Do you dive solo?

[reeftankdiver]

I also do not fit into the profile. I teach the way I dive and dive the way I teach. What kind of instructors tell their students to dive with a buddy and then proceed to dive alone?

If you are an Indy Race car driver moonlighting as a driver's ed teacher, you wouldn't be teaching your students advanced driving techniques. What you do as an expert and what you teach newbies should be different no?

 

[Kharon]

EDIT: Or are you saying that american divers just generally suck ass compared to european ones when it comes to diving?

After a ton of dives on Bonaire watching (Dutch national) divers completely oblivious & swimming through several huge gortgonians (totally trashing them), German divers that pushed me out of the way physically, yoyo'ed from 20' to 60' continuously, kicked me in the head and back as they swam over me, etc. etc. etc. NO I think european divers are just a sucky and perhaps more arrogant.

 

[DelrayDM]

Keep in mind that the poll will be biased at least to the extend that people who would never be interested in solo diving are less likely to even participate in the poll or read any part of the thread.

For all those interested enough in the subject of solo diving to be reading this thread, I suggest you will appreciate watching this 50 minute video from a seminar talk by "technical diving instructor Mark Powell challenges the common misconceptions around solo diving".

If you have not taken a solo diving course, you will be very interested in everything he has to say.

If you have taken a solo diving course, you will be interested in 50% of what he has to say.

 

[Kharon]

Buddy vs. solo: Not a great analogy, but for me it's a bit like seat belt vs. none. Yes, you can drown or burn if a seat belt jams. The %s say it's way better to use them (Will never agree on it being a law, but that's been discussed to death).

Only a valid analogy if the seat belt can take control of stearing, gas and brake and do random **** unexpectadly.

 

[CamG]

I enjoy the development of the thread but should this be on the BASIC FORUM?
Perhaps the Advanced Forum as Solo would be better with advanced training.
Now that being said I know many Experienced diver who were trained by old school YMCA etc. and they were trained with the advanced techniques in OW.
The average OW class now has only fragments of this information pointing to further training but never advocating Solo diving in general.

As far as regulating diving good luck.
I have seen things done underwater that are unbelievable " divers behaving badly" YOU CAN NOT PUT YOUR HANDS ON THEM, unless offering aid.
Charges were filed of assault in one case when someone intervened forcibly removing a diver from the water.
No I am not going into the story only making a point.
I hate to be this blunt but you can not regulate stupid / ignorance!

If you choose to take on the added risk of solo and not properly trained / experienced then it is on your head.
The issue of dive sites being closed due to stupidity is a more worthy pursuit!
But again I caution all of you reading take very cautious roles in intervening with divers.
If a accident or fatality results you will be in serious legal troubles.

JCG

 

[Storker]

Keep in mind that the poll will be biased at least to the extend that people who would never be interested in solo diving are less likely to even participate in the poll or read any part of the thread.

And if we do, the only answers to choose from for us non-soloists are:

• Never, I’m too frightened
• Never, it’s not safe

Neither of those alternatives are remotely descriptive for my reasons for abstaining from solo diving, so I didn't answer the poll. And I'm not the first person to point out that the poll isn't particularly good.

If the poll had included options like:

• No, I prefer diving with buddies
• No, I think the risk is higher than if I'm diving with my regular buddy
• No, I think the risk is higher than if I'm diving with one of my clubmates
• No, it's not for me

there might have been some more answers from us non-soloists.

 

[Nemrod]

I'm going to come at Nemrod's idea about different personalities in diving from a different angle.

Arguments over whether 'standard' buddy diving vs. properly trained & responsible solo diving is statistically safer, given that either is relatively low risk, miss the point.

Many solo divers will choose solo for reasons much different from mine. My point in all this is that the decision to go solo is often not down to whether buddy diving or solo diving is safer. As long as both are safe enough.

Richard.

There is no statistical evidence to indicate which, buddy or solo, is safer. Just because buddy is the default method does not prove it is safer. Safety is a relative and empty and usually anecdotal argument that is useless on me. I have been solo since I began diving in 68, first baby steps and then all the way. I depend on knowledge, fitness, training (and training does not mean a pile-O-certs) and a large amount of caution/judgement and I do so with or without a buddy and notice I said nothing about redundancy and layers of equipment, a false idol.

I am certainly safer solo than the vast majority of buddy divers who have neither my long experience, judgement or fitness. I keep saying fitness, I believe in physical fitness and I TRAIN hard every day for the the day that I might have to self rescue or self extract myself from a situation. And in fact I have done so. There is virtually no scenario in which I would be safer with a buddy and any attempts to create one are anecdotal and not provable. And besides, I am of the long opinion that safety is overrated and an impediment to full experience. It is a risk that I am willing to take. I have been in several situations diving that upon recollection, no, even when I was there, I said to myself, I really do not want to be here now. In none of them, none of them, would a buddy have been beneficial and most likely a buddy would have made it worse.

I do not advocate solo for everyone or that solo should be taken lightly or without thought and planning and understanding of the implications involved. Buddy diving is an important tool and it is a method of mentoring new divers, teaching watermanship and sharing (yuck) the love of diving and the marine environment. Teaching new divers how not to damage the fragile environment and how to approach different situations for best result is a positive use of the buddy system.

N

 

[TMHeimer]

Only a valid analogy if the seat belt can take control of stearing, gas and brake and do random **** unexpectadly.

Good point. I agree in that the analogy isn't great because it makes sense that getting in trouble because of a buddy is far more likely than because of a seat belt. I still think you're playing the %s right in diving with a buddy vs. solo. No way to know for sure as I doubt there is much data if any that note's "death by buddy". Probably not much on seat belt caused deaths either.

 

[randytay]

If you are an Indy Race car driver moonlighting as a driver's ed teacher, you wouldn't be teaching your students advanced driving techniques. What you do as an expert and what you teach newbies should be different no?

What I do as an "expect" is built upon the very same principles that I teach "newbies" - Never dive solo.

 

[Kevrumbo]

LEGACY OF THE DEEP / Kawika Chetron lived for his time spent at sea, and his time there spawned a treasure of ocean images - SFGate

Lesson learned: If you're gonna dive off-shore solo especially off your own dive skiff, at the very least leave an itinerary/dive plan with a friend/relative/neighbor; have a full-size redundant gas source (Backmount or Sidemount Doubles); two EMT cutting shears easily reachable -one in pocket and one in a holster mounted on a waistbelt/weightbelt or BCD; and by all means a mandatory Personal Locator Beacon (PLB) in a Dive Canister.