No formal safety check

[wnissen]

So I did my first dove since becoming certified and it went well enough. However, it wasn’t what I thought. I didn’t get to set up my own gear as the instructor who was on the dive rushed in and took over for me as he wanted to get going. He was my buddy at first as I was new and had no buddy.

Once out there, it was just a flurry of activity in the boat and I didn’t see any safety checks. He set mine up so he knew it was ok but I could only verbally ask him about his as he was frankly too eager to get going to wish to deal with it. I don’t know if other people did theirs on land or what have you. I eventually was also paired with a different diver as the instructor had to help a refresher student. No checks happened. Everyone sort of had their gear placed on them quickly and off they went. It wasn’t deep, say 6 metres so I didn’t feel not safe.

Is this normal? Do I really have to be the annoying newbie pushing the issue as obviously being new I was a bit intimidated and that’s not usually who I am. Lol.

I think you've gotten a lot of good advice, so the only thing I would add is that scuba diving is, generally, a very safe sport. If you read the Divers Alert Network fatality reports, there are a lot of medical issues and a lot of people doing things they know, or should know, that they should not be doing. Most people who break the rules, even consistently, never have anything bad happen to them. But just because they have been lucky the previous 100 or 1000 times does not mean their luck won't run out eventually. The rules are "written in blood" to a certain extent, even if some or many people choose not to follow them.

 

[napDiver]

I stopped reading after 2 Pgs since this thread is so long.

The way I do things, #1 I always do a formal buddy check right before going into the water. The least experience buddy leads it while the more experienced supervises. If they dont want to participate, I do my own buddy check and expect I'm solo once hitting the water.
#2 no one touches my gear. Unless I need help as in the tank valve wasnt open or a tangle hose.
#3 I always make sure to retest my tank valve is open all the way and watch the spg when a take a few breathes from each reg. This ensures no matter what, when I hit the water I have air and ready to donate.

 

[TMHeimer]

If it was NitrOx, they possibly put in oxygen but no air. That actually happened to me. Your safety is entirely up to you. Depending on others is a bad plan.

No it was Air. O2 only in an Air tank and you don't know it spells trouble in more than one way.

 

[Happyladydiver]

You are responsible for your safety so if you want a buddy check, ask for it. If they aren't willing or you don't feel safe - call the dive. Seriously if at any time you feel pressured to do something you don't like, aren't comfortable with or in a manner that disturbs you, feel free to call the dive. As is said a lot on these forums diving should be fun and if it isn't stop doing it. At worst a buddy check will take 1-2 minutes so what is the big hurry??? The ocean/sea/lake isn't going anywhere in the near future! Another often quoted adage on here is that it is better to be on land/boat wishing you were in the water than in the water wishing you were on land /boat - in other words don't get yourself in to a situation where your safety is at risk.

It is interesting to hear an instructor describe your octo as the buddies problem. Should your primary fail for any reason you can switch to your octo while problem solving it (mine started breathing wet near the start of a dive but still delivered plenty of air so buddy and I surfaced, discussed it, detuned it so no freeflow and continued the dive safely)

I have to say that I started out doing full buddy checks with my buddies (and still will with a new buddy) but after a few dives, you get to know them, their kit and how well they set themselves up so you end up stripping it down to the minimum as per BoulderJohn below (with each of us casting a critical eye over our own gear and theirs).

Yes agreed. Frankly, I thought it a moronic thing to say and I did tell him I might need it myself just in case!