Recreational Dive Poll - Buddy checks

[Lorenzoid]

Maybe some people don't do buddy checks or do them silently to avoid feeling that other divers would judge them as goobers who just finished the OW course. I make a habit to do them openly--not loudly or anything, but not in whispers, either. Maybe I'm a goober in others' eyes, but my hope is that if enough of us do it conspicuously it will help remove the stigma.

 

[nolatom]

I take instabuddies most of the time, so I try to do a "pretty good" buddy check. I tell him/her about my rig first, which I think makes it easier for buddy to respond re those same items on their rig.

So, for example-- "okay, I have a conventional rig, see it here?, regular octo, conventional buckle weight belt, here's the inflate and deflate. I like to check air at 2000, 1500, 1000, using just the fingers of one hand, here's what my gauge looks like. I carry a knife, shears, light, slate. How about you??" I usually get a similar type of response. Then, "what do we want to do with this dive"--linger over a smaller area, or cover as much ground as air allows? What are you interested in?"

That's about it. Do I think others do it? Hadn't really noticed. But after I do it, I think others who overhear it, start doing their own.

 

[billt4sf]

I take instabuddies most of the time, so I try to do a "pretty good" buddy check. I tell him/her about my rig first, which I think makes it easier for buddy to respond re those same items on their rig.

So, for example-- "okay, I have a conventional rig, see it here?, regular octo, conventional buckle weight belt, here's the inflate and deflate. I like to check air at 2000, 1500, 1000, using just the fingers of one hand, here's what my gauge looks like. I carry a knife, shears, light, slate. How about you??" I usually get a similar type of response. Then, "what do we want to do with this dive"--linger over a smaller area, or cover as much ground as air allows? What are you interested in?"

That's about it. Do I think others do it? Hadn't really noticed. But after I do it, I think others who overhear it, start doing their own.

No one else does it. Almost no one else. On recreational dives with DMs, it's just follow-the-DM unless you have a buddy and have made special arrangements. That's not necessarily a BAD thing, in and of itself. It's what the individuals' capabilities are if there's a "situation" that matters, right?

- Bill

 

[nolatom]

I was thinking more of the non-drift, no-DM in water during dives model, say in the Fla panhandle area. Anchor line tied into a wreck by DM, who stays on the boat thereafter.

Drift dive off Jupiter, with DM leading us sorta en masse, and dragging a buoy for the boat? Maybe less so, I agree, but I still want to know buddy's rig and routines. It's not like we don't have time to do it, or are busy with something else, like listening to the diesel engines droning on, on the way out?? Plus it clues me in to buddy's thought process a little, and vice-versa. We may both be capable if there's a "situation" (or not), but knowledge of those details lightens the task load if it all goes south.