New Buddy Checklist...

[El Orans]

Who are you:
• Type certification?
• # Of dives?
• General experience?
• When was your last dive?

Pre-dive briefing:
• Have you done this type of dive before?
• Have you been on this site before?
• Lost buddy procedure;
• Minimum gas planning (rock bottom);
• Goal for this dive?
• Who's the dive leader in the team?
• Relative position in the team.

Signs:
• Ascend;
• Descend;
• Remaining amount of air;
• (not-)OK;
• Equalizing;
• Cold;
• Safety stop;
• Stay close;
• "Check please" (need wetnotes);
• OOA/OOG;
• Using the light;
• Abort;
• "Glued to (left) shoulder"; (for really bad vis situations)
• Turning the dive.

Finally:
• Explanation own (DIR) gear;
• Buddy gear check;
• Modified S-drill;
• Bubble check.

What do you discuss with a new buddy before you hit the water?

 

[almitywife]

good grief El!




Who are you:
• Type certification? whats a certification
• # Of dives? no idea - i dont log
• General experience? yes
• When was your last dive? last weekend

Pre-dive briefing:
• Have you done this type of dive before? what, nekkid? why yes i have
• Have you been on this site before? it looks familiar
• Lost buddy procedure; yes, ive lost a buddy before
• Minimum gas planning (rock bottom); gas - no, i havent had beans for a while
• Goal for this dive? for me Goal = Jail so no, im not prepared to go to jail for a dive
• Who's the dive leader in the team? i'ld blame him, he was in front
• Relative position in the team. relative, no - hubby and i are married

Signs:
• Ascend; up
• Descend; down
• Remaining amount of air; actually a very good one as hubby and me are very different as he wont be out of air for about 4 to 6hrs
• (not-)OK; sudden bursts of bubbles and a screaming panic to the surface is usually a dead giveaway
• Equalizing;
• Cold; tell someone who cares
• Safety stop; its sydney shore diving... the trip back is a safety stop
• Stay close;
• "Check please" (need wetnotes); no need to pay us for guiding you
• OOA/OOG; :huh:
• Using the light; we prefer to use the force
• Abort;
• "Glued to (left) shoulder"; (for really bad vis situations). just get out of the water! better things to do than suffer thru bad vis
• Turning the dive.

Finally:
• Explanation own (DIR) gear; my stuff is yellow, hubbys is the rebreather - wont get them mixed up
• Buddy gear check; yep, you are my buddy
• Modified S-drill; whats a s-drill
• Bubble check. hubby has a rebreather - bubbles are bad, m'kay!


whew - im glad we got that cleared up before your dive next month!

 

[cruiser]

good grief El!




Who are you:
• Type certification? whats a certification
• # Of dives? no idea - i dont log
• General experience? yes
• When was your last dive? last weekend

Pre-dive briefing:
• Have you done this type of dive before? what, nekkid? why yes i have
• Have you been on this site before? it looks familiar
• Lost buddy procedure; yes, ive lost a buddy before
• Minimum gas planning (rock bottom); gas - no, i havent had beans for a while
• Goal for this dive? for me Goal = Jail so no, im not prepared to go to jail for a dive
• Who's the dive leader in the team? i'ld blame him, he was in front
• Relative position in the team. relative, no - hubby and i are married

Signs:
• Ascend; up
• Descend; down
• Remaining amount of air; actually a very good one as hubby and me are very different as he wont be out of air for about 4 to 6hrs
• (not-)OK; sudden bursts of bubbles and a screaming panic to the surface is usually a dead giveaway
• Equalizing;
• Cold; tell someone who cares
• Safety stop; its sydney shore diving... the trip back is a safety stop
• Stay close;
• "Check please" (need wetnotes); no need to pay us for guiding you
• OOA/OOG; "huh:
• Using the light; we prefer to use the force
• Abort;
• "Glued to (left) shoulder"; (for really bad vis situations). just get out of the water! better things to do than suffer thru bad vis
• Turning the dive.

Finally:
• Explanation own (DIR) gear; my stuff is yellow, hubbys is the rebreather - wont get them mixed up
• Buddy gear check; yep, you are my buddy
• Modified S-drill; whats a s-drill
• Bubble check. hubby has a rebreather - bubbles are bad, m'kay!


whew - im glad we got that cleared up before your dive next month!

 

[El Orans]

It's a serious topic though. :28:

Some information can be noticed beforehand by the way they handle their gear. Others need to be asked. I prefer not to be surprised by a buddy's behaviour when the brown stuff hits the fan.

Also, if I'm diving my BP/W gear, I usually need to explain a lot more then when I'm using rental gear.

Example: most BCDs can dump air by pulling hard on the corrugated hose. That will result in a broken wing if you try that on my BP/W. Better to discuss this beforehand etc..

 

[almitywife]

are you implying that my buddy will be dumping my air? if he is, im trying to think of the situation on why he would. if it was because of an emergency i wouldnt care at that point if he broke my wing or not

ive dived with guys with twins, rebreathers, newbies and vintage in the past and to be honest, dont even buddy check anymore. the level of divers is that their gear is checked over and ready to go, the diver has training and experience and is ready to go

but point taken.... we will try to do a dive brief/equip check for you next month... but you have been warned

 

[nereas]

You guys and gals appear to be making a career out of this. Maybe that's because it is tax time again all around the world and your thoughts are on long tax forms?

It is supposed to be a hobby only, and fun, not work.

All I ever say is that I donate my primary, and that I will look for them 1 min if we get separated, and thereafter meet up on the surface before swimming back to the boat if there is no swift current. Otherwise swim back to the boat without me.

 

[El Orans]

No implication whatsoever...

This is just a list I (occasionally) use to know what the skills of an insta-buddy are. I've seen buddies who had dozens of dives in (sub)tropical water, very experienced but who had a major problem adjusting to our cold, low-vis lakes.

Other variables matter too. Is this a new site for me, difficult currents, low-vis etc..

One new years dive I did ask my buddy du jour some questions from this list. He answered them, we did a thorough check of each other's dive gear, has a relaxing dive. Afterwards, the group leader came up to me and complimented me on the way I briefed that particular buddy. It turned out he had a reputation for being a rather unreliable buddy. The thorough pre-dive briefing we did actually helped him learn to be a better buddy.

BTW, this is not the complete list... If it's a training dive, we'd also go through the exercises we'd be doing.

 

[nereas]

It's a serious topic though. :28:

Some information can be noticed beforehand by the way they handle their gear. Others need to be asked. I prefer not to be surprised by a buddy's behaviour when the brown stuff hits the fan.

Also, if I'm diving my BP/W gear, I usually need to explain a lot more then when I'm using rental gear.

Example: most BCDs can dump air by pulling hard on the corrugated hose. That will result in a broken wing if you try that on my BP/W. Better to discuss this beforehand etc..

Seriously, if you're this worried about it, then simply enroll yourself into an instructor ITC/IDC, and then you will become transformed into a diving god, and you can then dive with anyone, anywhere, without worrying!

 

[almitywife]

well now that El has added to the orignal post

i think conditions play a huge part

me arriving over there, drysuit, not my own tank, cold & bad vis, my stress level might be up so going thru even the basics might help

me arriving in the tropics - heck, slap a tank on me and i'm going diving!

 

[El Orans]

It is supposed to be a hobby only, and fun, not work.

Oh, this is fun.

It is not without risk though. :no