Who takes lead???

Who Leads?

  • The New Guy?

    Votes: 8 23.5%
  • The Old Guy?

    Votes: 14 41.2%
  • Not Me!!!

    Votes: 3 8.8%
  • Me, Definately!

    Votes: 9 26.5%

  • Total voters
    34
  • Poll closed .

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Seabear70

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Who leads?

It is next to imposible for both divers to watch each other and keep a look out on the environment at the same time. And someone has to decide how to proceede on matters. So the person who is in the lead will often be paying attention to what is in front of them, and the person in the rear is then left unguarded against accident.

I realize that if you dive with someone long enough you develop an ability to keep pace with each other and make decisions simultaneously. Which is great, as a side note, watch a couple of guys who have reached this point walk through a mall, it is a wierd kind of ballet. But if you are not that familliar with your buddy, one is gonna lead neccessitating the taking attention off of the buddy.

Normally this will be the most experienced or agressive diver which often leaves the least experienced diver to look out for himself. Or perhaps things should be switched so the least experienced diver leads, unfortunately that may mean that they do not pay close attention to depth, air, etc.

Who should lead?
 
Depends upon who knows the site best. As I am good with my navigation skills I often wind up in the lead. I also will turn the lead over to a newer diver on the return trip (while keeping my own eye on the compass) as this helps them to develop into better divers when they have to take the lead. They learn more. If there is a photographer in the group, I usally will have them lead from the start because they are always stopping and if they are in a trail position you don't know it. With them leading, then when they stop, you stop.
 
1) In an emergency the compromised diver is in the lead. That is the one who is experiencing the problem. For instance in an OOA with a diver on his buddy's long hose the OOA diver proceeds ahead of the donating diver. That way the donating diver can't accidently swim faster and pull the reg from the OOA's mouth. Similarly in a situation where you have a diver compromised by inexperience or being a weaker swimmer they should be in the *lead* if you need to go single file one in front of the other.

2) Diving under normal conditions it is better to go side by side rather than follow the leader. Conditions dictate how close you would be but visual contact should always be possible and it is the responsibility of both buddies to not only maintain periodic visual contact on each other but to make sure that they can be seen by their buddy as well. To position yourself above and behind allows you to see your buddy but doesn't allow them to see you without turning around... therefore it is the position of irresponsibility IMO.

3) HID divelights with a tightly focused beam greatly facilitate number 2 above. It isn't necessary to continually turn the head and look to the side to see your buddy. All you need to see is the beam of their HID light. Diving with this kind of passive communication makes buddy diving not only much easier but actually meaningful. It is the responsibility of all divers in the team to make sure that their HID beam is in the field of view of the other team members and that it is not handled in such a way as to give off erratic and misleading signals.
 
pasley:
Depends upon who knows the site best. As I am good with my navigation skills I often wind up in the lead. I also will turn the lead over to a newer diver on the return trip (while keeping my own eye on the compass) as this helps them to develop into better divers when they have to take the lead.
Pasley expresses my own experience well. For instance, when I visited Australia and dove the Sydney heads, my buddy (a local) led on the first dive and allowed me to lead on the second. When I buddied up here in Oregon with a visitor from back East, I navigated, but I asked him to lead on half the dives.

So I'd guess I'd answer "the old guy", but with reservations. I'd prefer to see an option along the lines of "The local guy, unless he's mentoring."

Fin on,
Bryan
 
uncle pug:
That way the donating diver can accidently swim faster and pull the reg from the OOA mouth.
uncle pug, is this a typo?
 
Uncle Pug:
2) Diving under normal conditions it is better to go side by side rather than follow the leader.
I prefer that arrangement, but in my imited experience one of us still agrees to be the "leader" and that does not specify our relative positions. I prefer to agree on lead, positions, and maximum separation as separate issues before a dive.

Fin on,
Bryan
 
uncle Pug:
2) Diving under normal conditions it is better to go side by side rather than follow the leader.
And now that I've responded, it occurs to me that maybe a well-practiced buddy team can function more as a team than as a leader and a follower. Sounds great. Gottat get me summathat.
 
eponym:
So I'd guess I'd answer "the old guy", but with reservations. I'd prefer to see an option along the lines of "The local guy, unless he's mentoring."

Fin on,
Bryan

Well, using the term Old guy was meant o be funny, I should have been a little more exact. Basicly I meant the diver with the most experience.

That could I suppose be broken dow into a list of local and general experience, but then we get into problems of balancing those out and deciding if the guy wit 300 dives has more experience than the guy with 20 when the guy with 20 has done 10 of them at the dive site and the experienced diver has never been there.
 
Yes that was a typo... I was busy correcting it while you were busy finding it. I usually type fast, post and then go back and proof read. :D

As suggested in the openning post I suspect most folks don't consider leader, position and separation as three distinct issues. Most folks I see leading (other buddy teams) are out in front and it is usually the more aggressive/stronger diver who is *leading*. This means that the poor following diver spends the whole dive huffing and chuffing playing catch up.

Now on a side by side arrangement the with an experienced diver *leading* and a inexperienced diver *following* visual contact must be more frequently established... maybe even semi-constant. Hand signals (in the absence of HID lights) may be used to give direction, ask questions and signal intentions... and this communication can go both ways. The leader is merely in control of the ultimate goals of the dive.
 
Most of the time my dive buddies expect me to lead the dive due to my experience. That does not mean that I leave them behind. I usually guide them as we swim together. When I'm the leader I feel a greater obligation to my dive buddy becasue I feel it is my duty to make sure they don't lose track of me. Swimming off ahead of your buddy is not leadership it's selfishness.
 

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