The solo diving movement, a good idea?

[Dr. Lecter]

The point of my post was that solo training is not something new or a skill set unknown to other diveing groups. Thre was no slam intended to the dedicated buddie divers that i assume you allude to. Its nothing to take personal. My point was that the techies, DIR's and the many flavors have chose to adopt skills that are similar tr the same as self relient skills not for diving without a buddy but to enhance buddy diving.

Understood, but as worded your post explictly stated that technically trained divers, while inherently self-reliant, ever and always were buddy/team oriented. That's simply not the case; indeed, technical diving started as being an inherently solo activity because a buddy was more of a liability when deep on air than an asset.

Now, with helium being pushed for so many dives that some agencies demand it within recreational depths and DIR-minded tech instruction being quite common, there's much more of a team focus in tech training and diving. But by no means is that always true, and plenty of tech trained divers still view buddies as net liabilities and dive accordingly.

 

[TMHeimer]

Can't find anything to disagree with in the last half dozen posts. And of course, you can't get into the statistic thing such as diving vs. driving or dogs bites. Too many factors.

 

[chillyinCanada]

Hard to get a dog bite while diving.

 

[Doc Harry]

Solo diving is dangerous beyond belief and it should be outlawed. Only suicidal crazy people dive alone. Even the phrase "solo diving" should be banned from the Internet. Diving with an Insta-Buddy is infintely safer than diving alone, even for a properly-trained solo diver.

 

[drrich2]

Many auto malfunctions can be solved by simply coasting to the side of the road. Very few situations in driving would require or benefit from the assistance of a second person. And the act of driving itself does not impair your ability to think. I do not think the two situations are comparable at all.

Many diving malfunctions can be dealt with by, if necessary, swimming up top (even if you have to ditch weights or do a CESA for some reason), which is analogous to pulling over to the side of the road (which can be dangerous depending on speed, traffic, whether there's a road shoulder, etc...).

It's worth emphasizing that SDI recommends soloing not include deco., penetration or pinnacle dives. Now, while I understand some solo people do go beyond the recommended limits, even to the point of cave diving, when many solo fans talk about solo diving, we're talking about non-overhead recreational dives within NDLs and within our comfort zone.

I'm not dissing people who solo tec. dive; just pointing out not all solo diving is the same thing.

As for risk assessment, consider this. A pair of new OW divers, who got their cert.s at a local quarry back home and have no 'post-cert.' dives, take a week long trip to Bonaire and get in 16 shore dives, all on the west cost, none over 80 feet deep, most around 40-50' max. No one will gripe about about their trip, criticize their diving as reckless or excessively risky, etc...

Now, a guy with 100 dives, probably OW, AOW & Nitrox (likely Rescue, for lets say not) take the SDI Solo course & picks up a few more dives as part of the training. He goes to Bonaire, has the proper solo gear, and dose the same 16 shore dives.

There's no way to know for certain, but guessing, who's more likely to get seriously hurt or die? One of the pair, or the solo guy?

Richard.

 

[DaleC]

Back a couple of years ago, my husband and I did a few days of diving with a fellow who goes by Charlie99 here on SB (he's not here much any more, but he used to be). Charlie's primarily a solo diver and has no DIR-type training at all. But he was a GOOD diver, and we thoroughly enjoyed diving with him, and would happily do it again.

My example of the GUE world was not intended to say that that's the only place you can find a good buddy. It was intended as an example of the fact that good buddies EXIST, and that if you are using bad buddies as a reason to dive solo, maybe you just need to find better buddies.

DaleC, that would royally annoy me -- and if there were ever a time when I would consider diving solo, such a situation would be it!

It happens (somewhat frequently) because, like you, I put myself out there with my club as someone who will do basic dives with beginners and not just dives within my cliche.


My move into solo diving began quite early and ran concurrent with buddy diving. Partly because I am somewhat wired that way. Not an adrenaline fueled thrill seeker as some might think but rather because I am somewhat patient, studious and have a degree of self discipline. I'm also into Bonsai and have one 18" tree I've been taking care of for 20 years so far. Snore.....

I also have my own agenda when it comes to diving which does not jibe with most of my fellows (whom I really enjoy the company of). I like the ability to achieve my own goals.

Being a solo diver also doesn't mean you aren't occasionally going to be a good buddy too. Next week I am off to Port Hardy with some friends and one of them and I have already decided to form a buddy team. We work well together. He is big into his photography and we have already discussed how he will focus on that and I will focus on him - being his wing man more than conducting my own dive per se. This is ok by me as I will see what he sees and get good pics from him to boot (without having to buy a $5000 camera)! One reason that works is he knows he can focus on shooting and not worry about me.

Solo is not for everyone. We all have different goals, aptitudes, expectations and temperaments. For some it works, for others it doesn't. I would suck at ratio deco as I struggle with even simple arithmetic.

 

[Bob DBF]

The "solo diving movement" is just the the diving agencies changing their stance so they have more product for sale to the public. The hoopla is due to trying to reconcile this with their original training.

My first dive in 1963 was solo, the second dive I practiced buddy breathing, double hose, using the one rig available in case I ever had a buddy. Over the intervening years I have done a lot of solo and it has only been more recently that it has even come up as an issue.

The same skills needed to be a good solo diver will also make you a good buddy or a good team diver. The difference is how much you are willing to be a buddy or part of a team.


Bob
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The most important thing to plan when solo diving is to make sure that you are not diving with an idiot. Dsix36

 

[nimoh]

The most important thing to plan when solo diving is to make sure that you are not diving with an idiot. Dsix36

that is a great quote

 

[ka5ysy]

Good morning all...

This is an interesting thread, and I just spent an hour reading through it all. One of the basic themes of this discussion is that just because you are "certified", you may not be "qualified" for the dive you are proposing to do. Having a stack of cards does not make you qualified for a particular situation, or conditions on a particular day.

One of the interesting things about current training for most rescue courses is that all emphasize not placing yourself, as rescuer, into a position to become injured yourself. In other words, situational awareness. Solo diving requires preparation just as flying aircraft or any number of other activities. Motorcycle training is something else I do, and we emphasize to always have Plan "B", "C", and "D" available when Plan "A" goes in the toilet. Murphy is as active in motorcycles and flying as in diving! The choice of solo vs. buddy diving is quite personal, and to quote Inspector "Dirty Harry" Callahan, "A good man always knows his limitations...".

The DIR style training emphasizes self-reliance and standardized equipment layouts so everyone is on the same page with gear layouts, as well as teamwork. It is a fun thing to take such classes, and just like an aircraft check ride, it affords a diver the chance to have an instructor look at and correct any bad habits or problematic equipment setups that you might not be aware of.

Divers Alert Network (DAN) has recently instituted an incident reporting system in which divers can get online and report any kind of diving related accident/incident. We are attempting to obtain actual data which can be useful to divers in determining what is causing diving accidents, and possible steps to avoid the situations. Participation by all divers will help this research make this as safe a sport as possible, and we would appreciate your input to the system for anything you observe.

The direct link to page is here:

https://www.diversalertnetwork.org/diving-incidents/

Click on the "Report a Diving Incident" panel and enter the data. There is also case summaries and other interesting information accessible from this page everyone will find very educational.

For those not DAN members, this, and much of the site, is available to all divers, but please consider joining DAN.

Be safe out there !

Doug Stracener
Chairman, DAN America

 

[McGlencoe]

I think that the instructors hard stance on "Never Dive without a buddy" and not teaching self reliance is like trying to teach teens abstinence and not teaching them about birth control.

Well said...



I wonder if all the rhetoric (maybe a bad word choice) about absolutely having to have a buddy has actually made many people more dependant on needing a buddy?