New Dive Buddy Problem

[PSFlyer]

Location: Florida Keys.
Divers / level of experience at time of accident:
Myself, Healthy 40 yr old, 250 dives, AOW, Rescue, working on DM
My son: 16 yrs old – 150 dives – AOW, Rescue – always diving together – great father son team!

Water conditions: Rough swells but within our abilities
Dive Site: Shallow Reef (max 40 ft), visibility 70 feet.

Unknown factor:
An unknown diver, let’s call him Joe, came onto the boat at the last moment – our captain, lets call him George, asked me if it was OK if Joe “buddied up” with us. Trying to be nice, I agreed.

During the bumpy boat ride, I casually asked Joe few questions, trying to judge his level of experience. He came off a bit arrogant when discussing surface conditions; in short, he barked answers such as: “If the kid is going – no sweat, I’ll be fine”.

Briefing:
George spent 5 minutes discussing the site, the conditions, the possibility of current changing direction, and procedures for getting back on the boat in the choppy seas. Surprisingly, Joe seemed more preoccupied and entranced with playing with his dive computer, rather than listening to George. After the briefing, I proceeded with gear checks and asked Joe if his computer was OK. He replied that he was having problems resetting it from Nitrox to air however all was good now. I noticed he did not have a snorkel so I suggested he may want to ask if George had any on the boat. His reply was that he had a collapsible one, stored in his BC pocket. We then agreed on the dive plan and that I was going to be leading and navigating.

The dive:
After descending to the anchor, and confirming everyone was OK I began leading us towards the familiar reef. It became obvious fairly quickly that Joe’s diving technique left much to be desired. His position was off, he was kicking aggressively and breathing heavily. I altered my dive plan not to stray too far away from the anchor and kept an eye on Joe’s air supply. As he reached 2200, I noticed the current beginning to change direction so I began leading us back.

I “hugged the bottom” to minimize the effects of the current and my son followed. Joe “chose” to stay a bit higher and continued to struggle. After a while, I approached him and checked his air (about 1,300). I proceeded to write on my slate: “Follow, close to bottom, 5 min to boat.”

Joe read the slate but unfortunately had other plans. He frantically signaled UP and, without waiting for my reaction, began his ascent. I knew that fighting the surface conditions to get to the boat would be tough, but not wanting to leave Joe alone, I signaled for my son to ascend. We caught up to Joe at his safety stop where he acknowledged my question saying he was OK. I then turned my attention to deploying my SMB. Just as I let it go, I realized that Joe disappeared. To my relief, my son pointed up letting me know that Joe surfaced. We followed, despite our shortened safety stop, and surfaced about 10 feet from Joe who had his BC inflated, reg in his mouth, and was in clear panic, frantically trying to keep his head on the surface and point to the boat some 150 yards away. It appeared to me that he had overinflated his back-filled BC and it was actually making it difficult for him to keep his face out of the water, in fact forcing him into a face down position.

I took my reg out and yelled to Joe to stay calm and let some air out of his BC. Amazingly he actually followed my advice and his situation improved. Establishing eye contact, I pointed to my SMB, reassured him that we are all OK and told him to just wait for the boat. But again Joe decided to execute his own plan, he turned around and took off swimming into the current. For a moment, I wanted to chase him, but I knew it would be pointless given the surface conditions. Staying with my son next to our 6FT SMB, proved to be a much better option, especially that we managed to get George’s attention and he signaled that he had us in sight. What I wanted to do next is to give him a distress signal, for Joe’s benefit, but I guess, I hesitated and few swells later, it appeared the boat started moving and George was no longer maintaining visual contact with us, probably pre-occupied with a pick up of other divers...hopefully Joe.

We waited in sheer agony, we expected Joe to run out of air, not be able to switch to his collapsible snorkel, and choke on see water, way before reaching the boat...It proved to be a very long 10 minutes filled with thoughts that we may never see Joe again.

When George finally picked us up, we were relieved to find Joe on deck and apparently OK. Joe was very quiet the whole way back and the atmosphere on the boat was tense. It wasn’t until George and I got together for a beer 2 days later, that I heard his side of the story.

He told me that he spotted us immediately but realized there was only 2 of us by the SMB so he grabbed his binoculars and started looking for Joe. Once he spotted Joe, swimming on an angle that was actually taking him further from the boat, George focused his efforts on catching up with Joe. Once he approached him and got him to communicate, George realized that Joe was out of air and breathing through his snorkel, but otherwise OK. What happened next defied logic – Joe took his BC off and struggled onto the boat not paying attention to George’s instructions to keep the BC on; which was a clear part of the pre-dive briefing...Relieved that the guy made it and seeing that we were both OK by our SMB, George and Andy (the DM that was on board) spent the next few minutes trying to fish Joe’s BC out of the mounting swells and picking up divers that have returned to the boat on schedule.

I guess all is well that ends well...I am sure I could have done many things differently – and I am sure many of you more seasoned divers will point those things out to me and for that, I thank you. I am always looking to learn. For now my conclusions are as follows, correct me if I am wrong:

Know your skills and set realistic limits
Do not dive with a buddy you do not know and, if there is no alternative, watch for early signs of disturbing behavior such as total disregard for surface conditions, and lack of attention to safety briefings. If you observe any of those attitudes from your new buddy, suggest to the boat crew to re-assign you.

 

[DevonDiver]

Do not dive with a buddy you do not know

As a potential DM... this is a fact of life that you'll have to prepare for. You won't get choice who you dive with, if they are a customer. You'll need to develop personal strategies for diplomatically influencing other divers to make better safety decisions.

However, as a 'private' diver, then this is a very important issue to be aware of.
Be selective about who you dive with. Conduct a discrete pre-dive assessment of them...and if you have cause for concern, then communicate those concerns.

I wouldn't go so far to say "do not dive with a buddy you don't know" - as scuba diving can be a very sociable activity and meeting and diving with new people is one of the inherent joys of the hobby. That said, be cautious and conservative with the 'unknown' - whether that is a new dive buddy, new kit or a new dive location.

...and, if there is no alternative, watch for early signs of disturbing behavior such as total disregard for surface conditions, and lack of attention to safety briefings. If you observe any of those attitudes from your new buddy, suggest to the boat crew to re-assign you.

One area you missed was your own personal dive planning. This is where the buddy system starts. You had your briefing from the boat... and your buddy was inattentive to that. Get things back on track by conducting a comprehensive group/buddy dive plan. Be sure to include all your contingency plans (such as missing diver - as this will focus them on staying close to you).

Follow that up with a comprehensive buddy check. Be very 'hands-on' with your potential buddy.

If they show reluctance, resistance or disinterest with these first two stages.... you'll know they have a bad attitude... so don't get in the water with them.

In your instance, the unknown diver was joining your existing buddy team. You had a minor in the group. IMHO, it'd be fair to demonstrate a 'my way or the highway' attitude towards their joining you.

 

[Ayisha]

DevonDiver, all very good points. Some good tips on assessing and focussing divers that we're not sure of. I must say, though, that if a diver I don't know is "very 'hands on'" with me, he's in danger of getting smacked! JK. I much prefer that we do a gear check simultaneously of our own gear. He or she is perfectly welcome to test the octo which is for their use, but I'd rather they not handle any other bits...

 

[DevonDiver]

I must say, though, that if a diver I don't know is "very 'hands on'" with me, he's in danger of getting smacked!

"Trust me...I'm a professional"

Good point though... a better word would be 'pro-active'.

 

[PSFlyer]

Great feedback, thanks, I wish I had more guts to exercise "my way or the highway" back then. By the way, we did do dive plan together and agreed on common things - I am in the lead, you guys follow, what we do when we get seperated while being under, but... I DID miss talking about what needs to happen if we surface away from the boat... Why, I will never know, I just missed talking about it... Live and learn.. Once again thanks for the feedback Andy.

 

[TSandM]

The only thing you can say for sure about a dive that goes wrong is that, at the end of it, it is likely that you can identify something you should have done from the get-go to avoid the issue. If it were that easy to see the problem ahead of time, we'd have far fewer uncomfortable experiences.

It is very difficult to know what to do with the request to team up with an unknown diver. I was on a boat in LA two weeks ago, where the DM made the rounds of people, trying to find a buddy for a lone diver. He asked the couple I was chatting with, and they, like it sounds you did, agreed with extreme reluctance, and only if no other solution could be found. But in this case, although I didn't know the strange diver, I knew something about him . . . so I ditched my plans with my friends, and offered myself as buddy. As I fully expected, the dive went without a hitch. We had the same training, and the way my new buddy comported himself in the dive planning and pre-dive check phases confirmed for me that what I thought I knew was true.

I guess, when the strange diver was dismissive of my efforts to put everybody on the same wavelength, and inattentive of the dive briefing from the crew, my hackles would have gone up, and I might well have told the gentleman that it did not appear our diving styles were compatible (especially if I were diving with a loved one). On the other hand, it's really hard to do that, when you know you're going to leave someone without anyone with whom to dive.

However, it's never our responsibility to ensure a dive for a lone diver. If someone shows up without a buddy, it's THEIR responsibility to present themselves as a reliable, responsible person with whom to dive, and if they can't do that, they may well find themselves without a buddy (and off some boats, without a dive).

 

[DevonDiver]

The only thing you can say for sure about a dive that goes wrong is that, at the end of it, it is likely that you can identify something you should have done from the get-go to avoid the issue. If it were that easy to see the problem ahead of time, we'd have far fewer uncomfortable experiences.

I agree.... but disagree.

Quite often the problems are evident... but the diver concerned doesn't have the confidence to raise the issue. This can be due to politeness, timidity or a simple assumption that "things will probably be ok, so it's not worth causing a fuss over".

It's critical that if a diver feels that something is wrong... then they should address it.

 

[PSFlyer]

However, it's never our responsibility to ensure a dive for a lone diver. If someone shows up without a buddy, it's THEIR responsibility to present themselves as a reliable, responsible person with whom to dive, and if they can't do that, they may well find themselves without a buddy (and off some boats, without a dive).

Well Said - fantastic way to put it. I will use this explanation going forward when talking to new divers. Thanks - great thought!

 

[TSandM]

Quite often the problems are evident... but the diver concerned doesn't have the confidence to raise the issue.

True -- and there were certainly red flags in the OP's story. But I've had several very unpleasant buddy experiences where there really wasn't anything obvious (as well as one really awful experience with someone where there were a whole BUNCH of things I should have paid more attention to ahead of time, but I was unwilling to disappoint someone).

 

[robbcayman]

You did more than I would have, especially with my son nearby. You don't want to see a diver get himself in trouble, but you can only try to help them so many times. It seems this guy was hell bent on doing his own thing and casting safety by the wayside. In the future, I would advise you to take care of your own family 1st. I think it was nice of you to try to help, but there is no way I would jeopardize my own family for a moron. Sorry to be so blunt, but this guy sounded out of control.