Is it okay to be a quasi-solo diver in certain situations?
- Thread starter Professor Nemo
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... it's not hard in 5-foot vis, it just takes some getting used to. Around here we get less than 5 foot vis all the time, and with two divers committed to maintaining buddy integrity it's not that difficult to dive together. It starts with thinking about the dive as "our dive" rather than "my dive".
... Bob (Grateful Diver)
Rred
Contributor
"and boom your resources are doubled."
Heheh. Common sense would say so, yes. But statisticians and aircraft designers will tell you that every time you double the number of "parts" you quadruple the number of failures you are likely to have. That's why they build transoceanic aircraft these days with TWO engines instead of FOUR, because four engines means a much higher number of engine failures. (Yes, the 747 has four, mainly because it has to distribute stresses on the wings and it needs more power than two could provide. They had no choice.)
So, with divers being biomechanical "systems" which is just a fancier kind of "machine"....Diving with a buddy would statistically make it much more probably that you would encounter a problem. And as DAN and the USCG had both confirmed long ago, when one diver gets in trouble, BOTH are more likely to die. Even in basic Red Cross water safety training, they'll tell you a drowning person will try to literally climb on top of the rescuer. So you try to stay out of reach, and be prepared to slug the victim if that's what it takes to keep them in control.
Ready to slug your buddy? Sure your buddy won't panic?
Heheh. Common sense would say so, yes. But statisticians and aircraft designers will tell you that every time you double the number of "parts" you quadruple the number of failures you are likely to have. That's why they build transoceanic aircraft these days with TWO engines instead of FOUR, because four engines means a much higher number of engine failures. (Yes, the 747 has four, mainly because it has to distribute stresses on the wings and it needs more power than two could provide. They had no choice.)
So, with divers being biomechanical "systems" which is just a fancier kind of "machine"....Diving with a buddy would statistically make it much more probably that you would encounter a problem. And as DAN and the USCG had both confirmed long ago, when one diver gets in trouble, BOTH are more likely to die. Even in basic Red Cross water safety training, they'll tell you a drowning person will try to literally climb on top of the rescuer. So you try to stay out of reach, and be prepared to slug the victim if that's what it takes to keep them in control.
Ready to slug your buddy? Sure your buddy won't panic?
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Yes, agree completely. The "our dive" thing. I think your most important words here are "with two divers committed".... I have found buddy diving this way very easy in low viz. Problem is that way to often one buddy is not so committed.
Rred, You make another good point, and one that may cause some to go solo.
lermontov
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not sure thats a good argument analogy, if you place that on linear scale and push it to the max. then we shouldn't take any redundant gas because were doubling the chance of a failure, an aircraft doesn't have the ability to share their engine parts if one isnt working, the focus points are different, one( the diver) is solution oriented the other is failure oriented @GLOC would probably have some slant on this. Inanimate objects cant reason like humans
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Not sure about the aircraft analogy, but re the redundant gas: If one gas source fails, the diver still has the other--so that seems safer to me. But, if one buddy is OOA or has some other problem that may lead to panic-- that's something else. No doubt having a buddy can either be a big plus or minus.
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One of the things I learned when I was teaching is that most people are only too willing to be a committed dive buddy, if only they knew how. This is particularly true among newer divers ... who were all told they should always dive with a buddy, but rarely taught how to do it effectively. One of the reasons I retired from teaching is so I could commit more time to being a mentor for some of these people, and showing them what it means to be a dive buddy. It's not hard, really ... but it does involve some simple skills that are often overlooked in typical dive training. Granted, it's much more difficult to achieve this in situations where you're being paired up with someone you've never dived with, or even met before ... because despite it being simple, it still involves skills that need to be learned and ingrained.
... Bob (Grateful Diver)
Bubblesong
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I like to hold hands with my dive buddies! But since my buddies are hubby or daughter, this may not work for everyone. I really can't imagine offering this excellent DiveBuddy attention to an instabuddy.
What ever keeps you safe... But leave out that quasi. It is fair to be either or but not cool to lie (=the quasi part).
Please note that a visible diver is not a present diver, would you encounter an out of air emergency or excessive buoyancy or leg cramps or whatever... You are on your own. It is either or. Buddy or solo. Nothing in between. Now choose and plan/play accordingly.
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Yes Bob--The PADI OW manual I used 12 years ago notes the benefits of buddy diving. But no advice on how to do it properly.... Also, there is nothing about Solo diving, though there is the Self Reliant Course...and nothing about the benefits and pitfalls of either. I THINK also the advice is ALWAYS dive with a buddy, but that certainly isn't spelled out. Maybe some seasoned PADI instructors can comment?
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