How Close are you to your buddy?

[lsorenson]

My buddy is my 13 year old daughter, so we usually hold hands (for my comfort, not hers)...I swear I hear her bubbles saying "dad, give me some space"...good thing she can't text underwater................

That's were that penalty for being a kid clause comes into play...!!! Because I said so... and it a "do as I say not as I do" world out there!!! Further more... you lucky your not confined to your room until your 37 cause I know all about them boys....!!!

13... I am really sorry Glen... good luck!!!

 

[Frosty]

far enough apart that a hand or fin flick doesn't give us a black eye

 

[dumpsterDiver]

I try to keep it less than 30 feet when diving below 60 feet with my 12 yr old. For adults, it might be a little more, if the vis is good. I want to make sure I can provide assistance should their air supply stop or they get entangled.

 

[TSandM]

You've gotten a lot of good answers about distance . . . my criterion is that I don't get further away than I can clearly see my buddy, and never further than I want to swim for gas (which I've tested, and is about 20 to 25 feet).

But I'd like to address the use of lights. When I dive in Puget Sound, I'm often not more than four or five feet from my teammates. They are roughly side by side with me. But we all have lights, and instead of looking from side to side to find them and see how they are doing, I can just watch their lights out in front of me, where I want to be looking anyway. If the lights are there, and are making a normal kind of "looking for critters" sweep, then I know I have two nearby buddies who are fine. If the light goes missing, or begins to be erratic, I know something isn't right, and I can then physically turn and see what's happening.

Similarly, if we are diving the hull of a wreck or along a wall, where going single file means everybody gets to see more, the lights keep us in contact, and nobody has to look through his legs or crane around to stay in contact.

So the use of lights doesn't mean we open up big separations between divers. It just means that we stay in touch without having to look around nearly as much. Lights don't work for this very well in extremely clear, sunlit water. But in low viz or in the dark, they rock.

 

[Togalive]

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?

Theres a simple rule up on California's far north coast, 10 ft as a maximum. While this helps in the consistent low-vis, high surge situations you run into up here it has origins in the area of shark attacks. No Great White attack has occurred on a diver when they have been within 10ft of their buddy, 12+ ft however and the numbers start to climb. If im on a night dive, I should be able to grab my buddy at any time, especially if we are navigating with lights off.

 

[ajduplessis]

Depends on the environment, but no less that 10ft max and a lot closer without being in the way on deep dives. When the pooh hits the fan you don't want distance.

 

[DazedAndConfuzed]

On our dives with good visibility, I usually don't see my buddy. She is always hovering 3-5 ft above me, that is because I am usually less than a foot above the reef and she is not that comfortable coming down that close. I look for small creatures and she look for big ones. She always keeps an eye on me, but I wouldn't know if she has issues. I guess she would just kick my head with her fin or something. If I wander off to chase something for pictures, she would keep an eye on me and the group, so she could tell me which way the group went, which is somewhat important when vis is <50ft or I have lost track of which way I came from.

She does the same on night dives. I am up closer (not 1ft, maybe 2-4ft) looking for the creatures in hiding, she is up there with the wider beam torch looking for anything that is moving.

 

[melanie.]

For me really depends who I am diving with, where, how much experience do I have in the conditions etc.

Currently I am usually within grabbing distance of my buddy. But that is because I am new to the area, haven't dealt with the current and low vis very often. I don't have a lot of experience with these buddies but I find after a few dives I can get a feel for how well they keep an eye on me, so I can decide if I can move away a little bit or stay close because I know they won't watch for me.

Now if I am with my dad I am more relaxed, as long as we can see each other all is well. We probably always stay within 30 feet of each other depending on the vis.

Also, now that I have a compass again I find I am getting comfortable with a little more distance. Whereas before I had no idea, now I can at least get myself out of the shipping channel before coming up if I get stranded

 

[DevonDiver]

1 diver length or 2/3 of the visibility range for diver recognition, whichever is less.

That's a good rule of thumb. I'd add to that;

1) You need to account for terrain/topography also - direct line of site.

2) 1 diver length is a long way if you need to catch your buddy in an opposing current. Factor in water movement to your assessment.

3) Ideally, both buddies should maintain position within each others field of vision, thus allowing them to immediately gain attention by visual signals. This is part of developing situational awareness.


I like to think of distancing in terms of the overall objective. When diving, I ask myself these questions;

A) 'How many seconds would it take me, right now, to secure my buddies AAS?'
B) Would my buddy respond, and vice versa, if I signalled to get their attention, right now?

 

[RIdiverMike]

If I'm more than 60ft, 25 or 30 ft, but no less than the viz. (I usually avoid diving if viz is less than 40 ft) If my teen daughter is my Bud, she is on my elbo.

(edit. I will also dive with a pony as a buddy.)

I visit Jupiter couple times/year to remind myself what nice diving is - big critters (biggest turtles anywhere imo), warm water, drift dives, great viz. But I always laugh when a Jupiter buddy says they don't like diving in viz < 40 ft. If I ever got viz that good in RI, I'd be speechless! 5-10 is the norm. Happy diving!