nolatom
Contributor
In previous threads, I hear a lot of, "I won't dive with bad buddies", or "I won't dive with that 'insta-buddy'", or occasionally, "I won't dive with a buddy, period". Makes sense, and keeps your risk down, as well as your aggravation. But....
In my rather limited diving career, I've learned an awful lot from pick-up buddies, either from them directly, or from having to help them out, or from knowing when not to try to help them out, than I would have learned otherwise.
Don't get me wrong, you need good buddies at first in order to learn good practice. But after that initial period, someone's got to buddy up with that newbie, or with that single diver, or with me when I'm the single diver (often). I've been on both sides of this equation, and while it's occasionally frustrating or irritating, it's also been fun, eye-opening, and a learning experience.
Some of these pick-up buddies have been just excellent, and helped me get better. Some have been newbies, and I've enjoyed their enthusiasm and willingness to take advice, and how pumped they are after a dive that went well. This, to me, is "paying it forward" for the favors done to me by those experienced divers who buddied with me when I was starting out. Plus, you make a new friend, and can help someone gain confidence--some day, they'll be the one mentoring a new pick-up buddy.
Even the few dives with "bad" buddies have been valuable to me. I had to do my first shared-air ascent when a new buddy (in a threesome, which I dislike) got pretty low on air at depth and needed my octo. There's no better learning experience that doing this in 'real time', you learn lots, including about how you'll react in a pinch. I had to do a surface tow at night in crummy conditions offshore when someone else's insta-buddy had taken off her fins at the stern trail line, then lost the line, and more or less panicked and tried to swim with no fins, almost drained my own tank towing her, but we made it...learned about navigation chasing another buddy who went off the wrong way (with some help from me, I must admit) and we had to find our way back, ending up with a surface snorkel swim to conserve air, and how to calm that buddy down...and had to make the tough decision to let an over-adventurous buddy go off without me when she swam away from the anchor line off into the distance, and I didn't have enough air chase her and still be able to ascend, she surfaced near the stern without a safety stop, I didn't know this til I surfaced after a very anxious ascent.
You all may have better stories than this, but without these buddies, I wouldn't have learned how I'd handle these situations in real life. Nor would I have learned as much about different divers, their styles, strengths, weaknesses, and how to do the "interview" schmoozing on the boat. While we all enjoy the "perfect" dive, the dives where not everything went right were ultimately the most memorable, and the most educational.
So here's to the pick-up buddy. They've taught me a lot, either on purpose or not. No, I won't dive with someone I don't think is safe, but won't reject them just because I don't know them.
In my rather limited diving career, I've learned an awful lot from pick-up buddies, either from them directly, or from having to help them out, or from knowing when not to try to help them out, than I would have learned otherwise.
Don't get me wrong, you need good buddies at first in order to learn good practice. But after that initial period, someone's got to buddy up with that newbie, or with that single diver, or with me when I'm the single diver (often). I've been on both sides of this equation, and while it's occasionally frustrating or irritating, it's also been fun, eye-opening, and a learning experience.
Some of these pick-up buddies have been just excellent, and helped me get better. Some have been newbies, and I've enjoyed their enthusiasm and willingness to take advice, and how pumped they are after a dive that went well. This, to me, is "paying it forward" for the favors done to me by those experienced divers who buddied with me when I was starting out. Plus, you make a new friend, and can help someone gain confidence--some day, they'll be the one mentoring a new pick-up buddy.
Even the few dives with "bad" buddies have been valuable to me. I had to do my first shared-air ascent when a new buddy (in a threesome, which I dislike) got pretty low on air at depth and needed my octo. There's no better learning experience that doing this in 'real time', you learn lots, including about how you'll react in a pinch. I had to do a surface tow at night in crummy conditions offshore when someone else's insta-buddy had taken off her fins at the stern trail line, then lost the line, and more or less panicked and tried to swim with no fins, almost drained my own tank towing her, but we made it...learned about navigation chasing another buddy who went off the wrong way (with some help from me, I must admit) and we had to find our way back, ending up with a surface snorkel swim to conserve air, and how to calm that buddy down...and had to make the tough decision to let an over-adventurous buddy go off without me when she swam away from the anchor line off into the distance, and I didn't have enough air chase her and still be able to ascend, she surfaced near the stern without a safety stop, I didn't know this til I surfaced after a very anxious ascent.
You all may have better stories than this, but without these buddies, I wouldn't have learned how I'd handle these situations in real life. Nor would I have learned as much about different divers, their styles, strengths, weaknesses, and how to do the "interview" schmoozing on the boat. While we all enjoy the "perfect" dive, the dives where not everything went right were ultimately the most memorable, and the most educational.
So here's to the pick-up buddy. They've taught me a lot, either on purpose or not. No, I won't dive with someone I don't think is safe, but won't reject them just because I don't know them.
