Thinking to solo dive ???

[spectrum]

Rick,

Are you a poet on the side? That captures so much so well.

Thanks,
Pete

 

[dkktsunami]

Rick, You express my feelings on this subject perfectly ..... great job. Dave

 

[MikeFerrara]

I think it's pretty common knowledge that divers are usually alone when they die on a dive.

really? I am sure you probably know better than I, but I would not have guessed that. Most of the divers I have seen/heard of die are heart attacks and they have a buddy. (unless you are counting freedivers)

I think if you review the information on accidents you can find, including our own accident forum, you'll see that the dead diver is almost always "found"...or not found. Rarely is there an eye witness to the divers final moments whether or not they started out with a buddy.

Buddy seperation figures prominently in dive accidents. I'm not saying that the buddy seperation is the cause but divers often fail to stay together when there is a problem.

I think you'll find plenty of examples in recent accidents alone.

 

[fisherdvm]

I agree Mike. The Dan statistics seems to be quite consistant over the years. I do not believe that an MI (heart attack) is the common cause, but rather it is simply drowning or some barotrauma. I think if agencies put more focus on buddy diving skills, and force divers to get training to rescue level, we will have alot less buddy separation or preventable diver death. Unfortunately, this would likely put a big bite on the diving industry and economy.

 

[GDI]

Bob good thread here, Rick, Mike good post/points as well.

I would like to illustrate a point by siting the following example. Picture if you will an older couple having been married for several years. They take to the dance floor and for that moment they impress all the others around them because they appear to be in perfect sync. This in-sync is developed over the many years they have shared. They come to know each others moves and nuances of communication. Things are anticipated and adjusted to before they occur. Their dance has a poeticness to it that requires very little if any rehearsal. From the moment they hear the music and decide to dance to its rythmn, they are in-sync.
This in-sync would be the same for a good team of divers who have learned their buddies. their strength and weaknesses and dive limitations. This takes time and continued diving, together. I share such a relationship with divers such as Gilles and FGray1. There are other divers whom I have not made dives with for many years up until this past year and from the moment we hit the water it seemed like old times, immediately we were in-sync. The comminication, buddy positioning and posture all fell into place. So much so that I feel if these divers were to dive with divers like FGray1 or Gilless that I beleive they would have little problem being an effective buddy team and would only improve quickly even more so within a few dives.
Each of the divers I know mentioned above all share a common approach. When in a buddy team they ensure the buddy system in all capacities. Yet each of them has the ability to dive solo at any given time. That is they always dive solo as far as their sole responsibility and make buddy diving a social activity.
Over repeated dives with the same diver they have worked to the in-sync required to minimize the efforts and in time this becomes and remains natural. But they never do so becoming complacent with it. With new buddy divers they focus on buddy procedures developing this in-sync comfort to diving.

To summarize: Dives should always be conducted as a solo responsibility where the diver can and is prepared to handle the environmental situations as they occur whether diving as a team or as an actual solo diver.

I like it when I as part of a dive team need only take a look at the other diver and come to know what needs to be actioned, but by the same accord I appreciate the fact that I do not rely on that buddy for my safety and they not rely on me for theirs.

 

[Rick Inman]

Rick,

Are you a poet on the side?

Sure.

There once was a girl singapore...

 

[MikeFerrara]

I agree Mike. The Dan statistics seems to be quite consistant over the years. I do not believe that an MI (heart attack) is the common cause, but rather it is simply drowning or some barotrauma. I think if agencies put more focus on buddy diving skills, and force divers to get training to rescue level, we will have alot less buddy separation or preventable diver death. Unfortunately, this would likely put a big bite on the diving industry and economy.

An awful lot of it is just bad habits. How often do we read of accidents where a diver having problems aborts the dive and heads for the surface alone while the buddy continues the dive and the diver is later "found"? The buddy seperation may or may not be part of the cause and the buddy may or may not have been able to prevent the death or injury.

Seperations during ascents and descent (whether intentional or accidental) show up a lot in dive accidents.

 

[Dr MT]

Why did the solo diver you referenced get pulled out of the water?

I solo dive often; even got the C card. That and 5 bucks will get you a mocha someplaces. Did it because I wanted to know what is actually taught.
Learned lots of useful things.

Some things I was taught and rules I follow. Completely redundant air source of at least 20 cft. A spare air type device is not enough. Adhere to recreational OW no deco limits. I dive an 80 foot END.

 

[Rick Murchison]

There is specific additional risk in solo diving that can only be mitigated by a buddy. All other things being equal,
(1) if the solo diver suffers a debilitating event (heart attack, stroke, convulsion, injury) they die.
(2) if the solo diver gets trapped underwater, they die.
This additional risk is often rationalized away in some most entertaining twists of logic, relegated to a footnote, or outright ignored.
I like to get it up front and out in the open.
I'm not saying you shouldn't ever dive solo... I am saying that you must be aware of and accept the additional risk of doing so. I do, from time to time.
The last friend I lost to a diving mishap drowned and died in six feet of water; had a buddy been there to haul him out he may have survived... maybe not, but since he was solo we'll never know.
--
Insta-buddies... just remember, every time you get an insta-buddy, you are an insta-buddy too
Rick

 

[nereas]

This is when one of the very worst threats to divers can come into play...Complacency.

Complacency is indeed a great hazard, which I always try to eliminate by detailed preparation and visualization of all events related to the dive.

Ultimately I believe it was complacency that was the cause of the fatalities of many accomplished solo divers, both on open circuit and closed.