Seperated Buddy and the Lobster Fisherman

[UKdiver1982]

I thought that I'd tell you about an incident I had whilst diving this weekend in the UK.

Me and my buddy decended on our dive, and were happy swimming along in approx 6m vis. We were looking at some crabs near to a lobster pot at around 13m, and my buddy gave me a signal to swim in a certain direction, but when I looked back I couldn't see her anywhere. I looked around, in what I thought was all directions, looking for any sign. I remember looking at my computer and noting that this was 5 minutes into the dive. Not a great start. I remembered my training and waited where I was for about 1 minute. As I was near the lobster pot I thought this would be a good landmark. I considered holding on to this random line that was near by but decided that the kelp was strong enough. A good decision, it turned out. As I searched for my buddy, the lobster pot suddenly shot up not more than 5m in front of me, The random line it turned out was the fisherman taking up his lobster pots ignoring the divers below flags that our boats had up. Anyway at this point I was quite worried that my buddy could have been caught in the line somewhere, and dragged to the surface etc, so I decided to accend solo. I sent up a dSMB, something that I have done many times before. Unfortunately it was one of those days and as I was accending, my reel jammed! I tried to sort it out but failed and decided to try and sort it out on the boat, so did a nice safe accent, minus safety stop. Back on the boat there was no sign of my buddy which had me quite worried, but fortunately a few minutes later she accended.

It turns out that she was looking at something, and I probably failed to spot her, or had swam ahead of each other. It was a reasonably stressful experience as it was the first time I had ever lost a buddy.

Anyway everything worked out ok, but I thought that I would post this as a reminder to always keep an eye on your buddy, and never to hold on to strange convenient lines. I could well have had a burst lung, or an uncontrolled accent if I had been holding onto the rope.

 

[H2Andy]

hey, you followed protocol (more or less) to search for a bit and then
surface...

as did your buddy, shortly after you

and it all turned out ok, so... good story

 

[radinator]

Glad it all turned out ok. Good caution about grabbing a random line. The real payoff of experience is having the skills so you don't have to grab anything at all...

 

[Charlie99]

Was your boat unattended? If not, did the person onboard try to signal to the lobsterman?

Also, after 5 or 6 minutes at 13 meter, you could have skipped the safety stop without much risk.

Glad that it all worked out OK.

 

[divenut2001]

Hmmmm! I'll bet the fisherman was not ignoring the diver down flags at all, but seeing your bubbles hangng out by the lobster pots probably thought you were going to poach them hence the abrupt haul out. Just my .02

 

[H2Andy]

probably thought you were going to poach them hence the abrupt haul out

hehehe... knowing lobster fishermen a little, i wager you are correct

 

[String]

Lots of marine users have no idea what an international A-flag means. Fishing boats of all types are particuary guilty of thinking they own the sea and screw anyone else.

However one thing that comes to mind, why didnt the surface crew take proper measures to protect the divers as you're trained in diver cox and other courses? Put your vessel in between the danger and the divers, signal, contact and block.

 

[MikeSXM]

Just a thought and a question, I have often thought that it is easy to keep track of your buddy when you are swimming behind them, but if you are out front it is a pain and I always have to roll over and check. I'm am always buddied up with a stranger and it seems they always lag behind and go off a bit more than I would like, even when I try to wait.

Is it better or easier to have the buddies stay side by side if possible? Is this a reasonable thing to request?

Thanks

 

[Ayisha]

I think it is harder to have buddies one behind the other, especially if your buddy is in a different place every time you look back! :icorolley It's also harder to monitor your buddy constantly if you are in the front, since you'd spend most of your dive looking back. If you are diving one behind the other, it is better to have the slower diver in front, so that they are not exerting themselves catching up to you, and you don't have to speed up and then wait. Remember, it's ok to go slow. You'll see more and you'll use less air.

I prefer to dive side by side. It's so easy to watch your buddy and know exactly what's going on. You hardly have to turn your head. I also prefer that whatever side you start out on, stay on that side. For example, if you were to your buddy's right side, then stay beside him/her on the right side. That way you're not looking all over the place for where your buddy is now - they should be right beside you where you last looked. Most of the time this is just for comfort and convenience, but in low visibility dives, it's even more important.