I have a buddy problem

[dwiest12]

As an American living in Germany, I was lucky enough to find a SSI shop and few dive buddies that speak English. Outside of that group I have not found anyone else to share my love of the water. I really like the LDS, it is my buddy I am having problems with. I like him personally, we are the same age, enjoy the same things and generally get along. We met while we were both getting our OW certification a little over a year ago. We typically go diving every weekend as a group and we always pair up as we can more effectively communicate on the surface (most of the group does not speak English).
I enjoy learning and learn something every single dive. I also welcome underwater problems (Kind of weird I guess) because I can learn from them and hopefully will be able to react better to them when they happen in the future. Most of the problems I have encountered have been from him and I don’t think he is learning anything because it is the same over and over.
We were both certified for deep diving and dry suit. He was certified deep first dry suit second. Our typical dives are around 120 feet. For the most of the dive everything goes well, as we surface though things begin to get iffy. Sometimes it happens around 40 feet, sometime around the safety stop, he rockets to the surface and all I can do is look up as he flails around like a turtle on his back. Every time he is ok (I have started to ascend a little slower now for the both of us). I always ask him what happen and he says he can’t release the air from his dry suit, problem solved.
He took his dry suit in for service and the LDS found no issues. We are about the same size so I asked if he wanted to switch dry suits to see if I could replicate the problem. We did, and I could not. What did happen though is he rocketed to the surface in my dry suit.
I was there when he did his dry suit certifications and he did not have this problem. I don’t know why it has occurred. Is he not releasing the air? Is he not releasing enough? Is he forgetting to do it as we ascend? I have talked to him about all of this and he always seems like he trying really hard but the next dive it is the same thing. Also it sometimes happens when we dive wet.
Coming from an Army background I tend to address problems aggressively and head on as it always works for me. So far with this I have been fairly passive since the cultural differences could cause problems and I don’t want that. I am in with a good group and if the outsider pisses off one of the locals they may not want to dive with me (I think that chances of that happening is very slim). I don't want to be involved in an accident that is totally avoidable. So I have a few questions to ask of you guys.

Should I be more direct?
After a year of diving, will he get it?
Could it be just because just from carelessness?
How do you handle problems with dive buddies?

 

[NCadiver]

He's not releasing air from the drysuit or BCD. Have him stop every ten feet or less and release air until he feel the suit squeeze himself.

 

[spectrum]

It sounds like he does not:
1) Have his valve set right
2) Understand that he needs to present "the bubble" to the valve (raise elbow etc.).
3) Know to use posture and the manual vent button if things are getting ahead of him
4) Has no feel for buoyancy.

OR

His undergarment is something that is clinging to the valve effectively bocking it, making it a pressure suit.

Pete

 

[alewar]

Hello,

I don't have much diving experience myself but I think you and your buddy should join the diving club nearest to Tremmersdorf (search for Tauchclub or Tauchverein in your area). That's the way most people dive in Germany and it's great to make new friends, find experienced buddies to dive with and participate in the great activities most decent clubs organize. Depending on your age group you might have to learn some German to communicate with the older generations, but I'm sure you're already trying since you live here

Diving with other buddies/instructors will certainly help your buddy to gain more awareness of his problems.

 

[DeepSeaDan]

As an American living in Germany, I was lucky enough to find a SSI shop and few dive buddies that speak English. Outside of that group I have not found anyone else to share my love of the water. I really like the LDS, it is my buddy I am having problems with. I like him personally, we are the same age, enjoy the same things and generally get along. We met while we were both getting our OW certification a little over a year ago. We typically go diving every weekend as a group and we always pair up as we can more effectively communicate on the surface (most of the group does not speak English).
I enjoy learning and learn something every single dive. I also welcome underwater problems (Kind of weird I guess) because I can learn from them and hopefully will be able to react better to them when they happen in the future. Most of the problems I have encountered have been from him and I don’t think he is learning anything because it is the same over and over.
We were both certified for deep diving and dry suit. He was certified deep first dry suit second. Our typical dives are around 120 feet. For the most of the dive everything goes well, as we surface though things begin to get iffy. Sometimes it happens around 40 feet, sometime around the safety stop, he rockets to the surface and all I can do is look up as he flails around like a turtle on his back. Every time he is ok (I have started to ascend a little slower now for the both of us). I always ask him what happen and he says he can’t release the air from his dry suit, problem solved.
He took his dry suit in for service and the LDS found no issues. We are about the same size so I asked if he wanted to switch dry suits to see if I could replicate the problem. We did, and I could not. What did happen though is he rocketed to the surface in my dry suit.
I was there when he did his dry suit certifications and he did not have this problem. I don’t know why it has occurred. Is he not releasing the air? Is he not releasing enough? Is he forgetting to do it as we ascend? I have talked to him about all of this and he always seems like he trying really hard but the next dive it is the same thing. Also it sometimes happens when we dive wet.
Coming from an Army background I tend to address problems aggressively and head on as it always works for me. So far with this I have been fairly passive since the cultural differences could cause problems and I don’t want that. I am in with a good group and if the outsider pisses off one of the locals they may not want to dive with me (I think that chances of that happening is very slim). I don't want to be involved in an accident that is totally avoidable. So I have a few questions to ask of you guys.

Should I be more direct?
After a year of diving, will he get it?
Could it be just because just from carelessness?
How do you handle problems with dive buddies?

Have him read Spectrum's reply to your post, be sure he understands the points, then:

Make your next dive one where there is a fixed shot line leading to the surface. Ascend the line opposite one another, but not holding on to the line. Advise your friend to grasp the line if/when he feels his ascent beginning to go out of control, then make buoyancy adjustments to achieve neutral buoyancy at that depth. Once neutral, re-descend 20,' then begin to ascend again, always trying to remain in control of the ascent. Continue this practice until your buddy gains confidence in his buoyancy, then make one of your regular dives without a shot line, and monitor his progress. Repeat as necessary until he has ascent buoyancy control nailed.

Regards,
DSD

 

[elmer fudd]

Doing that routinely after dives to 120' is just begging for trouble. I can't tell you how to deal with the politics of the situation, but I would wager that if he doesn't figure things out he's going to end up getting bent eventually.

Maybe you should team up with a few other divers and let them see what's happening.

 

[Bombay High]

Since it happens even when he dived wet, it may not be a dry suit issue, but a general buoyancy issue.

 

[TSandM]

I think Spectrum nailed it. Your buddy is simply not anticipating the need to vent, and how much more frequently one must do it as one gets shallow. (The alternative is that he is woefully underweighted, and doing a formal weight check ought to be the first place you go in sorting this out.)

You've already gotten good advice on an exercise for learning to avoid this, but I would add that I would strongly suggest keeping your dives MUCH shallower until your buddy has mastered this. The description you give is an accident waiting to happen.

 

[ScubaSteve]

Somehow I have missed where the OP said it also happened in a wetsuit after reading the post 3 times. It must be coffee deprivation.

Since it happens even when he dived wet, it may not be a dry suit issue, but a general buoyancy issue.

To the OP, I struggled with drysuit buoyancy on ascent for the first 30 or so dives. I am a big guy and it seems I have a larger bubble to deal with with a standard valve. Is your friend a big person? I wound up adding 2 pounds and practiced slow controlled ascents where I anticipated the need to vent. I have since lost that 2 pounds and have not had an issue. I am around 80 or so dives on my suit now and can say I am comfortable diving again. Do you see your buddy ever playing with the valve? In the deep water air will expand slower making it easier to vent in a partially closed valve.......but in the shallows where the air will expand much faster......open that sucker right up. I dive with mine wide open all the time and simply deal with it if I roll at depth to check on my buddy and lose some air.

 

[flots am]

It sounds like he does not:
1) Have his valve set right
2) Understand that he needs to present "the bubble" to the valve (raise elbow etc.).
3) Know to use posture and the manual vent button if things are getting ahead of him
4) Has no feel for buoyancy.

OR

His undergarment is something that is clinging to the valve effectively bocking it, making it a pressure suit.

Pete

Weezle had a problem with that for a while. Once the fabric got wet on the left arm, it would block the exhaust valve. However I'm betting on 1 -> 4.

flots.