Missing Diver off Daytona

[cornfed]

How did the buddy fail him ? He /she was down the line on the wreck by the time the other diver was on the anchor line.

Both people have to be good dive buddies. Just because you abort a dive it does not mean your buddy has too. He/she still should be allowed to catch up and dive with the others.

If that's what you want to do, fine. But you'd better talk about it before you get in the water. To suggest that a buddy should be able to leave his partner because said partner is having a problem which might cost him is dive is the most asinine thing I've heard in a while. It completely flies in the face everything the buddy system is supposed to accomplish.

 

[Charlie99]

To suggest that a buddy should be able to leave his partner because said partner is having a problem which might cost him is dive is the most asinine thing I've heard in a while. It completely flies in the face everything the buddy system is supposed to accomplish.

OTOH, reports such as the one from Decostop quoted above say that the buddy "abandoned" him only once the missing diver had climbed back onto the boat. It's not clear what agreement, if any, the two divers had made about possible later continuation of the dive.

One might even argue that it is acceptable to "abandon" a buddy once he is on the surface; in good physical and mental condition, isn't downcurrent from the boat or in heavy seas; has exchanged OK's with the boat crew and will be under their constant observation.

 

[Rick Murchison]

The broader discussion of solo/buddyseparated mishaps has been split off in this thread.
Rick

 

[beachdivequeenbelam]

Not to point blame on anyone, but this is exactly why me and my friends have the rule, that if your buddy has to surface, you surface with them. We dive as teams and you don't leave your buddy. If one buddy thumbs the dive, the buddy thumbs the dive. No questions asked. And if you don't feel 100% then don't dive, there is always another day to dive.

I know personally I may hate to abort a dive but if my buddy is in trouble or has a problem, isn't that why we are buddies or friends to begin with?
to watch out for each other.
He could have been having a heart attack and no one knew. If the buddies had stayed together then maybe someone would have noticed and could have gotten him help.
Who knows?
I would never go without "my" buddy. I would hope my buddy would do the same for me. 90% of the time my buddy is my husband but I would do for anyone assigned as my buddy the same I would do for him.
I hope they can recover him soon.

Bridget

 

[nalagem]

Me too...Did the two divers have any communication that the remaining buddy should continued without the deceased? According to ABQdiver,
Thought? Well that sure sounds to me like the guy left his buddy. You can wax on about the poor choice he made to try again after getting out but if this was not discussed and agreed upon then you cannot ignore the fact that his buddy failed him. When you get in the water with someone you get out with them. Period. End of story. If you have a problem with that then go check out the new solo diving forum. But if you agree to be someone's buddy you'd better be prepared to act like one. And that means getting out of the water if they have a problem.

I talked to his buddy.. He's a young,fit guy who seemed pretty experienced ..He didn't indicate a verbal agreement was made,but said he thought the older guys dive was over when he climbed back into the boat,so he went down with another group..

 

[partridge]

He didn't indicate a verbal agreement was made,but said he thought the older guys dive was over when he climbed back into the boat,so he went down with another group..

Uh Oh. That does not sound too good. i hope the missing diver did not feel obligated to go down again to look for his buddy since he did not surface with him.

This happened to me. My buddy just left me on the surface while I was still washing the shampoo out of my mask. I looked down and could not see him so had to hurry up and catch up. Had to wash my mask out lots of times in the first 10 minutes of the dive because the shampoo stung my eyes.

I think if I surfaced for any reason and my buddy did not, I would want to go look for him if we did not agree beforehand to continue the dive if the other calls it.

 

[wolf eel]

[To suggest that a buddy should be able to leave his partner because said partner is having a problem which might cost him is dive is the most asinine thing I've heard in a while. It completely flies in the face everything the buddy system is supposed to accomplish.]

Really?

The fact that the "older guy" was out of the water and looked as if he was done then why should the healthy strong diver lose out on a dive ?

You explain with loads of anger. I would like to respond but Rick will shut me down. but not you.

Where I dive I have a dive buddy that person alone is the person I dive rec diving with so I understand the concept well. I do not even think they knew each other did they? If not what kind of a buddy are they anyhow.

I do not blame others for what I do.
Cheers
Derek

 

[Rick Murchison]

You explain with loads of anger. I would like to respond but Rick will shut me down. but not you.

I think you're misunderstanding my whine in this thread. If you want to have a discussion on "diving and dying alone" in general then I've asked that you take it elsewhere (and I've created another thread for that). If your comments are on this accident and the actions of these divers then it is appropriate to discuss it here.
---
To the "who left whom" question here... the lesson I see here is that a buddy team should discuss the "early abort" contingency in advance - plan what they're individually going to do... and do it.
Rick

 

[cornfed]

To the "who left whom" question here... the lesson I see here is that a buddy team should discuss the "early abort" contingency in advance

It was not clear to me that this was the the case. Some of the reports I read made it seem as though the first diver made it to the anchor line and started his ascent while the second diver was still struggling in the current. My entire arguement was predicated on this belief.

 

[beachdivequeenbelam]

I think you're misunderstanding my whine in this thread. If you want to have a discussion on "diving and dying alone" in general then I've asked that you take it elsewhere (and I've created another thread for that). If your comments are on this accident and the actions of these divers then it is appropriate to discuss it here.
---
To the "who left whom" question here... the lesson I see here is that a buddy team should discuss the "early abort" contingency in advance - plan what they're individually going to do... and do it.
Rick

I have read a lot of books on divers from the past. For Example, "The Last Dive", and communication before and during the dive is so essential. I think that this is underlying answer to what happened. It was never discussed what they would do if something like that happened. I always do a buddy brief before and after the dive brief. I want my buddy to know what I will be doing and what to expect out of me and I want to know the same from them. Then if something happens like this then I will know to 1) abort the dive and go back with my buddy or 2) make sure he is taken care of and that someone has or had him safely. Also if you have an idea of how someone is suppose to act and they start doing something different you can stay more alert to problems early and get them help before it is too late.

I would have gone back with my buddy because you can't stop someone from diving without a buddy if you are not there to stop them. I pray for the family, the crew and the other divers during this difficult time. Hopefully we can all learn and adapt new ideas to our diving from this incident.