Self Reliant Diving Required?

[Colliam7]

I don't want to offend anyone.

I don't think it is a matter of offending anyone. But, you have made some statements that seem to be a bit strident, but perhaps your intent was not entirely clear. Maybe, with further clarification, your thinking will become more apparent to others, and we can better benefit from the discussion.

I do believe that when you are diving alone there is no room or place for failure. The point that I had been trying to make is simple and it is based solely on my opinion.

And, you are certainly entitled to that opinion. I do not necessarily disagree in principle, although I might express it in a somewhat different way - I believe that every diver should prepare for every dive (with a buddy, with a team, or solo) in a manner that will minimize the risk of failure. But, that is also my opinion. There is another statement with which I will take issue, however:

When you are diving with a buddy, you can afford to have less than the best equipment. If you have a failure with on of your products you can simply turn to your buddy, breath off is Octopus and all is dandy.

One reasonable extension of the logic of this statement would be, 'Every buddy dive is essentially a 'trust me' dive - if I have a problem that I can't handle my buddy will bail me out.' And, my opinion is that such a view is misguided. I would doubt that many people would want someone with that approach to be their buddy, I certainly wouldn't. So, the bottom line, the same standards of equipment performance and reliability should apply, irrespective of whether you dive alone or with a buddy / team. But, again, that is just MY opinion.

I appreciate your clarification of your approach to your equipment configuration for solo diving. I am curious about a few things.

This is the equipment that I bring on a Solo Dive
Two Twist Style Backup Lights; One Canister Halcyon LED Light with a Goodman Handle
Not altogether unreasonable. Essentially, you treat every solo dive as a night dive (primary light and two back-ups). And, I personally prefer a can light myself (with a Goodman glove) as my primary. Of course, there may be some who wonder if this is necessary for a daytime solo dive, in 30 feet of water, with 100+ foot visibility. But, that's another issue.
Emergency Transmitter Do you carry this on ALL solo dives, even in a local quarry or lake? Just curious. For ocean diving, I do.
Drysuit with an Argon Bottle Setup So, there are NO solo dives that you would ever do in a wetsuit? I can appreciate the value of the redundant buoyancy that a drysuit provides. And I certainly see the value of a drysuit in colder NW Pacific waters. I love my drysuit for wintyer quarry diving. Would you adhere to this guideline in 82 degree Caribbean waters? Again, just curious. And, you would never use your primary (or pony) gas supply for drysuit inflation?
Three Knifes OK, again fair enough. I carry 2 cutting tools, but three isn't unheard of. Out of curiosity, do you carry actual knives, or shears, or both?
BackPlate and Wing setup with a Twinset and a High Lift Again, not unreasonable. A twinset (with an isolator manifold) certainly provides a redundant air supply. What do you think qualifies as 'high lift', and how would this differ from something that is not 'high lift'?
Two Masks Not a bad idea at all
High End Regulator both first and Second Stage I am curious - what do you mean by 'high end' and how would what you use on a solo dive differ from what you would use on a buddy dive? Perhaps, you can give an example of regs that meet your criteria.

One item that I do have a question about is your redundant gas supply.

Two Stage bottle setups. one AL 40 and another AL 80 Both rigged on a Halcyon Stage bottle Setup

Do you really dive with both bottles, along with a back-mounted twinset on every solo dive? That seems like a lot, for a 30 ft solo dive. It may be more understandable for a 130 ft solo dive, but even then I usually take an AL40, which is more than enough gas to get me to the surface. Why so much gas? What calculation did you use to determine that 120 CF of redundant gas supply would be required for a solo dive?

 

[The Laconic]

This is a strange claim:

PADI Self reliant diver might teach certain things similar but they do not go as far and say Solo

What does that matter? As far as I can tell, SDI solo and PADI self-reliant cover much the same content. PADI self-reliant is definitely a "solo" course, whatever you call it. One of the required dives is a solo dive. I think it's just pitched, for whatever reason, as being more broadly applicable than just solo diving.

IIRC, I actually took the PADI course rather than the SDI course because it had more required dives (and it was the same instructor in either case), but I may be mistaken.

 

[scubadude223]

I dont encourage anyone to dive with the equipment that I do. I have set myself up in a certain way.
My points have seemed to stir up some posts on the forum. This was never my intention. I do appreciate the input I have recieved.

 

[DaleC]

My gosh, I wonder how I survive?

When I read things like this I sense someone who doesn't have a real sense of their abilities or plans to over extend them. Some choices also speak to a bit of koolaid toxicity

Carrying two redundant air sources is a red flag, as is three lights. Conventional wisdom says more is safer but actually it isn't. When one air source fails you should switch to another and abort the dive, not carry on until the next one fails too. If you are unsure whether you might burn through so much gas you haven't made an informed dive plan.

When your primary light fails you should switch to your back up and abort... unless lighting isn't really vital (in which case why bring so much of it). Unless you are doing a tech/cave dive, a primary and backup should suffice. Again, if you aren't sure you haven't made a very informed dive plan.

Why argon for your drysuit, are you planning on extending self reliant dives beyond a reasonable time? Why a transmitter, are you planning dives in high current or leaving your boat unattended? Why three knives, how many do you plan to drop and how many of the three have wrist loops to prevent that? Why a high lift wing, are you planning to be grossly overweighted?


Self reliant diving is a mixture of basic functional gear you understand, an informed conservative dive plan that you know you can survive, and a skill set that also allows you to survive without being overtly gear dependent.

 

[mick allein III]

64 posts back, you'll discover my OP. Very few have actually answered. My question was should all divers be trained in solo or self reliance. The sense I get was that most people agree that this would be a good idea. I thought the best idea was to make it part of a progression. For example, really make AOW advanced. Require individuals to be self reliant.


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[Nemrod]

Is there anyone on SB that has actually been trapped in seaweed? I am afraid to ask.

N

 

[DaleC]

64 posts back, you'll discover my OP. Very few have actually answered. My question was should all divers be trained in solo or self reliance. The sense I get was that most people agree that this would be a good idea. I thought the best idea was to make it part of a progression. For example, really make AOW advanced. Require individuals to be self reliant.


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I answered basically agreeing with your sentiment. What would also be great is to have a specialty called Peak Buddy Performance wherein people are actually taught how to form a good working team. It would eliminate people who think they ought to solo dive because they can't trust their buddies. The industry spends so much time pushing back against self reliance but doesn't really embrace it's own strategy in more than a lip service way.

 

[dumpsterDiver]

I do believe that when you are diving alone there is no room or place for failure.

The point that I had been trying to make is simple and it is based solely on my opinion.

When you are diving with a buddy, you can afford to have less than the best equipment. If you have a failure with on of your products you can simply turn to your buddy, breath off is Octopus and all is dandy. Where one runs into issues is when they are alone with no buddy, the question that comes into play is, is your equipment up to par to save you if you have a failure.

This is the equipment that I bring on a Solo Dive

Two Stage bottle setups. one AL 40 and another AL 80 Both rigged on a Halcyon Stage bottle Setup
Two Twist Style Backup Lights
One Canister Halcyon LED Light with a Goodman Handle
Emergency Transmitter
Drysuit with an Argon Bottle Setup
Three Knifes
BackPlate and Wing setup with a Twinset and a High Lift
Two Masks
High End Regulator both first and Second Stage


I don't take any chances diving alone.

I do realise that there are some people who don't take these steps to protect themselves on a Solo Dive. I am ok with that.

This is just the way that I Protect Myself on a dive.

Protect yourself from what? You carry two redundant bottles? This is causing you to swim slower, be less agile getting into the water and out of the water, is increasing your opportunity for entanglement, an accident falling down etc. etc.

I usually carry 2 knives, If you dive in a place that is so full of entanglement hazards that you need three knives, then why carry 4 tanks for a recreational dive? I am curious to hear how you have determined that this configuration is safer?

 

[RJP]

64 posts back, you'll discover my OP. Very few have actually answered. My question was should all divers be trained in solo or self reliance. The sense I get was that most people agree that this would be a good idea.

I think you're reading what you want to read.

Which do you think "most people" are agreeing with: That people should be "solo trained" or that they should be "self-reliant"? Those are two different things. (eg "all ducks are birds, but not all birds are ducks")

 

[gcarter]

I dont encourage anyone to dive with the equipment that I do. I have set myself up in a certain way.
My points have seemed to stir up some posts on the forum. This was never my intention. I do appreciate the input I have recieved.

I personally have no issue with how you choose to dive. What I took issue with was your representation of this being taught as requirement by SDI. You have not acknowledged this error.