Ever leave a dive buddy behind?

[speedhound]

The captain told us to use the rule of thirds, which I think it means to start going up when you only have 1/3 left. When I reached 1000 psi, I gave the thumbs up.

I think the "rule of thirds" is to use 1/3 of your air on the way out, 1/3 of your air for the way back, and hold 1/3 in reserve. I've only heard of it being used in penetration or cave dives. For OW diving, I'd agree a turn around time or pressure (lower air in buddy team-500psi)/2 . Also, the general rule of "be back on the boat with 500psi" is common.

 

[Storm]

Well, thanks for all the advice. So let me add a few details to the story. The other diver was far more experienced, I was following him. The captain told us to use the rule of thirds, which I think it means to start going up when you only have 1/3 left. When I reached 1000 psi, I gave the thumbs up. He shook his head. I gave an ok signal, i thought "I'll wait a while." But at 500 I started getting nervous. So I gave the thumbs up signal and went up, then I saw another group doing a 3 minute safety stop at 15 feet, and tried to stay with them until they started to move (next time i'm bringing a watch).

My buddy was a stranger in the boat, like me. We talked before the dive, but didn't get into details. Next time, I'll find out more information.

I will admit that on our second dive he did respond to my thumbs up signal, and then went back down (it was a 10 feet reef).

Okay I've not got very much more experience than you do, but there are some things that you might want to consider as lessons learned from this dive.

First off it appears, from your statement that you made a "trust me" dive. Sounds like you assumed that because your insta buddy was more experienced that you could trust him explicitly and allow him to lead the dive including when to call the dive.

Secondly, your interpretation of the rule of thirds is a bit off; 1/3 gas for going out, 1/3 gas for coming back, 1/3 gas for emergencies.

Thirdly, when you give the "thumbs up", you go up. You do not let your buddy "shake the signal off". If he/she won't surface with you leave them, head for the surface, do a controlled ascent and safety stop, and afterwards politely tell the idiot, that hell will freeze over before you dive with him again. Even if it was a low on air thumb (versus an immediate problem), you were calling the dive. Your buddy should have accepted the call, and ascended with you.

Fourthly, you failed to do a proper dive plan , including establishing a turn pressure, rock bottom pressure, and procedure for calling the dive.

Finally, you dove while not having all the proper gear.....in this case dive watch. You are ultimately responsible for your dive. You should not be trusting the boat crew, or your buddy, to keep track of such important information as bottom time, in and out pressure, depth of the dive, and the amount of time spent off gassing on a safety stop. How did you plan your second dive without this information?

These points are not brought up to pick on you, but to point out some fundamental problems that many new OW divers (myself included...I've had my one "trust me” dive and there won't be second. The first, and last, one almost got me killed) have.

As to your original question on leaving someone behind, I've done it once already...in a sense. Just last weekend, my buddy and I got separated (caused by very low vis; less than a foor, and a wrong turn) on a wreck that had been silted out by the group that went before us. We turned the dive at the designated turn pressure, but on the way back hit a silt cloud and I lost sight of my buddy, and got turned around a bit.

I looked for him for a minute or two, and then headed for the surface. This was a shallow (25 feet) shore dive, with a fairly long swim out to the wreck which is usually done underwater. It would not have been safe to bob about for any great length of time (boat traffic can be an issue there) so I inflated my SMB, waited for a few minutes by the marker, then proceeded to head to shore on the surface.

My buddy popped up, about two or three minutes later (being more familiar with the wreck he did a quick once around and one zig-zag across the wreck looking for me), saw my SMB heading back to shore, inflated his, and came in.

So in a sense I left him on the wreck twice....once when we got separated, and once on the surface. When we got back to shore we did a quick post dive, and according to him (a DM and charter operator), I took the correct course of action and followed protocol to the letter. For a second or two, I had thought of going back down to look for him, or at least to decent below the surface current and make the surface swim back, but then remembered that, barring a problem on his end) he would be following protocol and should be popping up and if I wasn’t on the surface, he could place himself at risk by going back down to look for me. So once on the surface, I stayed on the surface.

So I guess, technically, I’m guilty of leaving my buddy behind.

 

[MikeFerrara]

I escort my buddy to the boat or shore. If I want to continue, I do so AFTER they are safe. There is so much DENIAL that I never believe an "OK" sign: I ascend with them.

BTW, if your buddy is in trouble and ascends w/o you knowing it: DON'T BLAME HIM! YOU should have been paying attention to your buddy and what was happening. I have had buddies RACE off and then try and blame me for losing them. It's a two way street. BOTH of you need to be aware of the situation of the other and that includes location, air, depth and emotional stability.

YES!

When a diver is low on gas is no time for them to be ascending alone. Many of them don't seem to make it back and the buddy always has the same answer...."I thought he was ok"

 

[MikeFerrara]

I think the "rule of thirds" is to use 1/3 of your air on the way out, 1/3 of your air for the way back, and hold 1/3 in reserve. I've only heard of it being used in penetration or cave dives. For OW diving, I'd agree a turn around time or pressure (lower air in buddy team-500psi)/2 . Also, the general rule of "be back on the boat with 500psi" is common.

In the context of diving in an overhead, the purpose of the rule of thirds is to have at least twice as much gas as you need for your exit. That can provide gas for both divers or be used to provide the time needed to solve other problems.

Applied to open water, the intent is still to have twice as much gas as needed for the ascent or return trip but depending on the nature of the dive it might not be thirds. If a direct ascent is possible, you want to reserve enough for both divers to ascend on. If getting back to the entry point is a requirement, for whatever reason, the the "rule of thirds" is the most liberal gas plan that should be used just like in an overhead.

In all cases, the intent is that each diver have enough gas to get himself and a buddy back to the surface.

In cave or technical training divers are taught that the "thumbs up" is an unconditional end to the dive. It means that some predetermined limit has been reached or there is some other problem or potential problem (just wanting to go home counts). I don't know how often this is taught in recreational diving but it should be.

We use a "turn" signal to suggest a turn around. It means there is no problem and no limit has been reached but maybe we should be getting closer to the exit rather than further from it. This "suggestion" may be open to some discussion but a thumb pointing up gets an ack and we turn, PERIOD, with no further discussion.

 

[MaxBottomtime]

The majority of my dive buddies are competant solo divers. We all understand that if one of us wants to thumb a dive, it is up to the others to decide to ascend or continue. If we are diving in a team fashion which usually includes planned decompression, we stay together. I also dive with new divers and would never consider leaving them. It really depends on your comfort level with your buddy and their experience.
I have waved bye-bye underwater and allowed my buddy(ies) to see some amazing things while I warmed up on the boat. I have also stayed underwater and continued having a great dive while a buddy left. As long as you each understand the other and know their experience and comfort level I see nothing wrong with splitting a buddy team. Of course, I'm talking about good conditions. I would never split a buddy team if I felt the other diver could be in any danger if left alone.

 

[Amazon]

...it would never occur to me to let my buddy go up alone just because I had more air in my tank and didn't have to surface yet. Those are the things you get to grumble about after the dive..."I had 1000 psi left!"

 

[johno1]

Alot of people will probably answer this question differently. For me you went diving with a buddy for a reason. When one diver signals to surface, the dive is over. Also, the thumbs up is a command signal. It should not be replied to with an ok. It should be replied to with another thumbs up. When a diver ok's you don't know if he interpreted you signal correctly or is in fact asking if you are ok.

 

[MaxBottomtime]

I've never intentionally left a buddy behind, but have been left a number of times by others. They always assumed I was completely capable by myself. Since I dive solo 80% of the time that is usually the case. However, if they left me without signalling they were leaving (as two did) I told them in no uncertain terms that I would never dive with them again.

"Sorry we got separated late in the second dive, Missy. I was filming (as usual) and looked up to see you were gone. When I saw the empty beer cans you'd been carrying lying on the sandy bottom, I got worried and did a one minute search... then my safety stop and ascended to the surface... to see that you were fine and already heading up the stairs. Wouldn't want to send you to the hospital on only our second dive together!"

 

[Charlie99]

You give the thumbs up signal, he ignores it, maybe because he has more air than you.

Is it ok to go up without him and assume he'll go up whenever he feels good and ready?

When it's time for you to go up, signal him, make sure he sees it, and then go up. Don't put yourself in danger due to a communication problem or a difference in expectations.

I have stayed down and let my buddy ascend by himself, but only with prior agreement on the following procedures ....

1. Neither of us takes off without the other knowing.
2. He will ascend along the line of the float ball/flag I was towing.
3. I will ascend as far as necessary to watch him get to the surface, and will watch him until the boat comes to pick him up.
4. Don't hold onto the float line.
5. One or more pulls on the float line will have me headed up towards him immediately.
6. If he, for any reason, or for no reason at all, decides that he want me to ascend with him, that's his perogative, and my responsibility as a buddy. No questions asked. No discussion.
7. The command signal for me to ascend with him is for him to point at me, and then signal up.

Don't assume that you and a new buddy are one the same wavelength and in agreement on procedures. Once you get the routine down, it takes less than 5 minutes to cover all of the important points.

 

[greg454]

I guess there was a lot of stuff to consider before diving (I got certified OW 2 weeks ago, I think it was by SDI, but when I try to change the profile, it won't let me, I click on dive info and nothing happens).

I should have been suspicious when the dive shop didn't give me a dive computer. Maybe I should have asked for one. I also had no idea how long were we supposed to be on the bottom.