Boogie711:
DA - I wasn't trying to make this personally, although you're obviously taking it that way.
What am I supposed to think when I read statements like "I am not subject to the errors, mistakes, or pequipment problems of anyone else, just my own. I have nothing to prove to anyone but myself, and I am not responsible for anyone else's life, just my own. " This is a statement you yourself agreed with....
....Obviously, you feel that someone else on a dive team is a liability. If you feel that someone is a liability, then obviously you feel that you are better than they are, and less likely to be entangled, run out of air or get lost?
Let me put it to you another way - do you feel that diving in a well prepared dive team with competent team members is safer than solo diving?
If no, why not? If yes, then why do you choose to not do so?
If someone on a dive team is less skilled then I am, then yes, they are a potential liability. That is not the same as saying that having anyone on a dive team is a liability. It depends on the persona nd on the situation. Regardless of how good someone else may be, there are time when I am just more comfortable going solo. It eliminates the need to communicate with the buddy, keep track of the buddy etc and allows me to focus on the goals/objectives of the dive.
I will state in some cases I am less likely to get lost, run out of air or get entangeld when solo.
For example, I am a very good underwater navigator and I have found it is much easier to navigate with peak effiency when I am not having to divide my attention with keeping track of a buddy.
Similarly, when I reach my turn pressure I can turn immediately with no need to communicate with and attempt to turn the rest of the herd. I just do a 180 and am on my way out.
I would also argue that risk of entaglement is potentially less than when I am with a buddy as I am able to fully focus on where I am at and what I am doing with no need to divide my attention with keeping track of the buddy. If I am entangled, a buddy may or may not be of help and if the viz is zero, the buddy may not even know I am entangled. The few times I have become entangled were buddy dives where I snagged something while attending to or looking at the buddy and in all cases I freed myself anyway.
Now, a neccesary part of safe solo diving is the ability and the need to be brutally honest about your limitations and to stay within them. And when I am solo, I, by definition, am intimately aware of the limits and abilities of everyone along on the dive. I can not always say the same when I am diving with a buddy. And furthermore, when solo diving I am never tempted to push my limits in the belief that a buddy will be able to pull me back if I wander over the edge so the risk of being overconfident in the groups ability is just not a factor.
To use another analogy to try to illustrate the point, flying a twin engine aircraft under instrument flight conditions or at night is theoretically safer than making the same flight in a single engine aircraft. But the reality of the situation is that twin engine aircraft tend to have poorer saftey records in general in good weather or bad. This is due to increased complexity, increased potential for mechanical failure, higher demands on pilot skill and currency and greater potential for indecisiveness and indecision if an engine does fail.
In many respects this is very similar to diving with a buddy compared to diving solo. Buddying up for the dive adds a degree of redundancy but also increases the complexity of the endeavor and in some cases the benefits of having a buddy just do not outweigh the costs.
Granted, in some circumstances a well prepared team can be ideal and can be the clear way to go and I do go that way when the situation dictates. But very frequently solo diving makes more sense and when that is the case I will choose to go solo.
