Planning and diving Solo

[TheWetRookie]

Check your compass, North is wrong on the map.

PM sent for possible buddies

(edit: forgot the smilely)

 

[DaleC]

Yes Mike, right you are!
I recreated my sketch on MS paint and made straight lines instead of slantys.( l vs / ) Hopefully no one has tried to navigate off of it The north indicated is actually more NE.
Got your PM;will reply.

 

[kagey747]

Don't forget to leave the dive-plan with a responsible person ashore. Doesn't matter if you are shore, boat or kayak diving, there should be someone to start the search (or recovery) if you are overdue, and the searchers will REALLY appreciate knowing where to start.

Of course, this precaution will NEVER be required for me, but may come in handy for "some other guy."

 

[BobbyT22]

Amen to that. What most concerns me when I solo is not an emergency at depth (though that does concern me - a lot), but having a reasonable likelihood of someone seeing your signal if you are in distress after you make it to the surface. Von Maier puts it well in his book "Solo Diving", that diving conservatively, being in proper physical shape, knowing your limits, and having a completely redundant air supply are all keys to responsible solo diving. A scenario which gives me pause would be doing what I call "Isolated" diving (my term, maybe there is a better one out there somewhere), where the solo diver is out in the middle of nowhere in an isolated location and after doing an emergency ascent is adrift but unable to make it to shore (maybe a cramp, injury or loss of a fin), with a current carrying them out to sea. At that point, deploying a safety sausage or some other signal and hoping someone sees it is your only hope, which is a risk I find unacceptable. That is why when I solo, it is in a location with lots of other folks around (Lake Rawlings VA or La Jolla, CA for example), and preferably a lifeguard shack to check in and out with. In that situation, I feel comfortable that if I need assistance on the surface, someone will see my signal and be able to assist. With proper risk management and extremely conservative dive profiles I never plan on being in that situation, but it is nice to have a plan.

 

[jimdiverman]

I have recently started soloing on a few dives in known sites. You run the same steps in checking all your gear that you would if you were diving with a buddy. Like some others have said, diving with a buddy may not provide any more safety than diving alone as it may just be a false sense of security. Many times on buddy dives, I have felt that my buddies like to be too far away from me that I could first attract their attention, get to them and get air before running out and gulping water first. I spend too much time trying to keep track of buddies during the dive. For this reason, even on my buddy dives, my security comes in the form of my own redundant air supply system.

My last solo dive was a 1200' penetration into Jackson Blue on the gold line. I could have done the dive three times with the amount of gas I had left in my tanks at the end of the dive, but I dove within my limits, I practiced skills, and I got to a new section of the cave that I had not seen before.

I still enjoy the camaraderie of diving with others. As others have stated in other posts, diving is a social activity. But now when I dive with buddies, deep down, I have the confidence to know that I can get myself out of where I got myself into, and there is no untested, untrusted possibly misplaced reliance on a buddy to help me. I will help myself first and keep my wits about me.