Equipment for Solo Diving

[DevonDiver]

^ no feeling or emotions involved here…
IMO if one breaks contact with buddy..diving in no viz conditions is de facto solo / self-reliant diving.
Personally, my dive plan in these conditions is don’t do it at all, or call it when these conditions prevail.

Why should low viz diving entail losing contact with a buddy? Care to explain that supposition to the many cave/wreck divers on the board who team/buddy dive in (true) zero viz conditions and don't consider it to be solo diving in any sense?

Low viz does test buddy skills - but one shouldn't accept failure as a given....

 

[Jim Lapenta]

^ no feeling or emotions involved here…
IMO if one breaks contact with buddy..diving in no viz conditions is de facto solo / self-reliant diving.
Personally, my dive plan in these conditions is don’t do it at all, or call it when these conditions prevail.

Actually that is not solo diving. It is poor buddy skills and procedures.
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[Ghetto Diver]

Um…don’t recall discussing cave diving and I don't pretend to know about that discipline.
To clarify…please re-read my post.
The post I replied to stated NO viz, and so I replied accordingly. I regularly dive in crappy viz conditions, both with a buddy and solo.

 

[DevonDiver]

Firstly, if were truly "no-viz" what would be the point in diving?

Few recreational/open-water divers truly understand what zero viz is like, but that issue of definition aside, if the conditions are so bad that buddy separation seems likely/foreseeable, then the dive should be cancelled on safety grounds.

Secondly, whilst you might not be familiar with cave diving, others are. Diving in the environment can entail zero visibility - and yet, buddy/team separation is still prevented. The skills, drills and procedures do exist to prevent such an occurrence, even under conditions way beyond the worst you're likely to experience in an open-water environment.

The point being: you can stay together as a pair/team, if your skills are up to it.

THIS GUY manages to stick with his buddy with zero visibility on every dive... so where's the excuse?

Diving in anticipation of buddy separation, due to sub-optimal visibility, requires a risk assessment, and some introspective honesty. If you're likely to lose your buddy, then the conditions obviously exceed your capabilities.

In recognition that you are accepting that the environmental conditions exceed your capability, where is the logic in suggesting a more advanced approach (solo diving) is the solution? You're already admitting that the dive is beyond your threshold to manage - and the solution is to dispense with your only back-up support?!?

As stated by many people, many times, solo diving is not a substitute for core diving skills, especially the application of buddy procedures. It is an advanced diving practice, that only builds upon a foundation of solid foundational skills. Such skills are woefully absent, if that diver cannot maintain cohesion with a dive buddy - a skill that can only be described as fundamentally 'entry-level'.

 

[Ghetto Diver]

Firstly, if were truly "no-viz" what would be the point in diving?

Few recreational/open-water divers truly understand what zero viz is like, but that issue of definition aside, if the conditions are so bad that buddy separation seems likely/foreseeable, then the dive should be cancelled on safety grounds.
^I covered this

In recognition that you are accepting that the environmental conditions exceed your capability, where is the logic in suggesting a more advanced approach (solo diving) is the solution? You're already admitting that the dive is beyond your threshold to manage - and the solution is to dispense with your only back-up support?!?
^sorry, but I don’t see where I suggested it as a solution.

Perhaps you are reading too much into what I posted…

 

[Jim Lapenta]

Why not just roll face up, hold your breath and look? As some others have said, nothing non-essential.

---------- Post Merged at 11:41 AM ---------- Previous Post was at 11:24 AM ----------



Seriously? Penetration & deco dives solo? The only one of the SDI Solo Divers certification "don't do" dives that you haven't cited is pinnacle (never done that before) dive.

I sure hope anyone who is looking to dive solo won't go by your bravado and will at least get and study the SDI Solo Divers manual. It's very clear on the skills, equipment, mindset, preparation, diving situations to avoid etc. that are required for SAFE solo diving. Sorry, solo penetration, deco, and to a great extent pinnacle dives are a funeral waiting to happen. I'd expand that to include no vis diving except in the shallowest depths, and even then ... Overconfidence doesn't hurt - till it kills you.

Like others have said what I am saying I do is not bravado. They are dives I have trained for and trained specifically to do without having to rely on a buddy. I did my first solo dive with about 50 dives under my belt. I got my solo cert at 350 or so dives only so I could do certain sites and dive off some boats without having to mess with insta buddies. The solo cert did show me some new tips and tricks to use but it did not introduce any skills I found unique or new. It also did not introduce any new methods of dive planning or gear that I had not already been using for a long time. And I have done what for me at the time were pinnacle dives. Some of the wrecks I have done were deep and in 38 degree water. I went down with an instructor leading an aow.student. She got cold five minutes in. I did the next twenty minutes alone and had no anxiety or.concern. A pinnacle dive at the level Ifeel I am at with the training and gear I have is no more difficult a decision than the shallow dives we'll do tomorrow in the quarry. I know that on a solo dive, no matter what kind, if the crap hits the fan and I can't deal with it I will likely die alone. I am ok with that. And if that had to happen I would it rather be on the dive of a lifetime than on one in a mudhole. Any dive I can't do alone I should also not be doing with a buddy. I would be the weak link in the team. I am not ok with that. Your profile lists less than 100 dives in three years. I hope to get at least 75 this season alone. And I'm not happy I will only get that many. I'd rather be in 100 - 150 range but work,location, and other matters won't permit that. I do the solo dives I do because I don't stop diving during the year and I keep.the skills I need sharp. Even if it does mean spending time in low, to at times true zero, vis alone doing nothing but working on those skills.
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[mdax]

When I solo dive I dive side mount and bring all the extra gear I would normally bring on a regular cave dive, 2 extra lights, extra mask...some small caves where there is for sure going to be no viz and require taking off tank(s) to wriggle through tight spots are best done solo.
Many times there is viz on the way in and you explore cool cave, but the way out is blown out just by moving through and it's a touch contact feeling your way type of thing.

That being said I prefer team diving with my wife using back mounted doubles, dry suit and our normal kool aid kit in larger caves!

 

[DevonDiver]

^I covered this...sorry, but I don’t see where I suggested it as a solution....Perhaps you are reading too much into what I posted…

What you said was:

"IMO if one breaks contact with buddy..diving in no viz conditions is de facto solo / self-reliant diving.
Personally, my dive plan in these conditions is don’t do it at all, or call it when these conditions prevail."
​

We are in agreement on the second sentence. However, in your first sentence you state that 'no viz is de facto solo diving'. It isn't.

I'm not sure what else to read into that statement, other than a premeditated acceptance that decreasing visibility will put strain on buddy protocols that cannot be overcome through effective use of appropriate skills. It also implies (whether you intended it or not) that solo diving would be seen as the 'answer' to buddy separation in low/zero viz.

I don't agree with that. A buddy dive should never 'become' a solo dive. If you start with a buddy, you continue and end with a buddy. Solo diving certification shouldn't be viewed as a way to prolong a dive that's already proven itself to be above your skill threshold (as proven by losing your buddy).

Having dived extensively in low and zero viz, I have found that 'no viz is de facto buddy diving' - an acceptance that buddy protocols have to be top-notch and well practiced in relation to the conditions. The only 'solo skill' needed under such conditions is the ability to perform an unassisted ascent - because separation and failure to re-acquire your buddy would mean the dive was aborted.

 

[Ghetto Diver]

The only 'solo skill' needed under such conditions is the ability to perform an unassisted ascent - because separation and failure to re-acquire your buddy would mean the dive was aborted.

DD ^ this is what I was getting at as far as breaking contact and 'de facto' self-reliant/solo. I suppose I can see how one can interpret my post as 'wing it and go solo when in no viz(extreme low viz)'. That certainly is not what I meant.

BTW thx for the replies


ETA OP...sorry for thread hijack!

 

[Fish-R-Man]

I use the same gear for solo that I do for buddy diving. The only addition would be a surface flag if required or if my wife wants to keep track of where I'm heading. I use a BP/W, single or double Al 80's depending on depth, one light on the left shoulder d-ring bungied down, a small blade and z-knife stacked and zip tied to my inflator hose, thumb spool and SMB on the right waist d-ring. I will add a can light for night diving, but that's about it. If I am practising for cave diving I carry the same setup I used in the caves, in exactly the same positions.

As far as an actual no-viz situation in O/W. I really have never seen it where you have absolutely no vision. Turn your lights off 500' in any cave system, you will know what no-viz truely is.....

Now remove mask, maintain contact with buddy, have him signal that he's out of air, swap regs, move him into the forward position all while not losing contact with your line and start to head out, hopefully in the right direction... It's good practise for my solo diving as well.....