Entry Level Solo Diver

[pdelannoy]

Just out of curiosity: How many total diving fatalities occurred last year? How many of those fatalities were solo divers? How many divers solo dive? I wonder what the statistics show?

Common sense dictates that you don't wander onto a beach in San Diego and stumble into the kelp beds for a solo dive having never been there before. And maybe even after you dove with a buddy in the kelp beds you still might not go for a solo dive. Its all about judgement and experience. Isn't it.

PD

 

[SCUBA482]

The prerequisites for solo specialty candidates includes the candidate having at least 100 logged dives! Of course, number of dives is a perfunctory method of gauging experience but we have to publish standards and # dives is 'time honored.'

We teach the solo diving course because we recognize that it goes on and will always go on so we figured we should try to promote certain protocols and procedures that may help manage risk.

Every sport diver would benefit from a solo course, because the skills will help to make her a better all-round diver. However, NOT every sport diver should dive without a buddy.

This is what I was curious about. I realize that just a number of dives doesn't necessarily qualify anybody for anything, but there will at least be some BT under one's weight belt and a chance for some exposure to circumstances. I find this a reasonable amount of dives IMHO to be considerate of some experience worthy of crossing the line into SOLO. I will not promise to achieve this level before I undertake SOLO, but I do like some posters responses to spare air and preset comfortable depths combined with a known location for comfort reasons. Of course training and experience will set two divers apart. I could easily argue that a diver who chooses to practice basic skills for a few minutes on each dive and maybe even dedicate a few dives to just practicing basic (or advanced) skills with a buddy supervising will easily be more ready than a diver who just jumped in and swam 100 times. I would even argue you could cut the number of dives in half conservatively. Thanks for the SDI SOLO info!

 

[MSilvia]

I have found that common sense is much more common when you're sitting behind a keyboard than it is when you're at 90 fsw and the current's kicking your ass or you're so tangled up in kelp that you don't even know where to start getting yourself untangled.

Well put Bob. If there's one thing that still scares me about diving, it's knowing that I'm usually less able to handle difficult situations than I'd like to believe. That's the main reason I've made a point of training and preparing for situations much more challenging than I'm likely to encounter.

 

[SCUBA482]

Hey vladimir,

I was simply parroting what I have been told by some of the experts. Which was the point I was trying to make. That solo diving can be done within a reasonable margin of risk and that using common sense is 99% of the issue. I don't think that the number of dives one has prior to solo diving means much. It depends on the diver.

PD

I agree with the common sense, mixed with a little training and experience for know how, and the individual's abilities. One person can be a total goof and very immature with numerous "lucky" dives while another diver can have put some forthought into preparation through practice and speaking with others who have experience to be a few steps ahead. I guess my point is while a greater number of dives is good, to some degree it's quasi irrelevant.

 

[LeadTurn_SD]

I agree with the common sense, mixed with a little training and experience for know how, and the individual's abilities. One person can be a total goof and very immature with numerous "lucky" dives while another diver can have put some forthought into preparation through practice and speaking with others who have experience to be a few steps ahead. I guess my point is while a greater number of dives is good, to some degree it's quasi irrelevant.

Hi again SCUBA482,

I think one of the best things you can do (and something I'm embarassed to admit I did not do when I started solo) is to really think through possible problems that can occur, and how you'd solve them without a buddy. Then talk to experienced divers in your area and ask about experiences they've had. I think a lot of us (me included) focus on equipment failures leading to out-of-air (OOA) emergencies, but in reality I believe most diving injuries and fatalities whether solo or with a buddy are caused by lapses in judgement, poor decision making, poor situational awareness, etc.

When I've run through various scenarios, there are always a few that result in "I die". The big three that result in this fatal outcome when solo are:

1. Bad entanglements/entrapment,
2. An injury that incapacitates me, or
3. Unexpected health problem while in the water.

While there are certainly more that I can add to my list, the three above are the ones I've decided to accept, and I do my best to minimize the chances of them ever occuring. In the end, you need to acknowledge that there are situations that only a buddy can save you from.

I primarily shore dive from a rocky lava coastline, and one of the things I am acutely aware of as a risk while solo is entry and exit from the water. This is actually probably the most hazardous portion of the dive for me, and is something to put on your list of "what-if's".

Best wishes.

 

[DaleC]

I began solo diving on dive 21.

Some thoughts I have on the subject:

I see soloing as a specific type of diving like cave or deep wreck diving, not as something a buddy diver does more or less on the spur of the moment.

I follow a graduated approach to soloing with specific goals and skills to practice and incorperate and generally take a technical approach to recreational diving. Most of my soloing is done in isolated locales (coldwater, low vis.) and I am usually the only person (diver or not) around).

I (currently) limit my soloing to 100' mainly to avoid the effects of narcosis.

There is basically one wild card in solo diving that I know I cannot control; a medical event at depth (LOC, heart attack, seizure etc...). If something like that occurs I accept that I am dead. However, I also think that when something like that occurs in a buddy situation the diver is almost always equally dead.

The actual "dive" skills are basically the same as with buddy diving but more emphasis must be placed upon them. Bouyancy, gas planning, navigation etc... The diver must become "a diver" in the older sense of the word.

While much emphasis is placed on redundancy (good to a point) I think a far greater element to focus on is situational awareness and the ability to avoid problems before they occur. When you are entangled you will or will not cut your way out and when you are OOA you will or will not find an alternate air source. The skill to develop is not to become entangled/ go OOA in the first place.

I have other thoughts but it's late and my wife is calling.... Hey, I'm not solo in everything I do

 

[The Great Kazoo]

I have found that common sense is much more common when you're sitting behind a keyboard than it is when you're at 90 fsw and the current's kicking your ass or you're so tangled up in kelp that you don't even know where to start getting yourself untangled.

Yeah, it depends on the diver ... but we're all hard-wired to react to certain stimuli in certain ways. And unless you've planned, prepared and practiced dealing with stressful situations underwater you'll have a harder time than you might think responding with what you would, looking at it from the safety of a keyboard, consider common sense.

It's been my experience that the vast majority of divers think they're better at dealing with stress underwater than they really are. Most have never had the occasion to actually find out.

In the real world, the first thing you have to overcome is a natural tendency to second-guess yourself. Can you get past your own psychology to deal with the issue? Can you summon the mental tools to deal with it calmly? Or will self-doubt cause you to freeze up or make a decision you would KNOW in the safety of an above-water environment wasn't the right one?

I've taken ... and taught ... enough classes that emphasize failures to see first-hand how common it is for people who THINK they know better to make decisions that could ... in a real-world situation ... end up badly.

If you haven't been there you really don't know. And most of us who HAVE been there have, at some point, looked back and told ourselves "That was really stupid ... I'll never do THAT again."

Overconfidence can get you in trouble ... overconfidence and a lack of experience can be, and sometimes is, fatal.

... Bob (Grateful Diver)

Very well put.

 

[tropitan]

My first solo was dive #53.

The fact you are asking questions in the first place is a huge step in the right direction for you.

How wonderful that we have this forum, with many experienced divers to draw advice from.

Take care, and dive safe!

 

[MMM]

I probably had well over 100 dives before my first solo dive. It was in 15-20 feet of water and close to shore. I'd done that dive before with others and have done it many times since by myself. I knew the dive and felt it wasn't particularly challenging. I haven't tried other sites solo although periodically my diving style - within a group - has been described as solo. On and off anyways.

 

[marinediva]

I started solo diving when I was working on a hookar unit collecting crayfish.
My reg was attached to the hookar unit which was on the boat, and 95% of the time someone was in it making sure it did not stop. After 500 dives of this type I had got to the stage of not thinking twice about jumping in by myself.

Recently I have moved into some cold water diving. My 2mm is now a 6mm. I am now wearing double the weights, and a bloody hood. I have never dove in water less than 24deg, and now it is 17 or less. This for me has its stresses. I also am learning to deal with different sealife, as well as enviroments, so I have decided to curtail my solo diving until I am far more confident in the different conditions.

Have set a limit on each site to 20, and 50 cold dives period to gain the experience I feel I need to be able to handle an unlikely event.

Lord help me when I gain a dry suit.