Sticking with your buddy

[nannymouse]

During my open Water cert dives my friend was paired up with his 16 yr old son. My intended buddy bailed out for personal reasons, so I was paired with the instructor.

While we were stationary on the bottom, and the instructor was dealing with my friend and son, I stayed exactly where I was, mostly watching the instruction and looking around a bit. After the instructor was dealing with me, my friend had sometimes drifted off 15 or 20 feet.

While we were swimming along the bottom, I stayed about 3 feet back and just over arm's reach from my instructor buddy. My friend was cruising along and leaving his son buddy behind. The instructor kept signaling him to "Stick Together". After a bit I signaled the instructor that I would buddy with the son, and the instructor approved.
I set my hand on the edge of the son's BC and let him set the pace.

My questions are these:
Am I wrong in thinking that the stronger buddy should stay at the pace of the weaker buddy? Is it OK to rest a hand on your buddy's BC to keep tabs on them? How far should I get from my buddy?

I realise that there are variations resulting from the experience and conditions, but please tell me what you think. -N.

 

[1_T_Submariner]

Not sure when your cert dives were but, congrats!!

For me it varies with conditions but, I try to stay within 10'. Ok that said in real bad vis I have had a buddy rest a hand on my tank.The other extreme was a dive with my wife 100' vis 10' feet of water we got maybe 30' apart but either one of us would have just went to the surface if needed.

edit:
I think you are correct let the slower swimmer lead.

 

[TSandM]

The faster swimmer should slow down, and best, like everything else about buddying up, this is discussed before the dive. It shouldn't be necessary, except in the very worst visibility, to stay in touch contact. The downside of doing so is that you perturb the buoyancy information the other diver is getting. It's better to dive independently and just stay close and in visual contact.

Diving with one diver behind the other is not a very good formation, unless you have strong lights and can stay in contact that way. The person in the front can't see the person behind, and either has to stop and turn repeatedly, or look down between his legs to see behind him. (And if you're at all above him, even that doesn't work.) It's better to stay side by side, which means the slower diver may have to pick it up a little, and the faster dive slow down a bit.

How far you should be from your buddy depends on two things. One is how far you can see. In bad viz, you need to stay much closer, because even one or two fin kicks can put you out of visual range. In good viz, you need to stay close enough that you can efficiently aid your buddy if there is trouble, in particular if anything interferes with his gas supply. It's my personal feeling that about twenty feet is the maximum, and that comes from having done a drill where I quit breathing at the end of an exhalation and had to swim to my buddy, get his attention, and get air. I was about 25 feet from him when I started it, and I was awfully glad to get that regulator when he finally gave it to me. I don't want to have to swim any further than that on a breath-hold.

And twenty feet only works if you are frequently referencing one another.

 

[emcgregor]

I tend to stay close. In good vis, usually not more than 10' or so and almost always side-by-side. Having been both the less experienced diver and the most experienced diver (on seperate dives), I find a certain level of comfort in knowing where my buddy is. If this requires physical contact, then so be it (although TSandM is right and it can throw your buoyancy off).

As you dive with a particular buddy, you will find your preferred distance-I know I did. However, it seems to vary depending on my buddy. With some I am comfortable at 10' and others it is 15'-20'.

Like almost everything in diving, it comes down to how you feel before and during the dive. If you are comfortable only when you can reach out and touch your buddy, then I think that is the correct distance for that dive.

 

[almitywife]

for me it depends on the vis and conditions.... usually in sydney i stray no more than approx 15ft/5mtrs from my buddy

in the tropics i tend to stretch it out to about 20ft but not much more as i tend to gauge it on how quickly i can get to my buddy if there is a need to assist/be assisted

cheers

 

[Kev's First Mate]

During my open Water cert dives my friend was paired up with his 16 yr old son. My intended buddy bailed out for personal reasons, so I was paired with the instructor.

While we were stationary on the bottom, and the instructor was dealing with my friend and son, I stayed exactly where I was, mostly watching the instruction and looking around a bit. After the instructor was dealing with me, my friend had sometimes drifted off 15 or 20 feet.

While we were swimming along the bottom, I stayed about 3 feet back and just over arm's reach from my instructor buddy. My friend was cruising along and leaving his son buddy behind. The instructor kept signaling him to "Stick Together". After a bit I signaled the instructor that I would buddy with the son, and the instructor approved.
I set my hand on the edge of the son's BC and let him set the pace.

My questions are these:
Am I wrong in thinking that the stronger buddy should stay at the pace of the weaker buddy? Is it OK to rest a hand on your buddy's BC to keep tabs on them? How far should I get from my buddy?

I realise that there are variations resulting from the experience and conditions, but please tell me what you think. -N.

My dive buddy tends to cruise along at his own pace and not stick together too well, unless the conditions are real poor. I, however, am always watching where my buddy is, keep them in sight, and within 20-30' range.

You are not wrong in thinking the stronger buddy should stay at the pace of the weaker buddy. If the visibility is really poor, I do not think it is bad to keep your hand on them, but if there is good vis, I wouldn't do so. How far you get from your buddy depends on the visibility. Just make sure you are aware of where they are at all times.

Good luck, and happy diving!

 

[JRScuba]

Although it is generally not the case : The weaker diver should lead for obvious reasons.

 

[Web Monkey]

While we were stationary on the bottom, and the instructor was dealing with my friend and son, I stayed exactly where I was, mostly watching the instruction and looking around a bit. After the instructor was dealing with me, my friend had sometimes drifted off 15 or 20 feet.

"Buddy" seems like such a watered-down term.

I think if you replace the term "buddy" with "redundant air supply", you'll find that all the other questions are easily answered.

Since a failure can happen at any time and without warning, "buddy distance" would be shorter than "how far can I swim with no air, after I just exhaled".

20 feet away might as well be a mile if you're OOA and the other diver is moving away from you.

Terry

 

[hudson_hawk]

from what you said about your traning and what you did ,
ID dive with you and im really pacticular who i will dive with, good job
BTW i allways make it a point to stay beside my buddy and if we reach out side ways with a fist
as long as we can touch im ok with it

 

[Fish_Whisperer]

Within a given dive, I might be ten feet from my buddy, or we may end up as far away as twenty to thirty feet. Like others have said, it just depends on viz, current, comfort levels, etc. The first dive, after a couple of months away from it, I tend to stay pretty close to my buddy. The second dive, eh... a little more relaxed, especially if conditions are good and we're diving with a group.