How often do you check up on your buddy during a dive?

[BlueTrin]

This^^^^. Nothing more annoying that a buddy above and behind unless circumstances dictate (i.e a restriction). Alongside all it takes is a slight tilt of the head to check all's in order.

I think you should ask this buddy to lead next dive and float slowly behind and above him when he’s not looking

 

[TMHeimer]

About every 10 seconds, varying with viz of course. For 2 divers I like the "follower" to one side and only slightly behind, so he/she isn't literally a pain in the neck for the leader. I prefer being the follower because I'm lazy.
Keeping close and constantly checking the buddy is by far the most important thing in buddy diving. Otherwise all the buddy skills such as OOA drill, are irrelevant--you're diving solo if too far away from each other.
Giving the OK sign won't normally be necessary if you constantly check on each other.
When PADI added the "mini dive" to the OW course I would stress to the students that constantly checking is the most important thing. We had a group of 4 once (with me following of course)--in a "box" formation. 2 guys up front then 2 girls. Surface swimming, one of the girls almost lost a fin, but was assisted by the other. The 2 guys finally turned around 50 feet or so ahead of the stopped girls. At least they did look eventually.
I would have suggested a different formation for a group of 4, perhaps two independent groups of 2 with a general plan for all (if they were certified divers). But it was their mini dive so not my place to advise.
All of this constant checking is one reason I usually prefer to dive solo.

 

[loosenit2]

I don’t want my buddy behind me. I want him/her next to me. If there is no reason I don’t ask my buddy if he/she is ok.

In a cave I want to see the light of my buddy if he/she is behind me.

I will check if my buddy is still there for every 15 seconds or something like that.

But with really poor visibility like 1 meter/3 feet that is not enough. I need to check more.

This. ^^^^^. Depends on buddy and conditions. Instabuddies that tend to follow you are indicating their inexperience and discomfort. If you become separated it kinda ruins your dive too if you follow procedure and search for 1 min and then surface.

You do not need to get an ok frequently though, just know they are there, constantly asking ok is kind of annoying.

 

[TheSherpa]

I'm about 3-4ft from my buddy on dive 3 for my open water. Already stopped them from an uncontrolled ascent on dive 2.

 

[DBPacific]

I prefer my buddies to be directly to my side or just in front of me where I can reach them easily. On shallow dives with better vis I'm usually okay with them being in visual range and a few strong kicks can get me to them. On working dives when we need to focus on a job, I try to keep my buddies less than an arms reach away at my side if possible. If that's not possible because of the task at hand, I stay at the minimum distance away I can be at for the job to be done.

In all cases I'm a worrywart, so I check on my buddy's position about every minute or less. I don't typically use signals to check unless they do something weird/I see a lot of commotion out of my periphery, or air checks. OK checks I usually do once we reach the bottom, halfway through the expected dive time, then right before we need to head back to the boat or shore.

 

[Degenerate]

I try to tell my buddies to stay next to me and not behind me.

If they stay next to me I try to check on them very often.

If they are behind me and I am leading, I try to check on them reasonably often but it’s easy for them to disappear. I usually give them one of my backup torches in low vis so they can signal me with the torch. I find it much harder to navigate if I have to turn around to check on my buddy every few kicks ... (but I am generally bad at navigating)

I’ll tell them after the dive that I’d prefer them to be next to me but I cannot do anything if they won’t do it and won’t be angry at them.

Of course if the person hasn’t dived much recently I’ll pay extra attention to them and check their gas more often.

OP, what was the argument ?

Wasn't an argument as much as general irritation about some instabuddies.
I've taken the role as leader on a few dives with people I haven't dove with before and I've found that most of the time they'll stay behind me, even if we talk about swimming side by side before the dive they'll just trail off to slightly behind me.
I'll give them the sign to move up and to swim alongside me but more often than not they either don't understand it or they just don't care, so I'll have to keep eyes in the back of my head to make sure that the diver who doesn't even understand basic signals stays in range.
Grinds my gears a bit, and I'll typically talk with them afterwards and they'll be like "Oh, so that's what you meant when you were making signs and stuff, I had no idea"...

 

[BlueTrin]

Wasn't an argument as much as general irritation about some instabuddies.
I've taken the role as leader on a few dives with people I haven't dove with before and I've found that most of the time they'll stay behind me, even if we talk about swimming side by side before the dive they'll just trail off to slightly behind me.
I'll give them the sign to move up and to swim alongside me but more often than not they either don't understand it or they just don't care, so I'll have to keep eyes in the back of my head to make sure that the diver who doesn't even understand basic signals stays in range.
Grinds my gears a bit, and I'll typically talk with them afterwards and they'll be like "Oh, so that's what you meant when you were making signs and stuff, I had no idea"...

There is a sign I was taught which is closed fist with both hands extending the index and putting them next to each other.

Make sure you tell them that’s what it means before the dive.

It is shown on this page as ‘buddy up’
https://www.google.co.uk/amp/s/www..../scuba-hand-signals-you-need-to-remember/amp/

I think honestly that some people will not do it even if you tell them and either you’ll have to let it go or ask to have another buddy.

 

[TMHeimer]

You can always ask to have another buddy, but in my experiences it has usually been like 6 divers, 3 sets of 2. But that's another topic.

 

[flyboy08]

Side by side...no need to keep wrenching ones neck looking back at your buddy. At times I may be directly above my buddy (wife) , but usually along side.

 

[Lorenzoid]

As title says, how often do you check up on your buddy during a dive?
If you're leading the dive and your buddy is behind you, how often would you flash the OK sign back to your buddy to check if he's alright?

Had a pretty heated discussion about this today, so many divers (instabuddies, anyone?) dive solely thinking about themselves and not really caring about the fact that you're a team.

Im afraid it’s a loaded question, and you’re not going to get another point of view. People who don’t truly adhere to the concept of buddy diving aren’t likely to reply. They know they don’t check often, and they either think that’s okay or feel it’s something they would like to do better at. If you truly adhere to the buddy system you always know where your buddy is and are glancing at them pretty much constantly.