Personal Limits to Solo Diving

[John C. Ratliff]

Right now, because of the COVID-19 pandemic with the delta variant and the lack of hospital beds, I’m not diving. I usually dive under lifeguards at High Rocks on the Clackamas River, but they left after Labor Day. So my diving is limited to buddy diving, and right now I’m simply not diving. If I were to slip and break something necessitating a hospital visit, that would be problematic due to the current loads on hospitals. So, I’m relaxing in my back yard, reading ScubaBoard posts, and simply enjoying being alive and well at age 75.

I’ll be heading to the pool to test fins, probably next week. First up, U.S. Divers Company Professional fins verses original Duck Feet.

SeaRat

 

[Pacediver]

That’s unfortunate but probably a wise one for the time being hopefully things turn around ,be interesting your take on those fins,

 

[lukeb]

I've been thinking about how to reply to this thread for a while, as I would like to say that I do have defined limits on how /when I solo dive. But the reality for me is that my diving limits are actually more conservative with a buddy than without one.

I started solo diving due to wanting to dive more often than the availability of a dive buddy would allow. If I only dived when I had a willing buddy, I would have been diving only a few times a year on charter boats to well visited reefs, within modest depths, and in perfect conditions (the only trips that my buddy's at the time would have wanted to dive). Instead, since I started solo diving, I have had the freedom to dive on random days, and at unconventional times (I highly recommend sunrise beach dives). I have dived beaches, springs, lakes and caverns that I would never have got to see had I been dependent on finding a buddy willing to dive the same locations. When people hear some of the places I have dived they look at me like I am crazy, but for me that is what diving had become, going wherever I am able to dive, whenever I am free to dive. I love the freedom of it.

Now admittedly I have had a lot of dives that were pretty terrible and / or a complete waste of time (low to zero viz, terrible conditions, dangerous boat traffic, horrible entries / exits, ridiculous distances from the car, and many just plain boring sites with nothing to see). I have also done several dives that I have looked back on and realized that I was seriously pushing the limits and probably did not make the best decisions. For example all of my pinnacle dives for the last ten years have been solo, including since becoming deco trained (a practice I know is frowned upon). But I think for me Solo diving has become the norm rather than the exception. Nowadays it feels strange when I am not alone in the water!



(All this being said, I am actually about to start Cave training, and I am really looking forward to meeting some dive buddies sharing the same goals and diving motivations. It will be nice to enjoy the social side of diving once again!)

 

[rx7diver]

Right now, because of the COVID-19 pandemic with the delta variant and the lack of hospital beds, I’m not diving. I usually dive under lifeguards at High Rocks on the Clackamas River, but they left after Labor Day. So my diving is limited to buddy diving, and right now I’m simply not diving. If I were to slip and break something necessitating a hospital visit, that would be problematic due to the current loads on hospitals. So, I’m relaxing in my back yard, reading ScubaBoard posts, and simply enjoying being alive and well at age 75.

I’ll be heading to the pool to test fins, probably next week. First up, U.S. Divers Company Professional fins verses original Duck Feet.

SeaRat

Hmmm. I was thinking that an ex-pararescuer would simply bite down on a stick, reset his/her own broken leg, and go on with the dive. No? Those days over?

rx7diver

 

[John C. Ratliff]

Hmmm. I was thinking that an ex-pararescuer would simply bite down on a stick, reset his/her own broken leg, and go on with the dive. No? Those days over?

rx7diver

You know, there was a time for that. But I, like a lot of others, have a wife, and in order to keep peace within the family, it is prudent not to take unnecessary risks. The risk in the case above of slipping and having a broken leg isn’t the broken leg, but the fact that hospitals now are not well equipped bed-wise to take patients. I’m fully vaccinated, so that aspect with COVID doesn’t bother me much, but at this point there is not much excitement to diving. I have worked for decades in the safety profession, after my work as a USAF Pararescueman (PJ), and advocated for employee safety and health for many decades. At this point, with hospitals the way they are here in Oregon, with operations and procedures being postponed, I will go out on my bicycle, canoe with my wife, continue walking, and head for the pool. To answer your question, no, those days aren’t over, just postponed.

SeaRat

 

[Nemrod]

You know, there was a time for that. But I, like a lot of others, have a wife, and in order to keep peace within the family, it is prudent not to take unnecessary risks. The risk in the case above of slipping and having a broken leg isn’t the broken leg, but the fact that hospitals now are not well equipped bed-wise to take patients. I’m fully vaccinated, so that aspect with COVID doesn’t bother me much, but at this point there is not much excitement to diving. I have worked for decades in the safety profession, after my work as a USAF Pararescueman (PJ), and advocated for employee safety and health for many decades. At this point, with hospitals the way they are here in Oregon, with operations and procedures being postponed, I will go out on my bicycle, canoe with my wife, continue walking, and head for the pool. To answer your question, no, those days aren’t over, just postponed.

SeaRat

You live near several coastal dive locations? Maybe take a buddy, it is okay to not always dive solo!

James

 

[rjack321]

At your current experience level, do you have personal limits to diving solo? Asked another way, are there types of diving you would do with a buddy that you do not feel comfortable doing solo? (e.g. dives below 10m/30', 20m/60', 30m/100', 40m/130', mandatory decompression dives, night dives, dives in stronger current, cavern dives, cave dives, wreck penetration dives, etc.)

My most aggressive and "riskiest" dives have turned out to be solo. I wanted a buddy sure, for the type of diving I sometimes do they are not available. The universe of people with dry caving skills, interest in 4C water, SM CCR, trimix, with vacation time, money, and availability is often nil.

So exploring and laying new line and surveying on CCR at 250ft depth 6 sumps into a cave where nobody else has ever been? Yeah that's me.

 

[rjack321]

I can count the number of people in North America who are qualified, with the skills, equipment, fitness, and interest in the (solo) dives I am doing on one hand. That limited number doesn't count scheduling around their work/vacation, financial constraints, weather, or availability of dry caver support.

 

[Nemrod]

Removed my post because the post that I quoted post was moved out of solo forum.

James

 

[NothingClever]

No arbitrary limits. I think limitations should naturally reveal themselves following an evaluation of the conditions and determination of the risks. If I were to try to establish some arbitrary limits as a blanket “policy”, I’d think I’m slipping into the outlook of an unthinking diver. Diving has risks. Better to confront them head on and evaluate them. Here’s my rubric:

1) Identify risks in the intended profile by both probability and severity:

- Diver physiological / psychological condition.
- Diver judgment (based on training, skill and experience)
- Necessary equipment on hand.
- Equipment failure.
- Sealife encounter.
- Subsurface conditions (currents, vis, water temp, etc).
- Terrain (natural / manmade).
- Current / anticipated surface conditions.
- Boat crew proficiency.
- Vessel maintenance.
- Access to additional support (communications and medical facilities)

2) Determine measures to mitigate the risks.

3) Develop a plan to implement the mitigation measures.

4) Monitor conditions during preparation phase and during conduct of the dive.

5) Take actions to adjust measures to mitigate risks to an acceptable level. Communicate adjustments with others if necessary.

6) Have fun.