "Two victims does not a rescue make."

But TS&M has the best front end answer... plan your dive WITH your buddy first so that proceedures are understood by both... and I'd suggest that the planning include proceedures that don't introduce elements that could, at least in theory, create extra issues that don't compound the original problem.
 
My son and I have been buddies for many years, we very rarely lose track of one another for any significant period of time. We have an agreement to search for 3 minutes prior to surfacing. Finding each other, particularly at depth, seems preferable to surfacing under most conditions. We have agreed to ascend above the reef when applicable and use our lights to enhance visibility. We have agreed to bypass any safety stop if surfacing is required. The longest we have been separated is about a minute and a half. We have never had to surface to reunite but are well prepared to do that. Plan your dive...

Good diving, Craig
 
I personally tell people not to look for me, cause I'm not gonna look for them. I certainly would never blow a safety stop or decompression obligation for a buddy. The important thing is to make sure prior to the dive that both partied agree and are aware of the protocols.

We dive in poor viz (5ft or less) all the time and separation is pretty common so I just got to the point where I didn't care anymore. Now I just look at it like 2 (or more) solo divers entering the water at about the same time and in the same watering hole.
 
My son and I have been buddies for many years, we very rarely lose track of one another for any significant period of time. We have an agreement to search for 3 minutes prior to surfacing. Finding each other, particularly at depth, seems preferable to surfacing under most conditions. We have agreed to ascend above the reef when applicable and use our lights to enhance visibility. We have agreed to bypass any safety stop if surfacing is required. The longest we have been separated is about a minute and a half. We have never had to surface to reunite but are well prepared to do that. Plan your dive...

Good diving, Craig

Of course, diving with newly assigned buddies is very different. A one minute search and surface has served me well in the Coronados off San Diego and reef dives in Key Largo. Fortunately, I've not had to employ such procedures for deep wreck dives in either location due to increased attentiveness in both areas.

Good diving, Craig
 
Here's a topic for discussion.

The question:

How to react to a buddy seperation situation when a safety stop is required?

Considerations:

a.) The PADI RDP states that a SS is required for dives deeper than 100' or that come within 3 pressure groups of the NDL.

b.) PADI protocol for buddy seperation is to search for 1 minute at depth and then surface.

There is some argument in the thread about the word required. If you choose to dive the PADI protocol, there are some safety stops marked as required. We can argue about whether so-called no-decompression diving out to have a mandatory safety stop and how PADI came about that decision, but if you are diving PADI, you make that stop.

There is no conundrum: Search for the buddy for one minute, then surface following the proper protocol. No matter how unlikely a DCS hit may be, taking an extra risk creates the possibility of two victims instead of one.

Now if this irks you greatly, my n00bidinous suggestion is to always dive with a lift bag or SMB that can be rigged with a slate. Several companies sell them with little transparent pouches just for wet notes or slates. Discuss this with your boat captain or other support folks so they understand that if they see a note in the bag, they should retrieve it and read it.

I also see some companies selling two-packs of SMBs, one red and one yellow. There is some sort of protocol for agreeing that one colour is for an emergency and the other is for normal ascents. You could do that too.
 
https://www.shearwater.com/products/swift/

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