What Is A Solo Dive?

[Afraid_of_Fish]

This is the problem with a solo dive forum.........

We can't even agree on what a solo dive is.

The only thing we can agree on is "It's okay for me to do it but nodody else".

 

[DA Aquamaster]

Part of my point in the original post is that a lot of dives end up becoming solo dives even if they aren't started as such. I spend more time in quarries than any other enviroment. As vis can change in a matter of feet I am mentally prepared to finish every dive alone. Too many times we may start as a group but never finish as one. Maybe instead of the tendancies of most rec training agencies to in a sense prohibit or deny the existance of sole diving they should at least make solo skills part of their training.

I agree with you as sometimes the conditions are not conducive to safely keeping buddy teams together. For example when I started diving, one of the usual dive sites was a tailrace below a hydro electric dam. When visibility was good maintaining a buddy team was not a problem. But when conditions were bad with, for example, a 5 kt current and 5 ft visibility, it could be nearly impossible to keep a buddy team together unless the only focus of the dive was staying together - and then what is the point of diving?

Surfacing to regroup was problematic as your speed down river increased once off the bottom and getting together on the surface was often time consuming given eddies, and differences in the speed and direction of the currents encountered by both divers. The end result was often a problem hitting your exit point which could often mean a LONG walk back.

The local divers' solution to the problem was to ignore the agency prohibition against solo diving, start the dive together, have each diver do their own planning and navigation and if separated, proceed solo and meet at the exit point for the ride back up river for another run.

Grabbing a rock in a strong current and in low viz to collect a snagged fishing lure meant instant separation. But I paid for most of my first and second sets of scuba equipment selling lures to fishing guides in the area, so I did primarily solo diving for the first several years I dove.

The opposing point of view however is that divers should not be diving in conditions where buddy teams cannot be maintained and that are by definition unsafe. And there is the related perception that if a separation occurs, one or more of the divers is at fault, irresponsible, unskilled, etc.

The safety argument does not really wash though in my opinion as in the 20 years I have been diving and solo diving the river below that particular dam and in the 30 plus years that other divers have been doing it, there has been only one fatality and that was a result of a diver getting tangled in his dive flag line (another manadatory "safety" requirement). In his case he was not solo, but his buddy was unable to get back upstream against the current to assist anyway.

 

[DA Aquamaster]

This is the problem with a solo dive forum.........

We can't even agree on what a solo dive is.

The only thing we can agree on is "It's okay for me to do it but nodody else".

That is not really a conflict or a problem. The concept of personal responsibility is at the core of solo diving. Every solo diver needs to be personally responsible for all aspects of the dive from planning, evaluating the conditions and his/her abilties and making the go/no go decision, to excecuting the dive, to dealing with any problems that may develop and to self rescue if required.

As a solo diver, I am not going to expect or let anyone else dictate what is safe or acceptable for me or determine what is or is not within my capabilities as I am the ultimate authority on what I am capable of doing safely on a particular day in a particular set of circumstances and the ultimate responsibility for my decisions will rest soley with me.

In the same fashion, I am certainly not going to force my opinion or judgements on any other solo diver as that is their call to make.

So yes...it is entirely normal for a solo diver to say "it's ok for me, but maybe not for you".

 

[Scuba]

When or at what point does a team dive become a solo dive?

You become a solo diver, whether you intended it or not, when you have no one who you can effectively signal if you become in need of assistance and that individual can provide
effective assistance in a reasonable amount of time.

I think for the purposes of defining solo diving, cortez's definition is right on. Intent is a fact that has to be considered.

What differentiates the explanation above from a solo dive, is that it arises out of team failure. There is an expectation of assisstance from others that suddenly disappears. Such, does not exist during a solo dive.

It could be said that - buddy's could end up alone, involuntarily. This event can not happen in a solo dive, as it begins, progressess, and ends with one diver alone - solo.

Put another way, the buddy divers who involuntarily find themselves alone are dealing with an error - not so for a true solo diver.

So, in my opinion, we need to recognize the fundametal differences which exist here. Thus, a buddy team seperation will result in divers being alone, but these divers will approach this event differently than if they had entered alone - because of intent. (plan)

So, all solo divers dive alone, but, not all divers who find themselves alone - are solo divers diving solo.

Not trying to confuse. But I see a distinction that is useful in differentiating buddy and solo diving.

If you accept this definition, then, a team dive becomes a solo dive - when it is pre-planned as such and seperation occurs according to plan. I would not include brief planned seperation as in the example given by MikeFerrara, since there is knowledge of buddy location and actions and assisstance can be expected.

 

[stingray1]

That is because you have not heeded the proper training you received in how to MAINTAIN buddy contact. With touch or a buddy line if necessary.

They do provide solo skills: as a buddy-trained diver without redundant air source and emergency management skills, your solo training was to look for your buddy for 1 minute and then go to the surface where you will be safer given your current skills and equipment.

theskull

I'm glad that I always plan on diving solo even if I start out with 3 buddies so when my buddies tend to forget about me on a decend for 100 ft dives (I decend slower than most), I can just go on about my merry little dive. Grin Bill.:11:

 

[Afraid_of_Fish]

That is not really a conflict or a problem. The concept of personal responsibility is at the core of solo diving. Every solo diver needs to be personally responsible for all aspects of the dive from planning, evaluating the conditions and his/her abilties and making the go/no go decision, to excecuting the dive, to dealing with any problems that may develop and to self rescue if required.

Well I agree that it is each diver's own responsibilty to take care of themselves, and be able to make the call to end a dive, but there seems to be some difference of opinion on what constitutes as a solo-dive.

As a solo diver, I am not going to expect or let anyone else dictate what is safe or acceptable for me or determine what is or is not within my capabilities as I am the ultimate authority on what I am capable of doing safely on a particular day in a particular set of circumstances and the ultimate responsibility for my decisions will rest soley with me.

As it should, whether the outcome be good or bad. I would never preach to anyone about diving solo, though I advise against it, and I would certainly never do it. But then, I noticed you have more experience than I do.

So yes...it is entirely normal for a solo diver to say "it's ok for me, but maybe not for you"

Normal but hypocritical. Who is someone else to say what your capabilities are? Once you are certified make your own decisions, and be prepared to take whatever consequences there are.




my point is this: If want to wander off away from your buddy, or if you step off the boat alone, know what could happen, and know your limits. Don't go on a solo-dive if you only have two others logged. It's different with experience. If your buddy wanders away from you, and you do not end the dive, the censequences are your own. Accidents do happen.


<33 Jess

 

[cortez]

... is that it arises out of team failure. There is an expectation of assisstance from others that suddenly disappears. Such, does not exist during a solo dive.

Thank you. I have been trying to think of a way to say just that. Team failure and the expectation of assistance from others are key differentiating factors between a buddy dive gone astray and a solo dive. At least in my opinion.

 

[PRL]

To me a Solo dive is a dive where I am aware that no one has the responsibility of being my redundant system and I am not expected to be anyone elses.
Very often I dive with divers that have much less experience than me and we often dive to their limits so I don't count on their help and am prepared as a Solo diver with redundant systems, my buddies know this. But I don't concider my self as a Solo diver at the time because my buddy still expects assistance from me if he runs into trouble.
I dont think that an instructor is a solo diver for the same reason, his/her students depend on their help.

 

[alcina]

Virtually every dive I do is what I class a solo dive.

I have a quick question...I always have surface support when I dive (bar the 30 minutes DH usually is underwater, too ) and all of my diving is from a boat; can't remember the last time I had to shore dive.

I seem to see a lot of you that dive without surface support. In your definition is it a solo dive if you have surface support?

 

[jagfish]

I'm not in the camp that sees Solo diving as a back and white issue. One poster here claimed that instructors are defacto Solo. Others say that if your buddy is far enough away to preclude imediate assistance, this is solo.

I think that many of the situations posters have described are not truly solo, but someting like "semi-solo". While open water students might not be able to give the full range of assistance that an experienced diver would, they could certainly be a source of air, or detanglement, or surface help should the instructor have a heart attack, or get hit by a boat, or have trouble on a exit. Same thing with a buddy that is not right there.

In my book, these situations are not in the same league as being at a dive-site all alone as you plan and execute a dive with virtually no possibility of any assistance from another individual.