Solo Diving: It's time to set the record straight

[scuba=dude]

I'm sure If I had a sailboat and was taking pay-divers out on it, I would more then likly make them have dive buddys too............

 

[Jim Lapenta]

And the reason for this would be what? I solo dive. My students know I solo dive, and they also know that it is in no way for them at their level. I explain the training and experience I have, the gear, and the mindset. If new divers are so badly trained that they don't recognize the risks of going it alone then why should I be penalized for the shortcomings of their training. Make me buddy up with someone I don;t know? OK, but you will pay me for that and they will sign a waiver.

Won't let me dive without one if I choose to? OK as well. I'll just spend my money with someone else. The nanny state mentality is going too far and intruding into too many aspects of peoples lives. This is what leads to accidents. No one takes responsibility for themselves. And dive ops just encourage it in more and more instances.

 

[scuba=dude]

And the reason for this would be what? I solo dive. My students know I solo dive, and they also know that it is in no way for them at their level. I explain the training and experience I have, the gear, and the mindset. If new divers are so badly trained that they don't recognize the risks of going it alone then why should I be penalized for the shortcomings of their training. Make me buddy up with someone I don;t know? OK, but you will pay me for that and they will sign a waiver.

Won't let me dive without one if I choose to? OK as well. I'll just spend my money with someone else. The nanny state mentality is going too far and intruding into too many aspects of peoples lives. This is what leads to accidents. No one takes responsibility for themselves. And dive ops just encourage it in more and more instances.

I'm with you on this 100% I get really upset to hear others that don't solo talk trash about making "laws" about solo diving. If anything it has made me a much better solo diver, I seek out places where there no other divers around so I don't have to put up with there bul!ship. I can say thruthfuly I have way more solo dives then dives with a buddy......some of these hard-core partyliners make me whant to throw up (hopefuly not in my reg)
When you get right down to it Most divers that really are into diving and get all there gear will at some point go solo as they will find that they can't find enough "buddys" to keep up with there drive to dive. Or so it seems to me
I don't under stand why so many non-solo divers feel thy need to come on a SOLO thred and try to tell solo divers there doing somthing wrong. maybe they should go on the beginners thred and try telling the new-be's not to solo, You know try and head them off before they think about going solo...you know like PADI dose!

 

[MauiScubaSteve]

The nanny state mentality is going too far and intruding into too many aspects of peoples lives. This is what leads to accidents. No one takes responsibility for themselves. And dive ops just encourage it in more and more instances.

Here in Hawaii 99% of all charter boat diving is guided; even if you and your buddy were SDI solo instructors you would most likely not be allowed to not dive with the guide. If you are a current or past guide for that company then you might get to dive solo / without the guide.

I am unable to find many accident reports due to this nanny state of conduct.

 

[MauiScubaSteve]

When you get right down to it Most divers that really are into diving and get all there gear will at some point go solo as they will find that they can't find enough "buddys" to keep up with there drive to dive. Or so it seems to me
I don't under stand why so many non-solo divers feel thy need to come on a SOLO thred and try to tell solo divers there doing somthing wrong. maybe they should go on the beginners thred and try telling the new-be's not to solo, You know try and head them off before they think about going solo...you know like PADI dose!

As a working PADI instructor who solo's a lot; I do not feel like there are a bunch of non solo divers posting on this solo forum, I do not feel like PADI tries to "head newb's off" from going solo and I do not think "most divers who are really into diving will at some point solo."

I know hundreds of very active, very experienced divers, including dozens of current instructors, and only a small minority ever dive solo.

 

[deepwater]

I believe every solo diver has his/her own reason for doing it. For a person to make an assumption as to why I do it, would just make themselves out to be a fool. I personally do it for the same reason I ride my Harley alone. I like to be alone. As for being certified to do it, well lets see. SDI has been certing divers since 1999, I've been doing it since 1979. Sooo, I should spend stupid money just to make some meathead on a boat happy. I don't think so, homey don't play that. I guess I'll just keep diving alone from my own boat.

Just one old mans thoughts.

 

[scuba=dude]

As a working PADI instructor who solo's a lot; I do not feel like there are a bunch of non solo divers posting on this solo forum, I do not feel like PADI tries to "head newb's off" from going solo and I do not think "most divers who are really into diving will at some point solo."

I know hundreds of very active, very experienced divers, including dozens of current instructors, and only a small minority ever dive solo.

that nice nice and I'm sure you speak for them all..................

 

[Thalassamania]

... Here is a technically accurate fact: The vast majority of people who die in the US are on Medicare. Unsupported conclusion: Medicare will kill you. Quoting your blog:
What you will find is that most of the accident commentaries begin with something like this, “The body was found or recovered at …..” You see, it is very, very rare for a diver to die in a diving accident when their buddy is with them. Conversely, the vast majority of people who die in diving accidents are alone – without a buddy.
What percentage of deaths while diving start with a buddy? Let's say we are diving in 20' of visibility. You find something interesting at the moment I have a heart attach, cerebral hemorrhage, or stroke just outside of your field of view. You turn around in 20 seconds and find me gone. Was I diving alone, solo, is it your fault? If deaths occur when a dive begins with a buddy, is the buddy system dangerous?

I fear you miss the point. The fact of the matter is, regardless of how the victim starts the dive, it is very common for the moment of truth (so to speak) to go unwitnessed and unassisted.

What percentage of deaths are actual diving accidents versus medical conditions that erupt while doing a physical activity? Is there anyway to determine if a buddy had you on the surface under 2 minutes, onshore in 15 minutes, and in a ambulance or on a helicopter in 20 minutes that the outcome would likely be different?

I suspect that if a buddy had you on the surface in under 2 minutes that would make a difference in many of the cases.

How many diving deaths are caused by a panicked buddy? Ask a life guard about the risks. What percentage of deaths occur on solo walks in the park versus when with a companion? How many partners wake to find their spouse dead and cold. Just because you are not alone does not necessarily make an activity measurably safer. Solo training courses don’t make up for physically out of condition divers who are not very competent in the water to start with.

Very few, because there is so rarely a buddy there.

Something to ponder ...

My experience with cave divers in general and DIR divers from GUE, UTD, PDIC Tek and NAUI Tec divers with standardized gear, procedures, and excellent training is that team diving can be akin to being part of The Blue Angels. Divers in my circle of friends from these organizations tend to train often, train hard, train and dive together and are exceptional team divers who can be counted upon when the chips are down. However, there is still an element of peer pressure or self pressure that can find a diver diving beyond his or her comfort zone or abilities on a given day. You may dive when you don't feel like it because you don't want to let a buddy down or you may stick to a plan you no longer feel like doing once underwater. You may be okay with calling it topside, but your friends may push you to dive. It takes discipline and sometimes courage to thumb a dive. Because of this factor, unified teams are not perfect, but common sense would tell us that they are probably the best bet for safety.

I could not agree more. Consider the safety record of scientific diving, we only do buddy diving, we only do team diving, I hesitate to call it “unified” because of the baggage that term can carry.

Loose team diving where buddies are less well-trained and don't conceptualize buddy diving to the art that many cave divers and DIR divers understand, still offers the biggest pro of team diving which is help, and still may add the con elements of peer and self-pressure, but also adds the biggest con of buddy diving which is a false sense of security. Divers may take greater risks hoping or assuming if things go wrong that they will come out of it okay, but often they are unpracticed in emergency skills and communication. This is also the realm of many buddy horror stories.

I’d rather solo (and I never solo)!

Finally, the biggest pro of solo diving is that you can dive without any pressure. You can run an internal check of your psyche, fitness, and abilities from moment to moment and adjust your dive plan accordingly without having to communicate with anyone. You can do what you feel like doing. You can be as aggressive or conservative as you feel. Of course, the greatest con is that you may have absolutely no help. If I suffered DCS coming out of a cave in the Bahamas alone, I could place oxygen in the water, but climbing the 50 foot ladder may have been impossible and I would be stuck in a remote area for a long time without help.

Bad buddies are not a very good excuse for solo diving. Bad buddies can be replaced with exceptional buddies. Solo diving doesn't need excuses.

Hear! Hear!

That is the problem, the new divers. The training of new divers IMO has gone down hill over the years in general. There are instructors some posted here that are fighting the decline but that only helps a small % of divers. When I was certified it was a 12 week course 2 nights per week four hours per night, with four open water dives one of which was a simulated deco dive. When I got my C-card it was worth something and I was ready to dive.
These 4 day wonder courses only prepare the student for more training and IMO it is outrageous and irresponsible that a C-card is issued to these people. I know for a fact that some people after a 4 day course are offered an AOW course before their new unearned OW C-card is even in their wallets. They haven't one hour of real world diving and yet they are ready for AOW? Outrageous! Dangerous!

IMO as long as the current training model is in use we will continue to have new "divers" that are ill prepared to do any diving, solo or otherwise.

Yes I do have a redundant air supply as well as a redundant depth gauge and compass, and timepiece. I carry my tables in my BC pocket in case my computer fails.
I leave a dive plan similar to a float plan for boating on my PC monitor and a hard copy in my car parked at the dive site and on my kitchen table. It's called being prepared. Diving is only fun if you come back.

So find buddies that are similarly trained and capable. It is possible. Or train some yourself, as an instructor or as a mentor.

… I've been around here long enough to have established a bit of credibility ...

... Bob (Grateful Diver)

Yup.

Hmmm ... I think you do. Let's get back to the closing statements in your article ...

So you would deny someone with 40 years and thousands of dives worth of experience the right to solo dive, while saying "That's awesome; have fun" to the person who's been diving for six months and has a shiny new c-card.

I would not let anyone solo on any operation that I am in charge of.

I have read a few years of DAN's reports and have yet to see solo listed as a direct cause. It is mentioned as a description of the dive just as buddy or group is used.
As no one knows the actual number of solo dives versus buddy or group dives there is no way to determine percentage wise which suffers more fatalities.. It is all opinion.

If you look at DAN's report you could conclude that a healthy, physically fit solo diver has a significantly less chance of dieing than an out of shape, undiagnosed health issue buddy diver.

Most of the accidents are unwitnessed, so they might as well be solo. A healthy, fit diver has less chance of having trouble than a an out of shape, undiagnosed health issue diver, similarly a healthy, fit diver has less chance of having trouble when buddied with a similar diver than when diving alone.

Tell that to most of the guys that have died on the Doria.

I’ve been on the Doria several times, always as part of a well oiled team … never an incident of any sort.

 

[sylpha]

i can't solo dive when i'm on holiday. neither can i buddy dive with my husband. we both have knocking on the door of a thousand sives under our weight belts, been diving for nearly 20 years, but our insurance says we have to dive with an instructor.

i can understand how a dive skipper in the US would insist on buddy pairs and on seeing some kind of qualification - self preservation against being sued. hence a gap in the market for solo qualifications. having the certificate only means that you finished the course & answered all the questions on the day.

i can well understand how a skipper who knows his customers might turn a blind eye to needing to see qualifications and i can well understand how a couple of divers might enter the water at the same time & get seperated

 

[Jim Lapenta]

What insurance requires you to always dive with an instructor? Never heard of that.