The solo diving movement, a good idea?

[Twisted Bones]

I am a relatively new diver and also a solo diver. I was instructed to never dive alone yet I dive alone 90% of the time. I find having a buddy to be very distracting as I spend more of my time worrying about them, their location and their air than enjoying the dive. Yes diving solo is dangerous. Scuba diving is one of the easiest pass times to learn that can kill you dead, buddy or not. For me it is about risk management. I always assess my gear a couple times before a solo dive. I dive from a kayak so once I am on location I assess my gear again before it goes in the water. Once I am in the water I get into my gear and once again assess it. I am still attached to the kayak at this point and can abort if something does not check out for some reason which has yet to happen. On the bottom, another checkout.

I do not think solo diving is for everyone. It takes a different mindset and level of confidence in yourself and your abilities to resolve the unknown or foreseen issue should it arise. If I had to buddy up with another diver then I would prefer to buddy with another solo diver. In my head they are better prepared, more level headed under trying situations and more likely to actually be able to be a "buddy".

That is just my .02

Matt

 

[Hatul]

I am a relatively new diver and also a solo diver. I was instructed to never dive alone yet I dive alone 90% of the time. I find having a buddy to be very distracting as I spend more of my time worrying about them, their location and their air than enjoying the dive. ...

...

Matt

The only thing I want to add is if you are solo diving you should carry a redundant air supply as you no longer have a buddy as a backup.

 

[Twisted Bones]

I have a spare air. Dont carry it on many dives as i am usually 2at or less. I am at my kayak at 500 psi. Some think thats a waste. I call it my security blanket. Theres another tank in the car if i need to go down again.just dont see the point in pushing my luck.

Matt

 

[Bob DBF]

Exactly what I was talking about. Not just "stay close to your buddy and check each other's gas, do equipment checks together before you jump in" but a full-on approach to where exactly one should be located to make sure you can see your buddy and the buddy can see you, how not to kick your buddy in the face,etc. These skills are not part of a regular OW class. How hard would it be to add these team building skills to OW? Probably not hard but the agencies would have to get involved with curriculum changes, because even the instructors don't know this stuff. Instructors in OW classes often don't even position themselves very well to see the class, opting for in front leading,which is a terrible position.

These skills are not part of a regular OW class now. Lets face it, how much common sense can an instructor impart to a student that does the bookwork online, comes in for a day in the pool, and is referred to a resort for certification?

When I finally had to get a card, we had 12 to 16 hours of class, with homework, 3 - 6 hour days in the pool, and 3 - 8 hour days at the ocean. This gives a lot more time for the instructor to cover information and the students to process the info and make informed questions of the instructor. Wham, Bam, thank you Mam has it's place, but that place is not in training.



Bob
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I may be old, but I'm not dead yet

 

[Kharon]

... we had 12 to 16 hours of class, with homework, 3 - 6 hour days in the pool, and 3 - 8 hour days at the ocean.

Same here - lots of theory, 4-6 pool days, 2-3 days of checkout in very cold murky water. And I was still not prepaired to be a good buddy nor a good diver. The only thing I was prepaired for was to begin really learning how to be a diver. It took practice to master the skills I was introduced to in training. Real buddy skill was not one of them. To really teach buddy skills covering possible situations and solutions adequately would nearly double the length of the class and probably overwhelm todays students. My solution would be to have todays OW be a learners permit with certification only after an additional buddy skill course. Of course that ain't gonna happen and very few would pay for it if it did. Maybe we should teach redundancy as part of OW. It would take less time.

 

[Twisted Bones]

I did 5 weeks of 2 nights a week 5-6 hours a night with pool time every night to practice what was discussed. We did a 4 hour class at a lake and then two days of OW dives in key largo for final certification. Even with that amount of time I did not feel adequate to be a buddy. What I needed was time on my own to become comfortable with my gear and memory train myself where everything iz at underwater sans goggles. That was very disconcerting at first but in just a dozen or so dives I was comfortable removing my goggles and running through my gear. I am to the point I can remove all my gear and get back in it without the freak sensation. There is no substitue for time and experience. I was offered the AOW class right after my OW class. I elected to wait and gain some self experience. I think when I go for my AOW in September I will be able to absorb more of the class as I am pretty well past my gearing and have taught myself some navigation. My thought on most OW classes is they are geared towards the tourist types who maybe dive a couple times a year. I get that from the class I was in. Out of 12 of us. I was the only one not getting certified for an up coming vacation. I got certified to escape society as many weekends as possible.


Matt

 

[Basking Ridge Diver]

I never thought about diving Solo till this year.
My son got OW certified and we took a trip up to Lake George for a week. We got in a single tank dive, had fun but he was done - thought fresh water diving was boring. I had two other tanks full of air and figured why not dive. First solo dive was on the Forward / Classroom - in about 35 feet of water - took the boat out and tied it up to mooring - checked and double checked my gear and went over with the family waiting for me. So I was very cautious but comfortable in the water. Then I realized this taboo thing is overrated. The next day I took it to 70 feet again solo and that is when I realized that I ought to have some gear that I did not own. Like a pony bottle - I backed up to about 35 feet and felt comfortable that I could reach the surface should anything happen.
When I got back from vacation I signed up for and took the Solo Diver class - knowing that I was taking risks that were not mine to take (I tell my wife all the time it is a safe activity). My last Solo Dive before the class was a night dive in the Shark River Inlet - A Street. Shark River was just before slack tide - and was because I could not find a buddy for that night.
All said and done - if you don't feel right - don't do it. If you mentally feel right and believe in your abilities and skills then perhaps you can try it - you can always abort the dive if you change your mind. Know your limits of how deep and how long - Plan the Dive + Dive the Plan. Be safe.
This works for me and the type of diving I do most...

 

[Twisted Bones]

Like mentioned above, know your limits. I have aborted a couple dives just because it didnt feel right. Paddled back to shore, sat and worked it out. I am a topwater jitters person. Once on the bottom I am good to go.

Matt

 

[CT-Rich]

I enjoy diving with others. It is a fun, social activity and when you find something cool or see something amazing, you have someone to share the experience with. Having said that, most of the insta-buddies that I have had, I could easily say that I am along for their protection. Unfortunately, most of the time, I think it has been a lopsided relationship. I can help them, but I really have low expectations of their abilities to help me, should I need it. Currently I have a couple of guys that I dive with, mostly for fun...

Thinking back on some of my early years, where I had the "you should never dive alone" mentality, I usually thought of the other guy as being there to notice I never got out of the water (not sure how many of them would have even notice, much less would have done anything anyway...). Otherwise, I would be relying on the park rangers to notice that my car was in lot overnight. Nowadays, I rely on my taking care of my own sh*t and plan on not inconveniencing the park rangers.

More than happy to buddy with Newbies, but I missed out on a lot of good dives for lack of a dive buddy.

Of course, I was well trained with a lot of dives under my belt before I started solo diving. A dive buddy does serve a valuable purpose when done properly. They watch your back while you watch theirs.... and you protect each other from the occasional brain fart.

---------- Post added September 4th, 2013 at 10:28 PM ----------

Like mentioned above, know your limits. I have aborted a couple dives just because it didnt feel right. Paddled back to shore, sat and worked it out. I am a topwater jitters person. Once on the bottom I am good to go.

Matt

Not sure I would be comfortable with you doing 90% of your dives solo with such a low number of dives. Especially with "topwater jitters" With so few dives, I could see you going into a situation without realizing it is beyond your limited experience. The spare air is probably worthless in a real emergency. It will give you perhaps 2-3 minutes of air. you can, however, use it for opening different kinds of nuts between dives.

Just my $0.02

 

[Kharon]

... The spare air is probably worthless in a real emergency. It will give you perhaps 2-3 minutes of air. you can, however, use it for opening different kinds of nuts between dives.

Just my $0.02

I've heard some instructors say the spare air is an accessory for those who want time to repent before they die.