Good day Don,
Did you read the thread, or just jump in...?
I've followed this thread on and off since the very beginning. Please forgive me as I am not inclined to re-read 11 pages worth of content.
My reply that you seem to be objecting to is that I am characterizing the other person's dive habits as solo diving. Is my understanding of the difference between solo diving and buddy diving incorrect?
Did you look? Reg problems are hight on the list, aren't they?
I guess it depends on what you mean when you say "high on the list". The following is a copy and paste from the DAN website. It is a summary from 2006 dive fatality initial triggering events (Note: The picture painted by the 2007 report and the 2005 report is not that dissimilar, however, neither report presents the data in as tidy a fashion):
DAN website:
The initial triggering event that began the sequence leading to death was most often
insufficient gas (14 percent),
rough seas and strong current (10 percent)
heart disease (9 percent),
entrapment (9 percent)
equipment problems (8 percent). The equipment problems may have been procedural or hardware related.
They have a slightly more detailed breakdown in the report itself. In the breakdown, they say:
DAN website:
Equipment problems (7 cases). The true incidence of equipment failure is uncertain because equipment was tested in only 35 cases, and test results were available only for 15. Equipment was not retrieved in six cases, and in 47 cases, there was no record of equipment testing. One or more equipment problems were documented in seven cases.
- Five divers had BC problems.
- Three divers appeared to have made errors using their equipment.
- Two divers could not inflate their BCs because of malfunction. Both sank to the bottom and drowned.
- One diver drowned due to inhalation of water from a missing diaphragm seal on his regulator.
- One diver using surface-supplied air had a knot in the supply hose that may have contributed to his death by reducing air flow.
Setting aside the fatalities for which there is no conclusive data that points to equipment issues, can you point to one incident here that you can honestly say would have been avoided with a pony bottle? I did a quick scan in the reports and I did not see "pony bottle" as a recommendation for increasing your safety. They did mention buddy diving and following proper procedures several times.
Each person can read these reports and come away with a different lesson. The number 1 lesson I take away from it is that running out of gas is bad. Very bad. So I do pretty careful gas planning as part of my dives. And I keep track of my gas. And in case that I have equipment failure, I count on my buddy (just like they taught me in open water) to have my emergency gas. And because I might need that emergency gas, I keep my buddy close - not on the other side of the reef.
Travel to a dozen different airports alone, go diving on charter boats where you hope to match up with a decent diver from other singles, see what happens in the real world.
First of all, no one forces anyone to travel and dive with people that cannot be trusted to be competent buddies. People make that choice. I personally choose to be picky on the trips that I go on. That is my choice. If I were to go somewhere where I did not know of a competent buddy, I would be very picky in selecting my instabuddy. I would start of on an easy shallow reef dive and work my way from there.
There are choices. People make different ones for different reasons. But to say that this is the "only" thing you can do is not really accurate.
This is not a forum for "the one and only way to dive." I think we have one, tho...
I'm not saying there is only one way to dive. What I am saying is that people should recognize when their dive habits more closely mimic those of solo divers. If they do, they should get not only the right equipment but perhaps the right training.
And if you ask me, going to locations and doing the insta-buddy thing is more like solo diving than buddy diving. But hey, that is just my opinion.
ilot:
