Threesomes - yea or nay? And why?

[Scuba.com]

A three person team or a four person team what's the difference really? In an open water situation, as long as the divers are self reliant and self aware, then your group can be bigger or smaller as the case may be.

For more technical dives with detailed dive plans, then perhaps you get into a situation where less is more, but for recreational fun diving, is there really a problem with a few people diving together??

 

[Storker]

I personally think threesome is optimal [...] It requires specific protocols and procedures though

Since those protocols and procedures weren't covered in my training (PADI OW & AOW), where can I find info on them? Except for the designation of center diver/navigator, what's different from a two-person team?

 

[AlexL]

my regular buddy wanted to end the dive, I concurred, turned to the third guy and signaled that we were surfacing. He just signaled OK and that he'd be continuing the dive.

that doesn't sound like a three person team diving, more of a buddy team with a solo third wheel. which isnt a 'bad' thing, just ... different. the thumb is a non negotiable signal to other members of a dive team, no matter the member count (unless explicitly discussed and planned for during the dive brief).

 

[Soggy_Diver]

I think it depends on the divers.

If they have good buddy skills and are safety-oriented, a threesome is great--twice as many people to help in an emergency.

If they have poor buddy skills and are not safety-oriented, a threesome is terrible--twice as many people to rescue in an emergency.

 

[DivemasterDennis]

I would add that planning the dive and diving the plan is more important that the number of divers in the "team." I also think team is the right word. Jumping in the water and descending at about the same time is not all there is to being a good buddy as one of 2 or one of three. Some divers think that if they remain in the same ocean as their buddy(s) they are being a good buddy. I will dive in a three some, but before I do, we all go over the plan for the dive, the proximity expectations, communications, and emphasize who will lead the dive. If Debbie and I meet a third person without a buddy who will follow our protocols and be a true buddy as far as proximity and awareness of one another is concerned, we are happy to have them join us.
DivemasterDennis

 

[Bob DBF]

Since other people here obviously don't like diving in threes, I'd really like to hear why. I've been racking my mind, and frankly, I can't think of any huge objections to a practice like the one I've described here.

From the practices you describe I see no problem with diving with three. The problem is when a diver doesn't feel obligated to be a member of the team and a buddy to both other divers, get a couple of divers thinking that way and things can go badly.

Only one occasion caused me some concern: my regular buddy wanted to end the dive, I concurred, turned to the third guy and signaled that we were surfacing. He just signaled OK and that he'd be continuing the dive. Not being comfortable with solo diving, I didn't have a good feeling about that, but on the other hand, he was rather experienced and AFAIK had been diving solo on a number of previous occasions.

I have no problem with solo diving and no problem with him continuing, as long as it is part of the dive plan before the splash. In your position I would decline adding him to your team in the future, if he asks why, you could tell him.



Bob
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I honestly feel I'm a better diver now. I learned to respect the ocean the hard way. One swallow at a time. Mark Derail

 

[DevonDiver]

A three person team or a four person team what's the difference really?

In terms of ideal protocols and procedures, this can be substantial. Two grouped buddy teams, or a single group of 3; who have to fight any ingrain behavior to gravitate to a single, preferred, buddy at the exclusion of the other.

Communication, support, formation, priority of reaction... they're all factors than can shift depending upon group dynamics..

For overhead environment, 4-person teams have distinct disadvantages... particularly in ensuring team cohesion.

 

[BUDMANOK]

thrown together means the same thing as a insta-buddy

 

[boulderjohn]

I had no idea there was a supposed problem with 3-man teams until I read it in that thread.

 

[dumpsterDiver]

I often dives in threesomes. I think there is real value in team diving. But, I guess I can understand a possible 'reluctance' to dive in threes, under certain very specific conditions - i.e. when an established buddy pair is getting ready to start a dive where they have a particular plan, objective, or mission, and they are assigned, or asked to accept, a third 'buddy-less' diver, with whom they are unfamiliar. I have seen this happen on boats (and had it happen to me, in fact). The third diver may have different skills (worse OR better), may have a different way of signaling underwater, may have a different style of being a buddy (swimming so close that s/he frequently bumps into another team member, or swimming off without any signal as to why, etc. That doesn't make the third diver a 'bad' diver, just different and possibly requires the established pair to change their plan

Some years ago, my son and I were diving on one of the three German U-boats sunk off the NC cost during WW2, and probably the most difficult one to dive, in terms of getting on the site under good conditions. We accepted a third diver as a buddy right before we splashed - someone who was part of the larger shop charter group, but with whom we had no familiarity, and who had no buddy.

We happened to hit the wreck that day under ideal conditions, with great visibility, no current, the sand not covering the wreck as it often does, etc. Our plan was to swim around the wreck first to get a big picture, then explore specific areas of interest. Before the three of us had even done one initial circumnavigation of the (small) wreck, our 'third wheel' signals that he is low on air and is going to ascend. We are at 115 feet, he shows me his gauge and he is down to 500 PSI on his AL80! My son and I had plenty of gas left in out HP 120s. What to do - signal to him to go up alone and wave bye-bye, or end the dive and ascend with him just in case he goes OOA on the ascent. It was the first day of a two-day charter that was going to take us back to the same wreck the next day, I felt uncomfortable -as a BUDDY - leaving him to his own devices and a solo ascent, given how he apparently blew through his gas supply, so I signaled my son that we would ascend with this third diver. My son gave me our established 'WTF' signal, but ascended with us. On the boat, I told my son (in private) that I felt a certain obligation to the third diver but that we would NOT dive in a threesome the next day. Of course, the next day, we were blown out, and didn't get back to the wreck. Eight years later I still have not been able to get back on that wreck.

The issue for me is NOT the number (2, 3, 4), it is the incorporation of an unknown into a known group. It isn't the end of the world, just a possible inconvenience.

WHY would you willingly accept a third diver with a much, much smaller tank on a deep dive and be surprised when he runs low? Wouldn't you discuss this before splashing and tell him he is going up alone.. or tell your son that you are both probably going up early?