Is Solo Pool Practice OK?

[Mustard Dave]

I solo dive in the pool all the time, however, it is on a club pool night, so although I'm not with a buddy, there are loads of trained divers around.

I agree with what TS&M says - the risks are tiny - however, I also agree with XS-NRG about the lifeguard issues.

Our club hires the swimming pool at a local school; they have it 4 hours Saturday and 4 hours Sunday for teaching, and on a Monday evening, we have it for 2 hours for all members, plus a group of freedivers who practice in there.

We used to use another school, but incidents like a sheep getting in the pool (really!), poor maintenance, frequent closures and finally the roof collapsing meant we had to look elsewhere. At the old pool, they used to say we had to have a lifeguard on duty - this could be any suitably trained club member. At the new pool, we have to use their lifeguard (usually a confused school-kid).

If you watch the lifeguard for a minute, you can usually read their mind - they are generally thinking 'WTF?'. One of them went mental once when a couple of freedivers were practising static apnoea.

Imagine a diver is in the pool alone. They are OOG on the bottom for some reason and bolt to the surface. They cannot inflate their BCD and they are weighted down; they are tiring very quickly as they try to keep their head above the water. The lifeguard has to jump in and swim over to this panicking idiot and get them out. The lifeguard has decided the best action is to get them out of their kit, but he doesn't know where the releases are and cannot find them because the diver is thrashing about. There is a strong risk either one of them, or even both, is going to get hurt.

Of course, this is an extreme example, and you may not be the type to get into this situation. I would not personally have a problem, as a diver, being alone in a couple of metres of water, but from the pool manager or lifeguard's perspective, I would not be happy.

 

[kelemvor]

I do it all the time in my pool. I agree with the others, you're lucky it's allowed. None of the commercial pools in my area will allow solo; even the ones owned by dive shops.

However, if you're uncomfortable with it then find a buddy and drag him out.

 

[TMHeimer]

If you're worrying about actually what can go wrong doing this (as opposed to breaking some "cardinal rule" about solo diving), why not just do everything you want to practise in 4-5 feet of water where you can stand up? What skills can't be practised that shallow (in fact, that's the best depth to practise buoyancy/hovering)?

 

[claymore]

My dive shop has Open Pool every Friday for students, free, who are between OWI and OWII and any one who wants to play or practice for $25.00 with gear or $30.00 without. There is never a Lifeguard.

i used the pool at the school I worked at quite frequently to practice as did several of the staff before or after school to swim laps. There was never a Lifeguard on duty for these activities. The liability was the schools problem to deal with and they chose to ignore any liability issues.

 

[Wookie]

What's the worst that could happen, you die alone in a pool? No big deal. When you die, you're going to do it alone anyway, no matter who is with you.

 

[Steve_C]

I know of a couple adults who died in a pool while swimming laps by themselves. Heart attack. Not all pools have life guards like our health club. So be it, I swim laps there sometimes solo.

In the US if you are in a well kept up pool they should have long poles with hooks. Actually jumping in with a diver is last resort today (unlike when I was a teen)

If I had use of a pool with a life guard the only thing I would do would be to show them the three releases that get me out of my gear and the inflator hose. Inflator hose if I am submerged. Snap, snap open cumberbund, and I am free of my gear and the weight (since it is integrted). If I had a weight belt I would show them that. That way if there is an incident, unlikely as it is, they can convert you to a nonscuba diver in about 10 seconds rather than fumblingt around. All this takes less than a minute to show the guard.

 

[MXGratefulDiver]

I once knew a guy who died while practicing skills alone in a pool ... but he was on a rebreather.

I'd say it's OK to practice skills in a pool without a buddy ... as long as there's someone else nearby keeping an eye on you, whether it's a lifeguard or just a friend standing by poolside watching. True that it's a lot harder to get in trouble in a pool, but the fact remains that unless you can stand up and breathe, you can still drown ...

... Bob (Grateful Diver)

 

[cb5150]

You'll be fine.

I usually get home in the evening about an hour before my wife. In the summer months she'll usually find me at the bottom of our pool in full scuba kit, just laying there, decompressing from the workday. The only one watching me is my dog...and honestly I don't think he gives a crap what his stupid human is doing.

Sometimes, I actually nod off for a bit.

 

[TMHeimer]

As mentioned, you can die alone swimming laps. Or more likely, I could have while snorkeling solo in all sorts of places from age 15-51 or so.

 

[Lorenzoid]

My local dive shops allows anyone to use their pool any time there is no one else signed up to use it. Their only requirement is that you have a C-card and a buddy. They will not let a diver in there solo.