How to handle a bad buddy?

[H2Ogirlie]

Sounds like someone I know. It's a hard way to learn how to pick a buddy...better luck next time!

 

[Tassie_Rohan]

'Thumbs up' is an order, not a question.

 

[smb1014]

I am going to say that 6 dives probably isnt enough experience to go on a night dive at any depth....

Maybe 6 dives is a little premature to being nights dives, depends on the diver. BUT that does NOT excuse the poor team/buddy skills that the other diver displayed. Please do not dive with any one that shows an unsafe attitude towards buddy/teams skills. One of the best backups in diving is your buddy/team.

 

[Summer06]

"Bad buddy, no air." Then you turn off his air. (j/k)

Seriously now. I wouldn't dive with this person again, and I would tell them why. Didn't follow the plan. Took you beyond your limits. Didn't follow the signals to turn around. Got you really low on air by not following the signals.

The real irony would be that if that person had a problem (say a first stage failure) they would have been dependent on your air, which by their ineptitude had been run low.

I was on a boat once and ended up insta-buddied, and after the first dive I decided I wouldn't dive with this person again. She was a real charlie-foxtrot. Since I don't solo dive I just sat out the next dive and took a nap. Sure enough, they buddied up with someone else and ended up having a problem requiring the boat DM to jump in the water. I found out about that later. Everything ended up ok with no serious consequences, but I was glad I dodged that bullet. I might have warned the other diver, but I didn't know she hooked up with someone else.

***************

Curious...what's a charlie-foxtrot?

 

[BarryNL]

***************

Curious...what's a charlie-foxtrot?

Radio code for CF

Out of interest, can someone be a one person CF?

 

[Arete]

I had a similar experience with a buddy on my first dive after OW. An insta-buddy on a dive boat out of Patong rolleyes: I know). I reached the agreed turn pressure at around 25m (80 feet) and thumbed it, heflashed up that he still had plenty of air, shrugged and motioned he'd buddy with the DM. I flipped him a one fingered salute, yelled a few choice words through my reg at him and ascended to the safety stop bar hung under the boat.

The trip leader/instructor was there and had a hissy fit about where my buddy was. I gave the general direction I came from the finger and showed him my SPG. He patted me on the shoulder and as soon as we got back on the boat got me a new buddy and partnered the other guy with the DM.

 

[mred]

But you knew enough to go ahead and surface, as well as knowing that your "buddy" was paired up with someone else. I am very leary of "insta-buddies" now days...

 

[JEScholz]

Glad your dive ended safely. Tough decision to leave a buddy but you are responsible for your own safety. I won't second guess your decisions. You were there, I was not. One suggestion is to shove your SPG into his face with some authority, thumb the dive and head for the surface.

Some people you try to emmulate, others you avoid.

 

[budgy]

Every novice diver generally gets led by someone with more experience. As for choosing buddies, you never know how suitable a buddy is, until after the dive. I think all of us will face the dilema of wether to abandon a buddy or go beyond your planned safety limits. What do you do when your buddy has abandoned the dive plan, goes to deep, finns to fast, does not turn around to see your signals or distress etc. The odds are that following a buddy that has lost the plot, is the main cause of incidents, when both divers don't surface. It's stupid, to put yourself at increased risk rather than abandon a buddy and I've called myself an idiot for doing it, I've also been that diver buddy that's lost the plot. Whilst agencies tell you buddy diving is safer, the most dangerous thing in the water is a buddy.

 

[PerroneFord]

The best way to avoid an emergency is to not be there when one happens.

Wow, that's it in a nutshell right there. Sometimes you can just tell. In my class the other week, had a diver who just never shut up, couldn't take criticism, deflected all faults, etc. After our last dive of class, this diver proceeds to ignore half the dive debrief, then proceeds to exit the water without the team. I offer assistance to help the diver get the gear off (Twin 95s + stage) but am ignored. Diver is talking a mile a minute to someone else, missteps on the way to the area where we take gear off, and nearly breaks leg.

Sad part, I don't think they learned anything from the mishap.

If someone looks dangerous on the surface, they aren't going to get any safer underwater.