How close do you stay to your dive buddy ?

[stairman]

As long as both are aware of the other I dont see a set distance. Since most all regs are designed to freeflow instead of just lock up, changing to your backup 2nd stage, signaling your buddy by light waving swiftly or tank banging and watching your SPG closely is usually the best action. Some divers surface too rapidly and realize they could have taken their time since some freeflows take quite a while to empty a tank. Having redundent 1st stages where you can isolate the bad reg adds some comfort unless of course its a burst disc, which is sometimes overlooked and not replaced with the hydro as I think it should.

 

[Soggy_Diver]

In low viz, high current dives, we are about an arm's length apart.

On easy, high viz dives we are more like 5-10 feet apart.

But maybe arm's length would be better for easy dives too. On an easy dive last summer, a weight pocket dropped out of my buddy's BC. She immediately grabbed the wreck with one hand, weight pocket with the other, so it did not become a problem. But it would have been better if I had been right there.

 

[Superlyte27]

It varies from 1 foot to 20 feet depending on the viz, depth, and comfort level of the buddy.

I agree with this.
Almost all of my diving is in a cave. I usually swim faster than everyone I'm with. I try to let the other diver lead so I don't go too fast. When following, the buddies fins are usually less than 5' away. When I'm leading the way out, I'm usually as much as 20' away.

 

[Bogie]

Diving conditions are a major factor for dive buddy distance. In low visibility (less than 5 feet) arms length, visibility 10 feet hugh surge 8-10 feet, 40 foot vis, 10-15 feet. On deeper dives less than 5-8 feet.

I always use a dive light it makes buddy diving much safer in low visibility conditions.

 

[Wetsuit 4 life]

I would normally base the distance on viz, depth, and how many dives I would have with that specific buddy. In cases like low viz high depth and not to many past dives I'll try to stay 2 or 3 meters, the other way around would be on how the viz is for that dive

 

[batman diver]

hmmm im pleasantly surprised, when i posted this topic i thought i was gonna get taken apart for not always being in arms length , but i see the general consensus is that it depends on the conditions, when i dive in quarries we have to stick close or u lose your buddy , when i dive tropics , usually mozambique , vis is 40 m + we wander further , its not as though we doing tech stuff anyways would you guys say the main aim of the buddy system is to check no one gets lost from the group or in case of an equipment failure , i know its both and more , but what would you guys say is the biggger one , todays gear is pretty darn safe...

 

[on_two_wheels]

I have a couple buddies that have gotten annoyed because I harped on them underwater for getting too far apart (3 diver group). One would stop to take a photo, the other would have an, "Ooooh.....look" moment and go 20 feet away to see something while I'm hovering next to the photog. I explained the same thing, if you have an emergency 20 feet is far. Sure, any of us could hold our breath for the time it takes someone to swim 20 feet. The question is, can we all do it for as long as it takes for the buddy to notice, get to me and for me to get the reg/purge while in a panic situation? I simply choose not to find out.

As was said, at 20 fsw of depth, no biggie as long as it's not an entanglement or medical condition. Again, those are your choice to gamble, too.

 

[cloudflint]

The thing about "how far you can swim on a lung full of air" is that you have to remember that it really should be "how long can you swim on a lung that is empty of air". If you run out of air due to any reason you are unlikely to notice it on the out breath, most likely you will notice when you breath out then try to breathe in and discover you aint got no air! Try breathing out and see how far you can swim in full scuba kit sometime, ive tried it and i didn't get very far (though it was kinda surprising, especially if you are ascending, but anyway i digress)

Generally how close I stay to my buddy depends on the dive, the experience of my buddy, the depth and the conditions. in bad vis or on dives where we are not on a hard bottom I stay within arms reach, if im on a hard bottom with a relatively experienced diver i would probably stay within 5 feet or so, though i would get closer as we got deeper.

 

[Rick Simon]

Same ocean same day.......... But also what ever the other person wants. I would say if you can't deal with the problem yourself, they they need to be close enough to help you!

 

[on_two_wheels]

If you run out of air due to any reason you are unlikely to notice it on the out breath, most likely you will notice when you breath out then try to breathe in and discover you aint got no air!

I've never had an OOG situation but most have said you WILL notice a big difference in breathing effort and have to literally suck the last couple/few breaths of air out of the tank. So hopefully you will have a lung full.