The Final Chapter On Solo Diving

[CRDiver]

Solo Diving is not a "primary cause" of an accident. Ever.
It may be a reason an accident ends in death, and solo divers must accept the additional risk of not having anyone around to help if help is needed, but being alone doesn't "cause" anything.
Rick

Amen.

 

[MASS-Diver]

Solo Diving is not a "primary cause" of an accident. Ever.
It may be a reason an accident ends in death, and solo divers must accept the additional risk of not having anyone around to help if help is needed, but being alone doesn't "cause" anything.
Rick

Could it be a contributing factor though? For example, if a diver sustains an injuyr on a dive and is unable to swim back (to shore, out of the cave etc) and a buddy could have pulled him out?

 

[captain]

Would having a buddy prevent the injury. Most likely no. As stated in the above posts being solo is not the PRIMARY cause of the injury.

Captain

 

[Nemrod]

"Could it be a contributing factor though? For example, if a diver sustains an injuyr on a dive and is unable to swim back (to shore, out of the cave etc) and a buddy could have pulled him out?"

I don't think many of us cave dive solo though I imagine there are condtions that warrant it. What kinda injury anyway? If some one has a heart attack or some other severe injury deep in a cave I don't think a buddy is going to be able to solve that--CPR in a cave--nope. What injury, this is all antedotal and what if. What if anything?

What if both the buddies are injured? What if the stronger buddy is "injured", why assume the other will be able to tow him/her anywhere.
I realize it is hard to get it past the years of antedotes and what ifs and old wife tales and my instructor said so and all that and finally realize that the buddy system is not some panacea of safety and that for every what if without a buddy there is a what if with one. N

 

[MikeFerrara]

Would having a buddy prevent the injury. Most likely no. As stated in the above posts being solo is not the PRIMARY cause of the injury.

Captain

Sure having a buddy can prevent injury.
If you are entangled I can untangle you.

If you become ill I can help you swim.

Being alone may not be the primary cause of the injury but another brain or an extra set of eyes may prevent a mistake that leads to injury and an extra set of hands may help solve a problem may have ptherwise resulted in injury.

I was with a diver who had a severe as (in almost totally disableing cramp) with a bunch of tanks to manage and another half hour of decompression left to go.

I was with another diver who had a dry suit valve fail with 70 minutes of decompression left to go.

I could give many more examples. In each case the diver may have been able to cope without my help but I'm pretty sure that I made it much easier and less stressful helping to stop the chain.

How many tasks can you handle at once? Two divers can handle more than one can.

 

[MikeFerrara]

I don't think many of us cave dive solo though I imagine there are condtions that warrant it. What kinda injury anyway? If some one has a heart attack or some other severe injury deep in a cave I don't think a buddy is going to be able to solve that--CPR in a cave--nope. What injury, this is all antedotal and what if. What if anything?

Actually most (and the best) of the solo divers I know are solo cave divers. They just don't argue the wisdom of it here and they don't ask any ones permission. They do it because they like it not because they think it's the safest way to dive.

What if both the buddies are injured? What if the stronger buddy is "injured", why assume the other will be able to tow him/her anywhere.

the most basic tenant of buddy diving is that each team member must be capable and qualified for the dive and tasks at hand. Why would I not be able to assume that my buddy can't do a simple thing like tow me? If they can't then they shouldn't be there and shame on me for agreeing to the dive.

I realize it is hard to get it past the years of antedotes and what ifs and old wife tales and my instructor said so and all that and finally realize that the buddy system is not some panacea of safety and that for every what if without a buddy there is a what if with one. N

I've given lots of examples of situations where an assist from a buddy was helpful (at the very least). None are based on old wives tales or what any instructor said.

In diving the only "panacea" for safety is understanding the real risks and preparing for them. Again if you choose to dive alone and realize that one brain, 2 hands, 2 eyes and one set of gear are more limiting that 2 brains, 4 hands, 2 sets of eyes and 2 sets of gear and you prepare accordingly then you are at least solo diving as safely as you can. Anything else is BS or inexperience talking.

Don't measure the effectiveness of solo diving against the effectiveness of diving with a bad buddy. Measure it against the effectiveness of diving with a good buddy because diving with a bad one is just solo diving with bagage...don't do that.

 

[MikeFerrara]

In these threads on the solo forum I really think I see an accute lack of understanding of the kinds of chains of events that sometimes lead to injury.

A buddy may not be much help in the case of a single catastrophic event like a rock falling on your head or a heart attack. What often happens though is a smallish problem that causes or allows another one to sneak up that starts a couple more until a straw finally breaks the camels back...with task loading being a big problem in the end.

Task overload and time pressure are two of a divers biggest concerns. You can only do so much at once and the more you have to do the longer it will take. The more you have to do or the less time you have to do it in the more stress there will be and stress is bad. Having a buddy is one effective way to help hedge your bet against those general risks regardless of what some idiot says in an article. There may be others but I don't see many here discussing those. I just see a bunch of people trying to convince themselves or some one else that they somehow won't have problems if they are alone or that if they do a buddy couldn't help anyway.

 

[DA Aquamaster]

The original post on this thread is 3 1/2 years old. One of the negative effects of populating the solo forum with existing threads when it was created was that it brought in threads that in their original form did not meet the current standards of the solo diving forum. This is one of them.

I think we need a reminder:

"This is a no-troll zone! The discussion is not to be centered around whether to do a solo dive, but in the techniques and strategies involved. Do not participate if you have already decided that solo diving is not for you! Thanks in advance."

If the members or mods participating want to continue the discussion I think that's great, but if that's the case the thread really should be moved out of the solo diving forum as the discussion does not belong in here.

 

[captain]

Thanks, we needed that.

Captain

 

[MikeFerrara]

I think we need a reminder:

"This is a no-troll zone! The discussion is not to be centered around whether to do a solo dive, but in the techniques and strategies involved. Do not participate if you have already decided that solo diving is not for you! Thanks in advance."

I haven't seen any posts suggesting that one shouldn't choose to solo dive. We've been discussing whether or not the alleged dangers of the buddy system are a valid justification and the merits (or lack of) of the referenced articles. So I have argued that one shouldn't solo dive because of an article or arguement thatbuddies are dangerous or could never be of help on a dive. I've also stated my opinion that the way to approach it is to recognize and address the unique hazards (and all forms of diving have them) rather than pretending that they don't exist.

Do you see the contents of the discussion differently?

If the members or mods participating want to continue the discussion I think that's great, but if that's the case the thread really should be moved out of the solo diving forum as the discussion does not belong in here.

Why? This may be one of if not the most pertinent aspect of all on the subject given the approach some have chosen to promote it.