How Close are you to your buddy?

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pixelpixie

Contributor
Messages
173
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108
Location
NJ
# of dives
100 - 199
I read lots of material about diving with a buddy and see buddies who feel it perfectly ok to wander apart. I even had a DM do that with me....basically, we'll all just swarm around. With other divers entering the area, I had already started to do my one-minute look around before ascent. I recently read a post about the use of underwater lights to signal your buddy. It got me wondering....why would you need to do that if you were next to each other? If my buddy detoured to look at one thing and me another, how could we possibly help each other? So how close are you to your buddy?
 
Ha ha, that's a good Q for me today!

Yesterday I abandoned my buddy for some pictures of a school of jacks; wish I could post some pics of them but I have not been recognized by the ScubaBoard Photo Gallery since the May ScubaBoard "upgrade." :shakehead:

We were already visually separated by cement "wreckage" at Mala Wharf, but could easily rise 5 feet and see each other 10 feet apart, and we were "aware" of each other's bubbles.

I chased the school away from the "wreck" for ~100 yards, but the angles are such that I could still identify where the "wreck" was at all times. I looked back a couple times during the initial pursuit, hoping to see that my buddy noticed the change in MO, but I did not see her.

After burning my air down to a "return to shore now" level (<3 minutes of chasing), I turned towards the wreck and shore to see my faithful buddy approaching me while giving the hand signal for the Hawaiian word "lolo" (point at temple and make circles). :kiss2:

If this had been pretty much any other buddy, I would not have acted so "lolo" but she has been diving since the 60's, has worked as a glass bottom boat diver, foraging solo for interesting "stuff" to bring to the windows, has a nicer, newer Apex reg set than my top of the line Oceanic reg set, and still had 1200 psi in her 72 cft after an 81 minute dive to max depth 40 feet, the last 10 of which were only on my 5 minute photo "bolt" and return to wreck. :idk:

The only other buddy I am likely to dive with would be "paying" me &/or a possible "get busy" buddy after the dive, and I am not a bad buddy then. :coffee:
 
Ive gone diving with my sister as my buddy, and either A) my finning technique is inefficient, or B) she swims wayy too fast while diving, because we easily spread apart.
I'd like to be within 10 feet of my buddy, preferably like 5 feet of water between us
 
I'd choose spending an hour getting kicked in the head to losing my buddy, and that's often what it comes down to. Sometimes we hold hands, even when diving with someone that I'm not dating (or attempting to).
 
<10' is what I consider a comfortable distance.....but my buddy is my son, so I'm sure there is a little parental bias there.
 
Same here. I stay within about 10 feet down to about 40 feet then close the gap to no more than 5 feet as I go deeper. Particularly with dive buddies I am not familiar with.
 
Greetings Pixelpixie in short no more than 7' away! :rofl3:
But seriously when following any detailed plan training or otherwise rarely over 4'-6' from my buddy.
Have we drifted further on occasions but rarely more than 10 feet.
If it is a tight passage then we roll single file and use lights to keep an eye on each other.
By lights I mean we watch one another not constant signaling. Light awareness.

We are trained for self rescue but are capable to offer assistance if and when it is needed.
I am not being preachy or trying to push our buddy practices on anyone but you might want to rethink your practices and keep your buddy skills sharp.
Safe diving all and have fun.

CamG Keep Diving....Keep Training....Keep Learning!
 
I read lots of material about diving with a buddy and see buddies who feel it perfectly ok to wander apart. ....//.....

Much has to do with how aware the buddy-pair is towards each other. If you are a few fin kicks away but highly aware of each other, no problem.

There is one drill that I have never seen done or mentioned in any of my recreational courses. It is, however, pushed in the LGS public safety diving intro course.

Lie face-down in full gear in no more than two feet of water, hard bottom, holding on to something. Your buddy is holding your tank at the regulator. First pat on your head, you start finning as hard as possible while your buddy times you for one minute. After a single minute, buddy taps you on the head again and you just go to your backup regulator, purge, and breathe. Very simple drill.


There is no explaining this, you just have to do it. It will re-define for you how far away is too far away. I urge you to try this.
 
1 diver length or 2/3 of the visibility range for diver recognition, whichever is less.
 
https://www.shearwater.com/products/teric/

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