On Your Own: The Buddy System Rebutted By Bob Halstead

[beester]

This really makes no sense.

Take rebreather diving. It can be done very safely. Yet if joe/jane OW diver strapped one on they would be at high risk.

We as a society have cars. Yet if a 5 year old got in one and tried to drive they would be at high risk.

People need to understand what they are trained for and what they are not. That is a fundamental part of society. Otherwise we would all be reduced to the actions only the least capable are able to handle.

You might be right that we shouldnt protect people, everybody can make up his own mind. True, nobody is blocking anybody from doing anything. But by giving different opinions we show different sides of the coin to whoever is reading.

However your rebreather analogy is off.. its much easier for some bozo to do a solo dive without thinking things through after reading this board..than it is for the same bozo to get its hands (without instruction or a instructor nearby) on a breather.

 

[Bob DBF]

No five year old can drive a car.

Of course not, it takes two and one of them dosen't have to be five. My mom can tell the story.

My mistake, the solo used to be an opt in forum. Didn't know they opened to every registered user.

It was changed after solo classes had been in place a while and solo became mainstream. Sometimes I miss the seclusion of opt in, but that's just my solo side showing.

….introduction of the buddy system 30 years ago,.....

How long ago was this written? I've been diving 51 years and we were using the buddy system then.

The buddy system was taken from the YMCA and used in the first formal scuba training, I believe in the '50's. Back then ones watermanship skills were considered necessary, and the Y was the last word in water safety.

And yes I was also a solo swimmer, before being a solo diver.




Bob

 

[Kharon]

Your comment makes no sense. You "totally disagree" then confirm exactly what the poster stated.

You should learn to actually read and comprehend. The statement was that "Properly implemented, the buddy/team system is going to be safer than solo diving in most scenarios." I do not believe it will be safer. It's possible that it will be as safe if properly implimented (As I stated) - though I would dispute this. I added that the chance of it being properly implimented is slim to none in most ad hoc diving situations.

==> Ignore

 

[Ana]

It was changed after solo classes had been in place a while and solo became mainstream. Sometimes I miss the seclusion of opt in, but that's just my solo side showing.

Bob

Yeah I seem to vaguely remember the thread when they were considering opening the place to everyone.

I definitely miss the seclusion we had.
Oh well.

 

[caruso]

You should learn to actually read and comprehend.
==> Ignore

So what the other poster misinterpreted or misread your comment so it didn't make sense to them. Because of that you're all upset and you've made a public proclamation that you will be ignoring them? Chill out man.

 

[Schwob]

I did not know who Bob Halstead was. Had to look it up. Little embarassing may be. I sure don't find much I'd really disagree with in his article.
@happy-diver :
Thanks for posting.

Boy, I sure did know how this thread was going to go... I need to work on what I know...

 

[dlofting]

One of the "drawbacks" to buddy diving is that it takes a lot of work and practice to do properly. My wife and I have about 250 dives and I still don't like our buddy skills. We can always see each other and are aware of what the other person is doing but we are still too far apart for my liking at times.

I've purchased pony bottles for both of us and the only thing that holds me back from adding them to our gear set, permanently, is the added cost of air transport and issues with getting them filled at all dive shops where we vacation.

 

[TrimixToo]

@NAUI Wowie I make no claim about the self reliant abilities of the average diver. I simply refute your silly unsubstantiated notion that if people dived solo there would be lots of dead divers in wetsuits floating all over the planet.

I agree. I'll add, as I have before, that I have yet to see actual data one way or the other. I remain willing to be convinced, not by opinions nor assertions, but by actual data. The truth, it appears to me, is that we really have no idea which is safer. Also, the data seems difficult to collect. We are only assured of data about divers who encounter fatal accidents in the water. That said, the accident/incident rate seems to be so low overall that we might as well be arguing about how many angels can dance on the head of a pin. Lots of heat has been shed on this topic, but little actual light.

 

[Sunken sailor]

Well... I just went on a two dive trip in the gulf (Florida Panhandle) and through manipulation over the phone, there are no dive buddy’s available, I paid an extra $25 to dive with a dive master who was saddled with myself, master certified, and 5 others of which 4 had no business at 80 fsw. The dive buddy system is quickly becoming a joke. My opinion only. Not to reflect poorly on the dive master, he was outstanding, but on the system as a whole.

 

[Fibonacci]

I did not know who Bob Halstead was. Had to look it up. Little embarassing may be. I sure don't find much I'd really disagree with in his article.

Bob Halstead sadly passed away 18 December 2018... he and his wife Dinah were pioneers in the PNG liveaboard dive scene with MV Telita, and an often outspoken critic of overly bureaucratic nonsense in the dive industry.

He also gives certifying agencies a serve in his article Does Experience Count?

Does Experience Count?

The certification card no longer represents the frontier of diving education; it represents instead a stodgy, fearful adherence to conformity and the past. It is actually a history lesson. I know this because we have discovered, through experience, that some of the things that are still taught are actually wrong (for example the procedure for a lost buddy, and the whole concept of No – Decompression diving) but there is resistance to any change.

The graduates of these agencies usually have a steep learning curve when they go out into the real world and do, say, adventure diving in PNG or Komodo, with really experienced divers. They are not well prepared, no matter how high their certification.

I know that is a bit provocative, but I think it is time to call the dive certification agencies to account. They have provided a convenient, if expensive and pedantic, way of increasing diver experience, but making multiple courses mandatory is outrageous. Perhaps they feel they have to do this because too many stupid people were being reckless, getting hurt and then blaming the instructor and agency, and probably the Government (Alas what happened to personal responsibility?).

But remember, please, I was around near the very beginning of diver training. What started as a responsible effort to ensure potential divers had the basic, essential knowledge and skills necessary to safely use scuba underwater, has now produced a type of extreme fundamentalism – where it is not even permissible to publish a contrary view that experience could count for more than certification.

That is a bit too precious for me.
​

More articles here:
Deep Thoughts

Vale Bob