Solo.. Or No Solo?

[Mako Mark]

- I know that even as an instructor Ive got many things to learn and Im glad to take people's different points of view. .

Dude, I have said this in the sister thread, this discussion has NO PLACE in the basic scuba discussions forum.

People are going to get hurt unless this thread is moved to general tec discussions.

can a moderator please move both these threads.

 

[Brian Gilpin]

No, this is referred to as a STUPIDITY DIVE, and would and should get you and your instructor expelled from PADI (or whatever training agency you belong to) for breaking safe diving practices while in a training situation.

Now please take a clean sheet of paper and write:

"I deserve to drown and am terrible role model for my students"

100 times.

and if you think I am joking, I am NOT.

If I saw an instructor making a DM candidate do this I would personally wring both their necks. What are you thinking????

What you do on your own time Skippy, I dont give a toss, but doing this in front of newbies AND ESPECIALLY STUDENTS is inexcusable.

cancun mark

At this point I certainly agree with you. I dont DM for these people anymore. I was just going with the program. I wont even say I didn't know better. On the other hand I was stepping up to a new level and had reason to believe expectations might include this. No need to repeat how stupid this was but it is more common than you might think.

Let me give you another example. Dive boat pulls into a protected cove and drops anchor but Captain is unsure anchor is how he wants it. He sends DM down to check placement of anchor. He is by himself of course.

My point is that people change the rules to their convenience. The instructors in this case just didnt want to get wet one more time. Believe me I avoid their classes.


I deserve to drown and am terrible role model for my students
I deserve to drown and am terrible role model for my students
I deserve to drown and am terrible role model for my students
I deserve to drown and am terrible role model for my students
I deserve to drown and am terrible role model for my students
I deserve to drown and am terrible role model for my students
I deserve to drown and am terrible role model for my students
I deserve to drown and am terrible role model for my students
I deserve to drown and am terrible role model for my students

I'll do the rest later.

 

[Brian Gilpin]

I deserve to drown and am terrible role model for my students
I deserve to drown and am terrible role model for my students
I deserve to drown and am terrible role model for my students
I deserve to drown and am terrible role model for my students
I deserve to drown and am terrible role model for my students
I deserve to drown and am terrible role model for my students
I deserve to drown and am terrible role model for my students
I deserve to drown and am terrible role model for my students
I deserve to drown and am terrible role model for my students
I deserve to drown and am terrible role model for my students
I deserve to drown and am terrible role model for my students
I deserve to drown and am terrible role model for my students
I deserve to drown and am terrible role model for my students
I deserve to drown and am terrible role model for my students
I deserve to drown and am terrible role model for my students
I deserve to drown and am terrible role model for my students
I deserve to drown and am terrible role model for my students
I deserve to drown and am terrible role model for my students
I deserve to drown and am terrible role model for my students
I deserve to drown and am terrible role model for my students
I deserve to drown and am terrible role model for my students
I deserve to drown and am terrible role model for my students
I deserve to drown and am terrible role model for my students
I deserve to drown and am terrible role model for my students
I deserve to drown and am terrible role model for my students
I deserve to drown and am terrible role model for my students
I deserve to drown and am terrible role model for my students
I deserve to drown and am terrible role model for my students
I deserve to drown and am terrible role model for my students
I deserve to drown and am terrible role model for my students
I deserve to drown and am terrible role model for my students
I deserve to drown and am terrible role model for my students
I deserve to drown and am terrible role model for my students
I deserve to drown and am terrible role model for my students
I deserve to drown and am terrible role model for my students
I deserve to drown and am terrible role model for my students
I deserve to drown and am terrible role model for my students
I deserve to drown and am terrible role model for my students
I deserve to drown and am terrible role model for my students
I deserve to drown and am terrible role model for my students
I deserve to drown and am terrible role model for my students
I deserve to drown and am terrible role model for my students
I deserve to drown and am terrible role model for my students
I deserve to drown and am terrible role model for my students
I deserve to drown and am terrible role model for my students
I deserve to drown and am terrible role model for my students
I deserve to drown and am terrible role model for my students
I deserve to drown and am terrible role model for my students
I deserve to drown and am terrible role model for my students
I deserve to drown and am terrible role model for my students
I deserve to drown and am terrible role model for my students
I deserve to drown and am terrible role model for my students
I deserve to drown and am terrible role model for my students
I deserve to drown and am terrible role model for my students
I deserve to drown and am terrible role model for my students
I deserve to drown and am terrible role model for my students
I deserve to drown and am terrible role model for my students
I deserve to drown and am terrible role model for my students
I deserve to drown and am terrible role model for my students
I deserve to drown and am terrible role model for my students
I deserve to drown and am terrible role model for my students
I deserve to drown and am terrible role model for my students
I deserve to drown and am terrible role model for my students
I deserve to drown and am terrible role model for my students
I deserve to drown and am terrible role model for my students
I deserve to drown and am terrible role model for my students
I deserve to drown and am terrible role model for my students
I deserve to drown and am terrible role model for my students
I deserve to drown and am terrible role model for my students
I deserve to drown and am terrible role model for my students
I deserve to drown and am terrible role model for my students
I deserve to drown and am terrible role model for my students
I deserve to drown and am terrible role model for my students
I deserve to drown and am terrible role model for my students
I deserve to drown and am terrible role model for my students
I deserve to drown and am terrible role model for my students
I deserve to drown and am terrible role model for my students
I deserve to drown and am terrible role model for my students
I deserve to drown and am terrible role model for my students
I deserve to drown and am terrible role model for my students
I deserve to drown and am terrible role model for my students
I deserve to drown and am terrible role model for my students
I deserve to drown and am terrible role model for my students
I deserve to drown and am terrible role model for my students
I deserve to drown and am terrible role model for my students
I deserve to drown and am terrible role model for my students
I deserve to drown and am terrible role model for my students
I deserve to drown and am terrible role model for my students
I deserve to drown and am terrible role model for my students
I deserve to drown and am terrible role model for my students
I deserve to drown and am terrible role model for my students

 

[wedivebc]

Let me give you another example. Dive boat pulls into a protected cove and drops anchor but Captain is unsure anchor is how he wants it. He sends DM down to check placement of anchor. He is by himself of course.

My point is that people change the rules to their convenience. The instructors in this case just didnt want to get wet one more time. Believe me I avoid their classes.

I think the issue CM had was not so much what you did but the fact that DMs and instructors have a role model position to maintain. You should not do this in front of students.
I'm not sure how moving this thread will help unless you have someone show proof of 100 dives before logging in.

 

[O2BBubbleFree]

My first post-cert dive was in Kona, HI. Crystal clear water and 25' max depth. I paired up with a lady who informed me that she wasn't real comfortable in the water, and it took several attempts for her to get through the classes. We agreed that if she wasn't comfortable she would surface and I would continue with the rest of the group. She wasn't, and did, about 2 min. into the dive.

I guess if I had known then what I know now about the risks of solo ascent, I might have escorted her to the top, but, after all, it was only about 15', still right below the boat, and she indicated that she felt OK to surface alone. I watched her 'til she was on the ladder.

I continued the dive, keeping with the group, but without a designated buddy. I felt I was close enough to find air should something happen, and was also comfortable that I could do a CESA at any time. I had a standard set-up with AL80, one first, two seconds.

Since we discussed our plan before the dive, we also could have talked with another buddy team and arranged for me to join them.

Having said all that, I would probably not do anything different in the future, given similar conditions (clear water, no overhead, <30'). I would even consider doing straight solo dives in similar conditions, although I'd probably want a pony. I’ve always felt very comfortable in the water, and have never been prone to panic. I believe I could clearly think my way through a problem and choose the best alternative.

BTW, a couple of days earlier on my cert dives (Shark's Cove, North Shore, Honolulu) the instructor told me that he felt like he was diving with a buddy, not a student. We were swimming through lava arches, so breaking the ‘no overheads’ rule.

 

[Mako Mark]

lmao Brian. G'donya m8

 

[hantzu701]

For many people the SDI course is a waste of time whether they will NEVER dive solo or already possess the skills and equipment to do so safely but for many though the course is valuable.
Many experienced divers are opting to dive alone for many reasons and those who have not been exposed to any technical aspects of diving find the concept of redundancy new to them.
This training is for people with at least 100 logged dives who want to become self sufficient divers. I teach this program because I believe in it NOT because I need the money. As an independant instructor, dive training is my hobby not my business. If someone has decided they want to persue solo diving then training is probably a good option for them.
I'm no lawyer but should a solo diver be involved in an accident, a solo cert card could go a long way toward helping with the insurance claim.

If dive training is your hobby, then you can appreciate the large number of poorly trained divers out there. Frankly, I'm curious how you can claim that a diver is "experienced" when that individual has not been exposed to concepts like redundancy.

I agree that there is a market for this class. (Let's see - $150 for the course. $30 for the book. Another $525 for the pony bottle, button spg, and cheapo reg.) But, I think that you're doing a great dis-service to your students. When I talk to instructors and divemasters about their hairy moments underwater, they almost always are diving solo or have lost contact with their buddy. In the few incidents in which they "lost" their buddy, detailed questioning showed that buddy diving meant "in the same ocean."

I think that if you really love diving and training students, then you would instill in your students good dive habits - which should include good buddy skills (good buddy skills = $0).

 

[padiscubapro]

Yes I know, you're only meant to solo dive with the proper training and proper redundancy of equipment but how many people have been tempted to, or actually dved solo without the necessary equipment?

answers on a postcard to the usual address...

I frequently solo dive mainly because I don't have many CCR buddies and I dislike all the noise created by Open Circuit divers.. I usually limit my solo dives to around 60m(200fsw) or so simply because of bail out requirements.

On deep explorations I'll do the deep push whith the saftey divers above me... on a recent expedition we pushed to approx 150m with the deepest support in the 85-100m range (each "support" diver was effectively solo also)

 

[wedivebc]

If dive training is your hobby, then you can appreciate the large number of poorly trained divers out there. Frankly, I'm curious how you can claim that a diver is "experienced" when that individual has not been exposed to concepts like redundancy.

Don't understand what you mean

When I talk to instructors and divemasters about their hairy moments underwater, they almost always are diving solo or have lost contact with their buddy.
.

There is a huge difference between intentional solo diving and accidental solo divers. That is why you can't lump accident statistics together without making that distinction. Divers who plan and execute solo dives are being penalized by the dive community because whenever some oaf looses his buddy and panic swims to the surface by himself he is considered a solo diver. Let's separate the two then we can have a realistic look at the facts.

 

[eponym]

I must admit that I 'ave done so. The first time, it was in 1943, on the Riviera.

-J.C.*

* No, mon ami, not the Nazarene. Le autre, avec le watch-cap rouge.