losing your buddies

[TyGuy]

monday was so nice me and 2 of my buddies decided to go for a lake dive in upstate CT. we dove there this past saturday and decided to go again. like on saturday's dive i did the nav out and the nav back in. vis was average, about 10 feet but in some areas was alittle less.

the dive out was enjoyable, i kept looking back every 30 seconds or so to make sure they were both close behind me. i usually am the one infront of the pack since i tend to just have stronger kicks and move faster than everyone else. i do try and keep a slow pace but sometimes i get ahead of myself and have to stop and wait up.

monday was different. while navigating back to shore i changed my kick style from a frog kick to just a slow paced bicycle kick. keeping and eye on my compass and my surroundings i kept the same pace. after a quick air check i turned to see what PSI my buddies had left. when i turned around, i turned to and empty lake.

i waited for about 2 mins figuring they were just lagging behind. after no one came into view i marked my spot, and did a circle trying to locate my buddies. coming back to my original spot, i realized they were no where to be found.i was at only 25 feet, so i came up to 10, trying to see the bubbles or maybe the line for the flag.

nothing...so i waited there for 2 mins, realizing maybe they had simply completely lost me. i surfaced thinking i would see the flag way behind me and i would simply go over and pull on the line. but after surfacing i turned to my left to see flag, and both my buddies about 15 ft away. they had gone in the direction in which they thought was right and were most likely, right next to me the entire time.

since this was a shallow dive, there was no serious danger. the fault in my opinion is on all of us.

mine: i am in better shape than most of the people i dive with, i consume less air and can kick faster n harder with less effort. i need to change up my kick style and keep an eye on my other divers

that being said, the other divers need to be more responsible. the reason they lost me is they stopped to look at a crawfish and didnt let me know. they werent keeping up and didnt let me know i was getting ahead.

i just think the other divers and i need to be more aware of eachother's abilities and be more responsible for what we do. this time there were no real ramifications, we all were safe and made it out. next time, at a serious depth, we may not be so lucky.

 

[bamamedic]

Try putting the slowest diver in front.

If you know that you tend to swim faster, then putting the slower diver in front sets a reasonable pace for y'all. Sometimes, the slower diver simply can't keep up...and it's easy for the slower diver to get stressed trying to keep up, breathe too fast, and wind up hyperventilating (with all the accompanying nasty symptoms).

Good buddy communication is important too, although be sure that you're not swimming so fast that it's impossible for your buddies to catch you in order to signal you to stop.

Keeping the team together is every team member's job Sounds like ya handled it well. Definitely important to go over buddy separation protocols with any new dive buddies prior to the dive, that way they aren't looking for ya underwater when you're on the surface looking for bubbles.

 

[tomboyy]

they didn't lose you ...you lost them

 

[ERP]

There is little I find more irritating in a buddy that someone who races ahead. It's not a question of if I can keep up, it's more what's the rush.

I dove with a guy I had no experience with in under 5ft of vis, he insisted on racing around the site, I grabed his fins a couple of times, asked him to slow down. When he did it a 3rd time, it turned into two solo divers, I don't think he even noticed he'd lost contact.

Having said that put those who tend to maintain a slower pace in front, and using lights to maintain contact can work very well, if you can see your budies light beam you don't have to turn around to check on them.

 

[UCFKnightDiver]

A bicycle kick? That isn't the sort of kick you want to do, lol. Try a modified frog kick for the kick, move mainly your ankles.

Also I agree, keeping up with your buddies is everyone's job, so... you lost your buddies.

 

[*dave*]

Buddy contact is a skill which needs to be actively exercised in order to be proficient. Unless you are using passive communication(lights) to maintain contact, single file is not a good pattern to use.

Stay side by side and don't fall behind or get ahead of your buddy. This way, it takes just a twist of your head to spot them. Look for them often and in low vis, look for them even more often.

In the scenario you describe, I would lay more responsibility on you. As tomboyy points out: You left them. This time they stopped to look at something, next time they may be entangled. Yes, they should have signaled you to stop, but the single file formation made that more difficult than it could have been.

 

[Gombessa]

i kept looking back every 30 seconds or so to make sure they were both close behind me.

i waited for about 2 mins figuring they were just lagging behind.

nothing...so i waited there for 2 mins, realizing maybe they had simply completely lost me.

First, for some, 30 seconds may be too long an interval. When you swim at different speeds, you should have a system set up to maintain communication. The best is probably to avoid traveling in single file if you don't have to - if you swim abreast, you only have to glance to your side to know your buddy is still there, instead of constantly needing some look-behind-you-every-x-minutes system.

You should have a lost buddy protocol. Here, you were separated for nearly 5 minutes - that's a LONG time. A typical protocol would be to search for one minute once you notice you've been separated, and then slowly ascend to the surface and stay there (so you don't keep missing each other by ascending and descending alternately). If I lost my buddy and was waiting at the surface for 3-4 minutes, I'd be wondering if he was in serious trouble underwater, or completely oblivious that we were no longer in contact.

the reason they lost me is they stopped to look at a crawfish and didnt let me know. they werent keeping up and didnt let me know i was getting ahead.

they didn't lose you ...you lost them

Gotta agree with this. The fastest person needs to be adjust their speed to the lowest common denominator. If your slower buddies see something (or one of them gets into trouble), it's VERY difficult for them to haul-ass over to you and let you know to slow down/stop, and then go back to where they were before. Again, it's best if everyone stays together as a cohesive team, in close contact, rather than just verifying occasionally that they're still there (in many cases, apparently including this one, being out of contact for 30 seconds means you'll never re-establish contact underwater).

 

[Hatul]

The rule for staying together is the faster buddy must stay with the slower buddy. If there is a separation because of speed it's the faster buddy's fault.

Adam

 

[W8less]

I agree. If you are the stronger diver and want to stay together, your job is to sweep, otherwise you'll just be solo diving. I would much rather cruise behind slowly with everyone in sight than, twisting/turning or looking through my legs to see where they are.

 

[MXGratefulDiver]

monday was so nice me and 2 of my buddies decided to go for a lake dive in upstate CT. we dove there this past saturday and decided to go again. like on saturday's dive i did the nav out and the nav back in. vis was average, about 10 feet but in some areas was alittle less.

the dive out was enjoyable, i kept looking back every 30 seconds or so to make sure they were both close behind me. i usually am the one infront of the pack since i tend to just have stronger kicks and move faster than everyone else. i do try and keep a slow pace but sometimes i get ahead of myself and have to stop and wait up.

monday was different. while navigating back to shore i changed my kick style from a frog kick to just a slow paced bicycle kick. keeping and eye on my compass and my surroundings i kept the same pace. after a quick air check i turned to see what PSI my buddies had left. when i turned around, i turned to and empty lake.

i waited for about 2 mins figuring they were just lagging behind. after no one came into view i marked my spot, and did a circle trying to locate my buddies. coming back to my original spot, i realized they were no where to be found.i was at only 25 feet, so i came up to 10, trying to see the bubbles or maybe the line for the flag.

nothing...so i waited there for 2 mins, realizing maybe they had simply completely lost me. i surfaced thinking i would see the flag way behind me and i would simply go over and pull on the line. but after surfacing i turned to my left to see flag, and both my buddies about 15 ft away. they had gone in the direction in which they thought was right and were most likely, right next to me the entire time.

since this was a shallow dive, there was no serious danger. the fault in my opinion is on all of us.

mine: i am in better shape than most of the people i dive with, i consume less air and can kick faster n harder with less effort. i need to change up my kick style and keep an eye on my other divers

that being said, the other divers need to be more responsible. the reason they lost me is they stopped to look at a crawfish and didnt let me know. they werent keeping up and didnt let me know i was getting ahead.

i just think the other divers and i need to be more aware of eachother's abilities and be more responsible for what we do. this time there were no real ramifications, we all were safe and made it out. next time, at a serious depth, we may not be so lucky.

What you just described isn't unusual for newer divers. Here are some tips that may prevent it from happening again ...

- Don't "lead-follow" ... unless you have eyes in the back of your head it's a tough way to keep track of your buddy, and if they have a problem you'll never know. Instead, swim side-by-side. If you're a 3-person team, put the person leading the dive in the center with a buddy on either side.

- Swim slowly ... it's tougher to get separated if you slow down. Besides that, you'll reduce your air consumption and you'll notice things you would've just swam right past if you were going faster.

- Look around ... putting a dive mask on your face takes away your peripheral vision, and narrows your perception of what's going on around you. So you have to compensate by learning a new behavior ... turning your head from side to side to see what's going on around you. Practice it every few seconds ... it's a pain at first, but before long it'll become second nature.

- Actively communicate with your buddies ... there's more to being a dive buddy than just being in the water together. Look at each other, use signals to "talk" ... just as you would if you were walking together. "Share" the dive with each other ... interaction goes a long way toward making the dive more enjoyable and assuring that you don't lose each other.

- If diving in darker waters, make a habit of using dive lights. Lights do more than simply illuminate things you want to look at. They are also very effective communication devices ... an "extension" of your arm, basically. You can use them to signal to your buddy ... or develop the habit of shining your light where your buddy can easily see it. If he sees your light, he knows you are there ... so he doesn't have to look around so much ... and vice-versa.

I have an article on my website that talks about all this, if you're interested ...

... Bob (Grateful Diver)