Solo diver missing - Makara, New Zealand

[tarponchik]

Sad....to a certain extent, solo diving is an accident waiting to happen imho.....

Judging by number of reports here, cave diving and rebreather diving are accidents waiting to happen. And spearfishing is a shark attack waiting to happen.

 

[MAKO Spearguns]

From a scuba perspective, solo diving can be done a good deal more prudently than some of the buddy diving that goes on, and I'm reminded that we hear a number of stories where a pair of divers has died. Ironically, I've yet to read a story about a buddy pair dying where subsequently a commentator says 'I wish one had been solo diving so we wouldn't have lost two.'

Now, this guy was said to be a free diver. I've read before of free divers working in pairs to mitigate risk of shallow water blackout, but I'm not familiar with the range of practices in the free diving community. Since soloing may (?) have been a factor here, can anyone speak to how common it is for free divers to solo dive, and how common it is to do so while spearfishing?

Richard.

A lot of the risks of solo scuba diving can be reduced by training and also redundant equipment.

Freedive spearfishing is similar in that a piece of equipment can be used to reduce one major risk, black out. The freedive recovery vest is a very advanced and effective tool that is gaining popularity with divers.

Freedive Recovery Vest

We don't sell this product, but stongly encourage any freediver who does not have the benefit of a trained and attentive buddy to consider this device. Edit... The Freedive Recovery Vest can also be used when buddy diving, it should not be considered a device only for solo divers.

Freedive spearfishing can be done with buddy teams and in most conditions, it can be very effective in reducing the consequences of shallow water black out. However, some divers chose to dive solo.

In relatively clear water, where the safety diver can remain on the surface and watch the diver for the entire dive, the buddy system can be very effective (assuming an attentive buddy and one who is trained to respond to a loss of motor control or blackout).

However, in some conditions, such as poor visibility and relatively deep dives and sites where the surface current differs from the bottom, the practicality of buddy diving is significantly reduced. If the diver on the surface can not track the diver on the bottom, then the potential for life saving assistance is severely compromised. The use of a floatline, which extends from the gun to the surface can help the surface diver to track the diver on the bottom, even if he can not directly see him during the entire dive.

Freediving is taught as a buddy activity. Some spearos choose to dive solo for a variety of reasons.

Probably most freedive spearfishing competitions do NOT require buddy diving. I would not be able to venture a guess of how common solo versus buddy freedive spearfishing is. It varies in different locales and cultures and (as described above) environmental conditions may also be very influential. In general, I would say solo freedive spearfishing is significantly more common than solo scuba diving.

My condolences to the family and friends of the lost diver.