Team ethos and recreational diving

[TSandM]

One of the things I have enjoyed (before I even realized that it was different, or something focused upon by DIR training) is the secure feeling of diving with my DIR-trained friends. In our waters, HID lights are marvellous communication devices, allowing divers to stay in close contact and to signal one another without having to stay shoulder to shoulder.

But what do you do in bright, clear tropical water? My light was useless, and the only way to stay in constant contact with my buddy (my decidedly non-DIR husband) would have been to stay close enough to be in one another's peripheral vision, something which is significantly limited in a mask, which means you have to stay pretty darned close to each other. My husband absolutely refuses to do this, and says that, if you are spending your whole dive watching one another, you are NOT watching the reef and the sea life you went down to enjoy. He is quite convinced that a) DIR divers don't ever have FUN diving, and b) DIR ideas do NOT generalize in a useful fashion into uncomplicated recreational diving.

I'm sure I'll get a chance to ask such questions this weekend, but does anybody have any good answers that I might be able to use in the meantime with my husband? He was seriously considering looking into 5D-X's Essentials class until this argument convinced him that he wouldn't like it.

 

[MXGratefulDiver]

My husband absolutely refuses to do this, and says that, if you are spending your whole dive watching one another, you are NOT watching the reef and the sea life you went down to enjoy. He is quite convinced that a) DIR divers don't ever have FUN diving, and b) DIR ideas do NOT generalize in a useful fashion into uncomplicated recreational diving.

Perhaps Peter and I need to dive together more often ... :browsmile

Seriously, what becomes comfortable is that which one becomes accustomed to doing. In clear water, proximity and buddy positioning are the primary ways to maintain contact ... and it takes some practice to learn how to dive that way.

But once it becomes the "normal" way that you dive, you develop a "sixth sense" of knowing where your buddy is ... and it takes no additional effort at all.

Of course, it does require both (or all three) buddies to dive the same way ... team diving, like driving on a freeway, is all about predictable behavior.

... Bob (Grateful Diver)

 

[boomx5]

Perhaps Peter and I need to dive together more often ... :browsmile

Seriously, what becomes comfortable is that which one becomes accustomed to doing. In clear water, proximity and buddy positioning are the primary ways to maintain contact ... and it takes some practice to learn how to dive that way.

But once it becomes the "normal" way that you dive, you develop a "sixth sense" of knowing where your buddy is ... and it takes no additional effort at all.

Of course, it does require both (or all three) buddies to dive the same way ... team diving, like driving on a freeway, is all about predictable behavior.

... Bob (Grateful Diver)

Another point is I feel that closer isn't always better in clear water and a little bit of distance can make it easier to see your buddy. Sometimes when we dive Tahoe the vis is so good that you can't see your buddies light until you get some depth. What we find that works is to stay off a few feet from your buddy as it opens up your field of view.

 

[lamont]

I'm sure I'll get a chance to ask such questions this weekend, but does anybody have any good answers that I might be able to use in the meantime with my husband? He was seriously considering looking into 5D-X's Essentials class until this argument convinced him that he wouldn't like it.

I'm scratching my head over this one. Didn't they tell him in his BOW class that he needed to stick with his buddy and be able to communicate? That's all we're talking about here. They just give you some tools to use to accomplish it. And most of the tools make it easier to stay in constant contact without having to stop looking at the reef -- if you naturally fall into side-by-side swimming without thinking about it, then you avoid having to look around for your buddy, so you actually get more time looking at the reef.

 

[TSandM]

It comes down to what the definition of "sticking with your buddy" and "communication" is -- my husband believes that, if the visibility is excellent, being within 20 feet or so is close enough, and if you lose sight of one another for 30 seconds or a minute, it's no big deal. So, just as lamont describes, I spend MY dive spinning around, looking for someone who has just decided to swim off after that big ray in exactly the opposite direction from the guide and the rest of the group . . .

 

[Peter Guy]

Poor put upon husband attempting to respond here.

1. Bob, I'd love to dive with you more often -- if only TSandM would let me!

2. TSandM and I spent some time discussing her idea of the "team" concept and IF it is as she states, honestly, I don't want much part of it. While I certainly can understand why such a concept makes abundant sense in "technical" diving situations, I have a very difficult time understanding how HER concept applies very well to group recreational diving situations.

There are many things I love about diving and among the most important is the freedom of movement given to the diver. In no other medium can a person so easily move in three dimensions -- in no other medium can "mere mortals" approach weightlessness. And, of course, in no other medium can man become part of such an alien environment.

THE purpose of recreational diving, TO ME, is to enjoy the feelings, sights and sounds of the environment of the rest of the planet.

3. Lamont asked, wasn't I taught back in BOW to "to stick with his buddy and be able to communicate?" YUP -- and even back in 1966 when I was first taught about the freedom of Scuba, we lived the "buddy system." But even then, let alone now, there is room for discussion about what it means to "to stick with his buddy and be able to communicate" in my always and ever so humble opinion.

A question for you Lamont -- what do YOU mean by "sticking" with your buddy in 40 fsw, 40+ vis on a reef with a group of 6?

4. And then there is the, to me, interesting question of "What is the purpose of a buddy?" during group recreational dives? IF, the PRIMARY purpose of the buddy is to be the "spare emergency" air, then does it REALLY MATTER which of the 6 divers are "close enough" at any one time? As long as every diver is within "reasonable emergency air distance" from another diver, hasn't the PRIMARY purpose of "buddying" been accomplished? OR, is "spare air" only to come from the designated "buddy?"

In the dives we just finished, I can't think of any time when either of us were more than 15 seconds swim time away from at least one other person in the group (EXCEPT when there was a miscommunication -- for example, when I thought the dive leader told me to go to "X" and went, fully expecting the dive leader to go with me but who, instead turned around and went the opposite way and when I turned around a few kicks later, expecting to see him, and everyone else, coming with me, whoops -- or when TSandM stopped to be watched by a shark instead of coming with the group -- in these instances, there was buddy contact, there was communication but, unlike with DIR trained divers, there was misunderstanding which led to separation of a diver from the group).

5. My last comment regarding the original post by TSandM has to do with the issue regarding how one "does" group recreational diving. In the particular dives, TSandM and I were always paired as buddies, there was always a professional dive leader and most times there were others in the group. As part of the dive brief, we were told, 1. IF one group member got low on air before the dive time limit, that member would be sent up with the next lowest diver and new buddy pairs would be created if necessary; 2. IF a buddy pair got split from the leader, to continue the dive until the time limit OR air limit and then surface.

TSandM had a difficult time deciding which diver was the most important -- the group leader or her "buddy" (me). Thus if/when I stopped to look at something/take a picture and the leader kept going, she'd tend to follow the leader for a ways and then stop and look back for me -- rather than stay with me. It was/is my contention, that given the dive brief (not to mention the various discussions with the leaders during breaks) if the leader went off, the buddy pair was to stay together. In fact, what happened all too often was TSandM felt she needed to stay with the leader AND her buddy -- and in all too many cases then ended up with neither of us.

If THAT is the "Team Concept" -- then, yes, I want nothing to do with it.

 

[lamont]

Well, the team concept should be that you have a primary buddy pair and you stick with them. Trying to stick with a buddy and track a DM is going to generally not work out well. You do want to stick with your buddy and complete the dive normally if you lose the DM.

You don't try to use a group of 6 as one big buddy pool. That's a good way for one diver to get lost. You want primary buddy pairs, so that if a person gets lost (and it could be trouble like a stuck inflator and rapid ascent) that someone in the group is tasked with noticing.

I wouldn't call that team diving, though, that's just stuff you need to do in order to make the buddy system work.

Where it starts getting into team diving is where you try to swim side-by-side and avoid the situation where one person in the buddy team is diving above and behind the other person. Ideally you want to keep it so that you can see each other at all times out of your peripheral vision while watching other things. The idea, though, is not to make this burdensome, but to make it automatic.

Diving more with Bob is going to be better for understanding this, though. Bob is a really good example because he sees about 4-10x as much sea life when he's down there compared to anyone else, while at the same time maintaining good contact.

 

[mart1]

Sounds more like a husband/wife problem to me, not a diving problem.

 

[TSandM]

Ideally you want to keep it so that you can see each other at all times out of your peripheral vision while watching other things.

This is my understanding, but given limited peripheral vision in a mask, it does require that people stay fairly close together, and signal if they are going to make an abrupt change in momentum.

The idea, though, is not to make this burdensome, but to make it automatic.

Unfortunately, I suspect that learning to do this, like changing other habits, will be burdensome UNTIL it is automatic. Now I have to persuade my default dive buddy that the burdensome-ness is worth living with until it goes away, and he remains unconvinced.

And yes, this is to some extent a husband and wife issue, but what are you going to do when your default dive buddy is your spouse?

 

[doole]

I feel the answer is quite simple:

If you're more than a breath away from your buddy, you're diving solo. Are you trained and equipped to dive solo? Is your buddy?

The rest of the stuff about groups and whatever seems pretty extraneous.