The solo diving movement, a good idea?

[TMHeimer]

There seems to be a lot of disagreement on why people dive solo and about the reason being bad buddies. As long as the solo diver is comfortable and does it as safely as possible, who cares about said reasons?

 

[Michael Guerrero]

Because apparently there is a proper way.

 

[Dr. Lecter]

Because apparently there is a proper way.

There is not. You makes your choice and you takes your chances. Some of us are going to die while diving, either through dumb luck (less likely) or poor choices (more likely), whether buddied or solo. Unless it's someone you're expecting to be your buddy, however, it's an entirely personal choice as to which approach you think is more likely to result in your dive turning out the way you'd prefer.

 

[Kharon]

If I dive with a Buddy, I'm never diving alone.

As a generic statement that's delusional. With a buddy you have deep explicit experience with, probably correct.

Watch this re. the generic buddy team (Solo Diving- Coming out of the Closet on Vimeo)

 

[Tickler]

I have dove with some people that should never have been certified and I can guarantee that I would have been safer by myself than with them. I have no problem with solo divers as long as they have proper redundancies in place.

 

[Bob DBF]

I have no problem with solo divers as long as they have proper redundancies in place.

Since I'm the solo diver, as long as I choose what are proper redundancies, I have no problem with your statement.



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

 

[oldschoolto]

I see this thread is still ongoing... We are " ALL " solo divers... Unless you are a true dive team.... Then you are never out of arm's length of a team member... The buddy system gives a false sense of safety that's really not there.... IMHO.... As I've said before, I wouldn't buddy dive with most divers I've seen... Not even in a kiddie pool....

You best be ready to save your own ass....

Jim...

 

[MXGratefulDiver]

I see this thread is still ongoing... We are " ALL " solo divers... Unless you are a true dive team.... Then you are never out of arm's length of a team member... The buddy system gives a false sense of safety that's really not there.... IMHO.... As I've said before, I wouldn't buddy dive with most divers I've seen... Not even in a kiddie pool....

You best be ready to save your own ass....

Jim...

Nah ... there's some misconceptions there. We are most certainly not ALL solo divers ... I know many people who are committed to diving as a team that are anything but solo diving.

I think it more accurate to say you've never dived with anyone like that ... or at least you've never given yourself the chance to make that commitment. But they're out there ... functioning quite well as a team. And diving with those people can be pure joy when you're on the same page.

I love to solo dive. I also love diving with a whole bunch of people who I trust without hesitation would be right on top of it if I never needed them to pull me out of a bad situation. Several of those people are former students ... so I know exactly what they're capable of ... there's no false sense of safety at all when we dive together.

Buddy diving involves a commitment to the concept of our dive rather than my dive. If you have any hesitation making that commitment, then you are not really buddy diving ... although you may be in the water in the proximity of another diver. If that's you, then certainly you should be prepared for some self-sufficiency .. because that style of diving feeds a sense of independence that defeats the whole point of a buddy.

Diving is very habitual ... we develop and rely on behaviors based on how we dive and how we look at diving. I find that the more I solo dive, the harder it becomes for me to make that mental commitment, and to rely on learned behaviors to be a part of a team. It's one potential "gotchya" you need to be aware of if you want to dive solo ... you'll develop habits that are not conducive to diving with other divers. Making a mental commitment to one or the other style of diving is much easier than developing habits that work well for both. It can be done ... but it's not as simple as flipping a mental "switch".

If you're not prepared to make the commitment to developing good habits as a dive buddy, then yes ... you'd best be ready to save your own ass. Because team diving involves a two-way relationship that won't work if only one of the divers is ready to make the commitment. And in that case, no matter how close you are to each other, you're diving alone ...

... Bob (Grateful Diver)

 

[Mike]

Uh, excuse me, I have had very few bad buddies and my wife is an excellent diver. I am also an excellent buddy to team with. I simply like being alone. So you are mistaken as this is the motivation of most solo divers, not bad buddies or even lack of buddies.

N

Re-read what I wrote then comment correctly. You're absolutely replying about something totally irrelevant to anything I said.

If I dive with a Buddy, I'm never diving alone.



If you dive with a Buddy properly (and they with you) task loading isn't a factor. If you can't handle the level of task loading to dive with a Buddy, you shouldn't be in the water in the first place.



It doesn't matter how many signals you know or don't know as long as you can communicate with your Buddy. Whatever signals you use are covered in the predive. You both dive prepared.



You don't dive without answering these and other concerns.



I have personally experienced system malfunctions on several occasions with properly maintained equipment (including running OOA when my SPG registered 800 psi). If it's mechanical, it's just a matter of time before it breaks. That's just a fact of life.



As is your right. When it comes down to it, it all comes down to personal preference.

So right. And shines the light on exactly what I said. Every excuse given about buddy failure, as you showed points back to lack of communication predive and then wondering why it's two people diving in the same ocean and nothing more.

even the most aware buddy in the world will be doing well to be actively observing you for 50% of the time.

set up for solo diving and anything else is a bonus.

Safety diving as a buddy team does not require 50% of your dive time being spent with eyes locked on a buddy. Like a pilot's eyes moving periodically to his instruments and making a scan then returning to the sky, that's all it takes on your buddy, a trained, periodic glance toward your buddy on an interval, and staying within distance of 1 breath of your buddy. That's a very little time commitment of your dive.

 

[Tickler]

Since I'm the solo diver, as long as I choose what are proper redundancies, I have no problem with your statement.



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

I get what you are saying but if you use this argument then it could also be used for aspects of diving. "I am not hurting anyone else by going beyond my training so why should others care?"

I do think there should be standards in solo diving.