Keeping up with Buddy in Low Visibility

[luckydays]

I agree that the buddy line is not the best of tools. You guys are supposed to be a team and 10' viz is enough to stay within arms length of each other. I think the line would just be a crutch and one buddy or another would become dependant on another.

Learning dive planning and better buddy skills will help you guys alot. When I am diving in crap viz and leading the dive, my buddy is in charge of maintaining depth. I keep an eye on it but as a team, his job is to make sure we are not to deep or to shallow for where we want to go.

All of this stuff gets easier the more you do. If you are at a dive site, just ask the person in charge if there is a group that would not mind having a few newbies along. Most divers wont care. This way you have someone with you who knows the site better and can lead you while you practice buddy diving. It happens to us all the time at our quarry and we dont mind one bit.

Good luck to you on your next dive though. I hope you and your gf keep diving.

 

[gbray]

I dive in a lot of low viz water. Fortunately i have had the opportunity to dive with some good divers who I have learned the area from and am familiar with most of the places I dive now. My wife does not dive near as much as I do so when she dives with me she is more at ease knowing I am comfortable. That being said I have been in similar situation with my wife wanting to hold my hand when she was stressed by the low viz. It really does cause you to swim in circles. This is normal. i agree with most of the advise given to you so far.

one leads, one follows
swim shoulder to shoulder
use good dive lights
buddy up with others who know the area

Another thing I have done when diving with a new buddy with little experience is to use tank lights so if You do get a little far apart you can still see one another from behind. These are commonly used on night dives but also help new divers recognize each others when there are other divers in the area (I lost a buddy who swam away with the wrong group one time).

I think the most important thing is to practice your buoyancy skills. Even if you just get into the water and hover together at different depths and don't go anywhere you will be amazed how much more you will enjoy a dive when you do go somewhere to see something. Some of my best dives have been in low viz covering very little ground but enjoying the little things I could see.

Keep diving and practice and you will fall in love with diving ( I have). Thanks for sharing your experience.

 

[MXGratefulDiver]

Oh man, that story brings back memories ...

Some key points for diving in low vis would be ...

- side-by-side positioning ... it's just easier to stay together when you dive where you can see each other
- slow down ... the slower you go, the harder it is to get separated
- lights ... when you can see your buddy's light, you know they're there

For newer divers, a buddy rope or bungee can be useful ... but it's only an aid while developing better buddy skills. Plus it frees up some mental bandwidth for you to concentrate on other skills you're still working on ... like that compass work you mentioned.

You might pick up something useful from this article as well ...

... Bob (Grateful Diver)

 

[Nylorac]

Thanks for sharing your story.

Low visibility stresses your basic diving skills - ascents, descents, buoyancy, navigation, team communication, and team awareness. Focus on being comfortable and confident in your essential skills and you'll find that low visibility diving does not need to be frustrating.

Avoid using of line or bungee to connect oneself as it's unnecessary. In addition, entanglement in low visibility situation can easily turn into an entanglement in a no visibility situation. And that is definitely no fun.

The best equipment for low visibility diving is a dive light. Diving lights facilitates communication and insures that the team remains together. In fact, dive lights are so helpful in team communication, some of us carry dive lights on all our dives.

In low visibility, it's often best to swim shoulder to shoulder. If it's really bad, then touch contact is great, but you shouldn't be guiding/steering through the touch contact. Instead, agree on a direction, both divers swim the direction, and the touch contact is used for communication (stop, go, emergency, separated, etc) only.

Good luck.

Thanks for the good advice. I have been having some difficulty with the stress of diving in limited viz - which for me is less than 15 feet (I'm claustrophobic so any limited viz really sucks - but I really want to enjoy cold water, limited viz diving since that is what is offered in here in New England - deal with what you have to offer) and would appreciate some more advice. When you say "agree on a direction" when/how do you figure that out?

 

[fisheater]

In addition to the excellent advice above (side by side, slow, keeping an eye on each other, lights), I strongly urge you to join a local dive club - one that dives regularly in your area. The "old hands" will surely show you the techniques that are proven effective in your diving conditions.

 

[rligon]

Around here, if you don't dive in low-viz then you don't dive. As listed above, lights and a designated lead really help. The other thing we have found is that communication underwater becomes much more important, either via hand signals or a slate. Make sure you both understand how you signal switching the lead, two leaders in low-viz is a real quick way to lose each other. Practice will make it all a whole lot easier

 

[Lee Taylor]

No offense intended but I disagree with rope also. Rope has no give. While diving black water with beginners I have often used an 8ft bungee with a loop on each end. Each diver pushes a loop up ones arm until it is close to the shoulder. Any type of tether will get tangled or caught on something eventually. The bungee has some give and is much less dangerous than rope.

I personally do not like any type of tether. They tend to get tangled.

When not using a tether: Another technique my girlfriend and I developed for diving black water is for two divers to lie on the bottom and form a "V" with the fins being the vertex. Staying in frequent or constant contact through the fins allows a type of communication. The types of signals you will receive are: I am where you left me. I have moved a bit. I am on the move. I am not where you left me.

 

[muddiver]

A rope is a bad idea.

Absolutely not necessary, especially in the conditions that you describe.

Learn to be attentive and thoughtful buddies, and this will be better for your diving in low viz or great viz situations.

Wow, I took your post as condescending.

Now justify your position.

 

[Guba]

Wait..."ten feet" is BAD vis? I'm diving on Sunday and my partner and I are HOPING for ten feet!

That aside, I've found what most of the previous folks have said to be good advice. My partners and I have found a "wing-man" formation to be the best in low vis. i.e., one diver is the leader and the other chooses a side and tries to stay there, usually about a half a body length behind. That way, the "wingman" can see the leader all the time, and a simple turn of the head allows the leader to check his partner's position. The distance between the two is totally dependent upon the vis conditions (unless vis is very good and as TS&M stated, safety and prudence take precedence.)
When my partner and I are "searching" (we have a favorite area for scavenging for lost "treasure"), we sometimes use a tether, which is a six foot piece of webbing with velcro loops in the ends and a small float in the middle to keep it off the bottom. However, I can't say that I really endorse this for new divers as a way to keep track of their buddy. It's another piece of equipment and it can, indeed, add to the task loading that is many times already approaching the critical overload point for many new divers (witness the OP's comments about the compass...). The best strategy is exactly what others have said...stay in more comfortable environs until skills have been sharpened to the point that the envelope can be widened. With time and experience, low vis will be just another day in the water, to be enjoyed.

 

[Kevin Carlisle]

Communication is important. You need to plan the dive carefully and figure out what signals you agree on for communication. A light does help.. I do dive the quarry sometimes and 10ft viz is not bad.. I have seen 10in viz there.. That quarry can bite you, if you drop to depth in the wrong place you can hit 140ft and bottom temps there in the summer are 52 degrees. There are usually some very good diver there, Docc, Bamamedic from this board. Pick their brain if you run across them.