MNScuba
Guest
I've just become curious lately as to what you consider acceptable in terms of how often you check to make sure your buddy is ok... To me, 30 seconds underwater if in panic mode would seem like an eternity.
Underwater Buddy Check...
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david.tolan
Contributor
I TRY to keep my buddy in my view at all times. If they are not in my view, I check every few seconds.
I've seen an OOA situation where another diver took my buddies Octopus cause his buddy was too far away.
If your buddy is behind you and OOA and you are finning away, not knowing he's in trouble then he's gonna have a hard time catching up.
If your buddy is prone to wander (get a new one) something to make noise, a rattle, or a ring that you can tap against a tank is useful. Once you hear a Tap Tap Tap everyone should check their buddy.
Dave
I've seen an OOA situation where another diver took my buddies Octopus cause his buddy was too far away.
If your buddy is behind you and OOA and you are finning away, not knowing he's in trouble then he's gonna have a hard time catching up.
If your buddy is prone to wander (get a new one) something to make noise, a rattle, or a ring that you can tap against a tank is useful. Once you hear a Tap Tap Tap everyone should check their buddy.
Dave
IMO, there needs to be constant awareness. Explicit communications (swapping 0k's) should just confirm what you already know. Getting divers to actually dive this way is, without doubt, one of the most difficult challanges I face as an instructor. When during a dive are you most likely to encounter trouble? I would say, during ascents and descents. How often do you see divers drop to the bottom at their own chosen speed then meet up (or not) to exchange ok's and start the dive. If the thinking part of your brain is busy diving you will not be aware of what is going on around you. Like whan driving a car, handling the car is automatic and your brain is free to watch trafic and read signs. The diving part need to be automatic because there are more important things for your brain to be doing.
if you lose awareness of your buddy, you need to regain it - immediately.
Its simply not acceptable to be swimming along thinking that he's behind you. The ONLY exception is if you're in some other kind of physical contact (e.g. swimming in low-vis inline with a line or other device between you, such as a deployed air-share)
If I lose situational awareness then it is incumbent on me to immediately regain it. If you don't do that then you're effectively diving solo, whether you have a "buddy" or not.
Its simply not acceptable to be swimming along thinking that he's behind you. The ONLY exception is if you're in some other kind of physical contact (e.g. swimming in low-vis inline with a line or other device between you, such as a deployed air-share)
If I lose situational awareness then it is incumbent on me to immediately regain it. If you don't do that then you're effectively diving solo, whether you have a "buddy" or not.
with Mike.
Constant contact... but ours is visual through the use of light beams from our HIDs. I know where Shane is, what he is looking at, how he is doing, the direction he is swimming... all while not directly seeing him and at times being a fair distance apart.
I also am immediately aware of when I for any reason quit seeing his beam... and if it is for more than a brief moment I turn and make visual contact with him... but we are usually very careful with our light beams and realize that it is our responsibility to have them where our buddy can see them.
If I want to look at something off to the side I signal Shane with my light and move my light in the direction I want to go.
If Shane wants to do a "buddy check" he draws a circle around my beam with his... he knows that is where I am looking... and I circle back... if I don't he establishes visual contact to see why I failed to respond.
If I want to pull and OOA on Shane I take my regulator out of my mouth and waggle my light back and forth vigorously in his direction... I try to flash it off of a piece of equipment if possible... for instance Saturday I did this at 100' while scootering.... I let Shane slip slightly ahead of me and off to the right about 20'... and then gave him the waggle on the back of his scooter.... he immediately turned around regulator extended to me and made sure that I had it before even getting in his backup reg.
Constant communication... and that is why I say the most important addition to my diving in the past few years has been the HID.... I would give up the BP/wings before I would give up the HID.
Constant contact... but ours is visual through the use of light beams from our HIDs. I know where Shane is, what he is looking at, how he is doing, the direction he is swimming... all while not directly seeing him and at times being a fair distance apart.
I also am immediately aware of when I for any reason quit seeing his beam... and if it is for more than a brief moment I turn and make visual contact with him... but we are usually very careful with our light beams and realize that it is our responsibility to have them where our buddy can see them.
If I want to look at something off to the side I signal Shane with my light and move my light in the direction I want to go.
If Shane wants to do a "buddy check" he draws a circle around my beam with his... he knows that is where I am looking... and I circle back... if I don't he establishes visual contact to see why I failed to respond.
If I want to pull and OOA on Shane I take my regulator out of my mouth and waggle my light back and forth vigorously in his direction... I try to flash it off of a piece of equipment if possible... for instance Saturday I did this at 100' while scootering.... I let Shane slip slightly ahead of me and off to the right about 20'... and then gave him the waggle on the back of his scooter.... he immediately turned around regulator extended to me and made sure that I had it before even getting in his backup reg.
Constant communication... and that is why I say the most important addition to my diving in the past few years has been the HID.... I would give up the BP/wings before I would give up the HID.
during OW diving in good vis and daylight?
My "regular" light isn't very visible during the daytime hours. I've seen the Light Cannon HIDs, and during my night dive training got to see a canister light HID in use, but that was at night, of course.
The Light Cannon was pretty cool during the daytime, but I still wonder if it would be anywhere near as obvious and useful as a signal in good vis and a non-overhead environment....
My "regular" light isn't very visible during the daytime hours. I've seen the Light Cannon HIDs, and during my night dive training got to see a canister light HID in use, but that was at night, of course.
The Light Cannon was pretty cool during the daytime, but I still wonder if it would be anywhere near as obvious and useful as a signal in good vis and a non-overhead environment....
Here in the PNW it is very rare to have viz and enough light to wash out the narrow beam of a focusable HID (forget the Light Cannon for signaling purposes.)
Though when Detroit Diver was out here we did one dive near Seattle with great viz and sunlight overhead and in only 30fsw it was difficult to spot the beams of the 10w HIDs. However even though it was not difficult to visually see one another I did notice a degraded communication from what I have come to enjoy in our usually darker waters.
BTW... and I know my post is somewhat regionally specific... this is the only time diving here in the PNW that I wished I had an 18w HID. At night a small Q40 would do the trick... but bright sunlight is another story... thankfully we don't get that often here
landlocked
Contributor
Did a night dive a couple weeks ago with my regular buddy. We specifically tried the light communication. I have to say that it worked great. I missed it during the next daytime dives. (Our lights are not bright enough for day time stuff) 
It did make it a lot easier to know what your buddy was doing and to point out things to look at. Thanks for the tip UP! 
It did make it a lot easier to know what your buddy was doing and to point out things to look at. Thanks for the tip UP! scuba_junkie
Guest
I always check for my buddy every few seconds... it only takes a second to look from one side, then up and to the other side, usually he will be there somewhere. If not, then I look down past my fins to see if he is swimming behind me. If I havent spotted him by then, I stop and have a better look around. About 99% of the time, the initial scan will let me know where he is. I think there was only one time that I had to stop and look around, and even in that instance he wasnt totally out of sight. We always try to stay together, and sort of take turns leading the other to check out the u/w sights.
Dive Safe!
Erich
Dive Safe!
Erich
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