SDI specialty training for solo diver

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Look at the picture. Can’t you see, lying on the beach?
I see the sea lions on the rocks, but I’m not seeing anything on the beach, and nothing but water and rocky substrate in the last 2 stills.
 
No buddy. Solo diver
I see the sea lions on the rocks, but I’m not seeing anything on the beach, and nothing but water and rocky substrate in the last 2 stills.
 
Anyone have an opinion on why gas planning is considered so important n solo courses particularly?
Surely it’s as important w a buddy pair. No one wants a long surface swim or freaked out ascent w or with out a buddy.
I don’t remember if it was even mentioned in my owc all them years back. It was pretty much just preparing you to follow a guide.
Madness looking back at it now.
 
Anyone have an opinion on why gas planning is considered so important n solo courses particularly?
Surely it’s as important w a buddy pair. No one wants a long surface swim or freaked out ascent w or with out a buddy.
I don’t remember if it was even mentioned in my owc all them years back. It was pretty much just preparing you to follow a guide.
Madness looking back at it now.
No buddy to rely upon, so you must have sufficient gas for the dive when the crap hits the fan. Same for all technical diving.
 
When I did my solo diving course (PADI self-reliant) I had to do gas planning and demonstrate it to the instructor. I was always a little bewildered by the necessity of this particular skill. Why is it so important to know as a solo diver and not for a (recreational) buddy pair? It could be that a buddy will let you know when the gas is low because you stopped paying attention to your pressure. What I think should be included in a solo course that could have a major impact, and which wasn't taught in my class, are equipment and strategies to free oneself from entanglement. Without a buddy to help you this becomes a much greater issue.
 
But surely you
No buddy to rely upon, so you must have sufficient gas for the dive when the merde hits the fan. Same for all technical diving.
Surely you should plan all dives that way. That’s what I mean. Who plans a dive to come up short and buddy breath their way home?
 
But surely you

Surely you should plan all dives that way. That’s what I mean. Who plans a dive to come up short and buddy breath their way home?
Nowadays you are not taught buddy breathing (which is sharing the same regulator) in the current recreational open water class.

You just signal your buddy and either he pass you his octo or you grab it, then you both ascend …

However to be truly redundant, you need either a pony or twinset (you need to be using either for SDI solo, don’t know about PADI self reliant), both would be maybe a bit much at the first open water level.

I am like you now, I’d not go too deep without my twinset now. It feels much safer to know that you are self reliant …
 
When I did my solo diving course (PADI self-reliant) I had to do gas planning and demonstrate it to the instructor. I was always a little bewildered by the necessity of this particular skill. Why is it so important to know as a solo diver and not for a (recreational) buddy pair? It could be that a buddy will let you know when the gas is low because you stopped paying attention to your pressure. What I think should be included in a solo course that could have a major impact, and which wasn't taught in my class, are equipment and strategies to free oneself from entanglement. Without a buddy to help you this becomes a much greater issue.
I agree that the ability to deal with entanglement problems while solo are very important. I would not dive solo if I did not feel reasonably comfortable in remove and replace scuba unit underwater. In reality’ gas planning is simpler if you only have to worry about one person rather than two.
 
It’s partially why I don’t want to teach.
I think people should be taught to think solo from the get go, regardless of buddies or not.
I was certainly thinking like that right off the bat when I did my owc. What happens if this. What happens w that. If someone back then had said…this is a twin set, etc…I would have gone directly to that and it wouldn’t have been too much to swallow at all. I was instinctively unsatisfied w single tank reliance on buddies etc on day one.
And in those early years I had some horrendous buddies. I was that horrendous buddy at times.
It’s a suboptimal system in my not very humble opinion.
I was always very frustrated with it.
 

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