Keeping up with Buddy in Low Visibility

[elan]

10 ft is pretty decent visibility not only do not you have to bump into each other you have a lot of space for maneuvering.
You cannot swim in circles no matter what you do if you monitor your heading. The worst case you will be falling to one of the sides.

I would not go the rope route. You can get entangled easy which can prevent you from doing some important things, like adding or dumping air, reposition yourself etc. The worst case when you entangle together and cannot get out, more worst when you entangle together and got hooked to something on the bottom. Even in 1 -2 ft visibility when we get it sometime we do not use any ropes. Shoulder to shoulder swim, bumping into each other helps maintaining the position. You do do not have to hold hands, just swim slowly and keep track on each other all the time.

Good dive lights help a lot. Sometimes even when you cannot see the diver you can see his beam.

Do not get discouraged. get used to that vis, after a while you will feel comfortable.

 

[Lee Taylor]

Another technique I have found to be effective:

Take turns following each other. For instance, on the first dive, you will follow me. On the second dive I will follow you.

What seems to get divers seperated is when they WANT to go in different directions.

 

[dwhthediver]

I have to agree with what I read others say, don't use a rope, it is a crutch, and has its own possible problems. 10' of viz makes the wingman position a good buddy team formation. the quarry where I dove alot on a GREAT day will have 15' of viz, normal day 5-8', but when diving with regular buddies, we don't get seperated because we know each other so well, as newer divers, when you go on your blue water trip to Key West, work on getting intuitive of the way your fiance dives, that way in low viz, you can predict where the other is and both be comfortable

 

[Walter]

It all depends on the dive. How poor is the visibility? What are your goals. I often use a buddy line and I always have one in my pocket ready to deploy. If the visibility is 10 feet, I doubt you'll need anything other than to stay close and pay attention. If visibility is less than that, you may need a buddy line. If there are lots of obstacles on which a buddy line is likely to become entangled, it's probably better to leave it in your pocket. If the obstacles are close to the bottom, staying off the bottom and using a polypropylene line will help. You can also attach a fishing bobber to the center of the line to keep it from dragging. Unless you are both searching for something (fossils come immediately to mind) you can probably stay together by simply paying attention to each other. When searching for fossils in low visibility, Nancy and I always use a buddy line. When we're lucky enough to have 10 feet visibility, we usually leave them in our pockets.

When using a buddy line, put the loop around your wrist and hold the line in your hand. That gives you a double hold (unlikely to drop the line accidently) and you can release it quickly should the need arise.

 

[ae3753]

Wow, I took your post as condescending.

Now justify your position.

Sorry, I was not trying to be condescending. Going for concise, but if it it was read as condescending, I apologize.

I provided an explanation of my statements in post #5. Buddy lines have a purpose, but it's not necessary for 10' viz.

In addition, buddy lines add another level of complexity to the dive. In order for line usage to be effective, management and usage needs to be discussed and practiced. Is slack good or bad? How to tell if it's slack or the line has been cut? How to signal ok? How to signal stop? How to signal emergency? What happens if there's entanglement? How to pick direction? What position for swimming? Not something I'd recommend for newer divers.

And learning good buddy skills will make all dives better. This doesn't come naturally and takes work and attention. But the payoff is huge, not only for low viz diving but for all types of diving. Bob's article that he reference, "Hey! Where'd my buddy go?" is a great read.

On a related note, like many others who posted on this thread, my first OW dives were in a lake. We dove year round and many of the logs reported 3'-10' viz. One entry was "8' viz. Good viz!" If anything, I'm very empathetic.

 

[Gombessa]

I've never used a buddy line, but I often dive in viz between 5-10ft, and with good buddy skills, it's quite manageable. For new divers, there's usually enough task-loading with just being in the water--breathe, check buoyancy, check gas, check compass, look at fish--that keeping an eye on a buddy requires a real conscious effort (and a repeated one at that). BUT, nearly everyone picks it up after a number of dives, and significant-other buddy teams usually arrive at some kind of mutually-accepted system for staying together.

Also, ~10ft viz isn't at all uncommon for non-tropical recreational dives, and I've never once seen a buddy line deployed or absolutely necessary for these dives. It's also something that is never mentioned once in any OW class or materials I've seen, whereas the foundational buddy skills of regular awareness, communication, and planning are always emphasized heavily. I think it just makes a lot of sense to learn good buddy skills for standard recreational dives, as these will help in every dive you'll make, whereas a line has a very narrow application, important caveats and will likely delay learning important foundational skills. There may be some situations where you need to parallel park by getting out of the car and pushing it by hand into the spot, but most of the time, isn't it better to learn how to back into a spot the normal way?

 

[paddler3d]

I've seen a lot of student swim circles during compass runs.

Cheaper compasses do not have nearly as much 'float', the of degree that the compass will remain accurate from a true level plane. If you are not holding the compass perfectly level, the needle sticks. You think you are following your heading, but in reality you're doing a big circle.

Check your compass.

An example of a compass that is good is the Suunto SK-7. It has something like 14 degrees of float.

10ft of vis isn't that bad. The two of you should be able to swim side by side w/o issue.

There have been a lot of good tips.

One I haven't seen is, if you are doing navigation exercies or simply need to navigate, one person navigates with the compass and the other person maintains depth.

We will usually have the student responsible for depth hold onto the tank valve, with the right hand, of the student responsible for direction. If the compass person starts to go too deep, the depth person can pull on them from above. If the compass person starts to ascend, the depth person can push the from above. The reason we have the depth person hold on with their right hand should be obvious, but in case it is not, it is so they can deal with their computer and BC using the left.

Practice that until you get comfortable enough in low vis diving that you buddy can stay behind you and the lead person is doing both depth and direction.

 

[Codiak]

10ft vis is a good dive for me...


I've got two regular buddies and we treat "low-vis" dives no different than navigation dives.

While diving it's shoulder to shoulder or the follower has a hand on the leads shoulder... we've used tethers in the past but you do get tangled.

Leader is concern with the direction
Follower is responsible for depth monitoring
Everyone is responsible for their own air, though putting the air hog as the follower reduces their stress and air consumption at the same time.

 

[carrielsal]

10' would be fantastic vis for me and a buddy! I guess it just goes to show you that everyone has a different idea what good vis is.
+1 on the wingman position. I think tank lights are a good idea. I use a strobe, Flashing Strobe with Velcro Strap reviews and discounts, Trident.
You also need to make sure you have discussed what you will do when (and it will happen) you get separated, ie. how long you will look for your buddy, how you will exit, and how long you will wait for your buddy on shore before you call for help.

carrie

 

[ae3753]

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?

Diving in limited visibility is stressful, but it's great to hear that you're committed to diving. With more dives, you'll find that what you had previously considered low visibility is really not that low.

Let's talk about each of stresses:

Gas
As long as we have gas, we're good. To reduce the stress of an OOA situation, it's good to have conservative gas management practices. Increase the rock bottom or gas reserve time so you have plenty of gas to deal with an emergency. Bob again has a good article on Understanding Gas Management. Here's another article on Rock Bottom. Lamont, another PNW diver, has a good article as well. The PNW deal with deep and low viz, so gas management is serious consideration for them.

Maintain Depth and Buoyancy
Our goal is to hold a stop at any depth or swim consistently at a predetermined depth. Many of us rely on visual cues to aid on maintaining our buoyancy. In low viz situations, these visual cues are limited or removed. As the result, we're concerned that we're either sink or float up unknowingly.

To reduce this stress learn to dive neutrally buoyant. When you stop kicking, you automatically hold position at that depth, without fin or hand movement. This takes practice and time, but can be done. Best way to start is to periodically stop kicking, and do a buoyancy check. If you float or sink, make a slight adjustment with lungs or BC. For me, I use the glide phase of the frog kick to adjust bouyancy.

In addition, learn about buoyancy change by feel. Your ears, your BC, and drysuit have tells that will help in determining buoyancy change.

And since we all dive with depth gauges, refer to it for depth on a regular basis. I keep my computer on my wrist for easy access. Since I often dive with my hands in front of my, my depth is always a quick glance away.

Buddy
If we're committed to team diving, then we want to stay with our buddy and we want our buddy to stay with us. Many good advice on this thread about that. For me, it's about (1) Expectations, (2) Team Position, and (3) Communication.

As to your question about communicating direction there's a few options in the water. But communication really starts at the surface during the dive plan. We discuss the general goals and the direction of the dive. We also agree that we dive the natural contours and/or compass. Lastly, we confirm hand signals (and light signals).

For scuba signs for direction, I use the following:

In addition, I use numbers to denote compass heading.

The end results is that I use the "Direction of Travel" hand signal over my compass and then count out a heading. Then, I wait for my buddy to confirm the heading, and we swim off.

Even though one person is the dive leader, both people need to be independently capable with regards to directions and compass headings. It's a really bad feeling when you're being lead around in low viz and a buddy separation occurs. Without any idea of direction of travel, you feel lost. In OW scenarios, a direct ascent to the surface is possible. But it still sucks.

Good luck!