Why I should Not be Solo Diving?

[Rick Inman]

Ok, kidding aside who knows. I know for myself that would be hard to go back and forth between solo mentality to team mentality.

When I go on vacations, I usually end up doing some solo diving.

It used to be easy to switch (when I wasn't that great of team diver anyway). But the further along in my training I get, the weird-er it is.

 

[ShallowDiverDave]

Deleted by Doc.

Responding to TOS violation.

Sorry Doc! I was merely responding.

 

[ShallowDiverDave]

You answered your own question without realizing it. "Provided that you can". That should be all you need to know. However...

I'll relate a story of an entanglement and why it was not possible to remove gear.

We're at 50 or 60 feet diving through the tree's and manage to get hung up. Now we dive dirty lakes and the vis is poor, normally IMO if I can see a line I can break it with my hands and I always have in the past. The reason you can break them is that if you can see it the line has been there long enough to get weak. If you can't see it it's new line and going to be stronger.

This line I could not see, I finally found it but could not feel where it was except that it was above and behind, most likely hung up on my tank valve but I can't prove that. Now we're near the bottom, tree limbs are immediately above us and you can not go up at all or you'll be stuck in limbs and that's not something you'll cut. Not these at any rate. The standard method of getting unstuck didn't work, we really did come to a dead stop with no option left but cutting at that point. When I say we I mean both of us are hung up. I was able to free him, and that in turn is what got me freed up as well. Neither of us actually thought that 2 divers would get stuck at the same time but it happened.

Again I'll have to point out that it may have been possible to get out solo, although a solo diver in that area would have been silly as the entanglement risk was much higher.

Since that dive I've freed 2 other buddies from lines they could not get out of by themselves.

You must understand one thing, our lakes are used for fishing and the tree's were not removed from them, so they're like Christmas tree's with all the monofilament on them, most of which is rotten. However, if you dive these lakes and want to see the wrecks on the bottom, or the rocks, there is a real possibility that you will encounter fishing line that can't be broken.

To this day when I dive among tree's I vividly recall being stuck in place and I stay a bit closer to my buddy. In fact last weekend I freed a buddy from a line he got stuck on, he might have got out on his own but we'll never know because I got him out before he had much time to do it on his own. That's one of my duties as a responsible buddy, I'll pay attention to you and stay by your side for the one in a million events that could end your life.

To me being a buddy means that I am your lifeline, I am your support and will back you up, nothing is more important to me than your safety. If I accept that job you can rest assured that I WILL be there when it counts and I won't be deterred in my determination to help you. That doesn't mean I'll follow you a mile into a cave we have no business in however, nor that I'll go down to 200 feet with you. As a buddy we'll plan the dive together to get what we both want out of it and your duty to me is the same as mine to you. So, we stick together and follow the plan as closely as we can. We both know and believe that diving within our limits is good, neither of us is going to do something beyond that training we have.

As one of my good buddies says, I'm there watching you to insure you don't do something incompatible with life. Now that's a buddy I'm proud to dive with.

Not all buddies believe and act that way and thus sometimes it is better to dive solo instead of with them. I have dove with buddies that caused me to risk my life in order to save theirs when it should have never even been an issue. I've followed them down deep to save their hides when they should have never been that deep, I've followed them into the open water when we're low on air to turn them back to shore or the boat because they can't navigate. Usually those kinds of buddies are the ones who think they've got to move full steam ahead under water and violate every step of the plan we've made. I've often thought to myself they deserve to be let loose on their own and face the consequences of their actions, but I'm not that kind of buddy so I've never done it. To be honest those divers are the insta kind, but they're also the dangerous ones and I've often wanted to dive solo instead of with them, however policy of the boat is to not allow that so I'm partnered up.

So yes, solo diving can often be safer than buddy diving, but IMO a good buddy is very nice to have and well worth the time to establish a relationship with.

Thanks for sharing your experience, great post!

 

[Doc Intrepid]

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[Darnold9999]

Re entanglement, it is one of the things I practiced on my solo course. Instructor tangled up the first stage from behind, I had to get unentangled on my own. The only way was to remove gear, turn, unentangle and then try to put the gear back on. Couldn't do it. Got unentangled no problem, but could not get the gear back on. Steel backplate and tank were too heavy and me in a drysuit was too boyant. Had to surface carrying the tank and backplate in front of me and put it on on the surface. A viable option, but did convince me that I don't want all of my weight attached to the backplate - such a configuration would make this manuver virtually impossible.

Probably the best part of the course. Something that you do NOT want to practice alone.

Was a course necessary - no - and the reason I took it was so I would have a card that I can show an operator and dive on my own when I travel. However it was a good course and it was useful to practice entanglement, working with line and to discuss the what ifs.

For what its worth I firmly believe that you should not be doing this until you have some significant experience diving, are totally comfortable in the water and know how you will react in an emergancy while diving. Don't actually dive solo much, but also firmly believe that I want to be as self sufficient as possible, buddy might help, but I don't want to depend on it.

 

[redacted]

I know for myself that would be hard to go back and forth between solo mentality to team mentality.

I'm not sure I understand the problem. I don't think I have any trouble switching between diving solo and diving with a buddy or as a "team".

 

[Darnold9999]

Have been reading this thread and it is interesting how much contraversy this topic generates. Just came back from a liveaboard. Guests were not able to solo dive no matter what the experience level unless certified for it.

However staff solo dive regularly - as working divers and for recreation. Yes the diving is easy, and all are instructors with many hundreds of dives, but so are many of the guests. Just an observation - do as I say not as I do.

Time for the major agencies to follow the others and create a certification and guidelines for this activity.

Not that you need a card to solo dive, but it is a pain to be forced into an instabuddy situation by dive operators when travelling if it is not needed.

 

[JeffG]

I'm not sure I understand the problem. I don't think I have any trouble switching between diving solo and diving with a buddy or as a "team".

Then I can only assume that you have never dove in a team. (I do not equate buddy as being the same as a team)

Situational awareness of a nonexistent team mate would be annoying for a "team" driven solo diver. If you solo dived enough, you would suppress that skill, which would cause an issue if you went back to team diving.

 

[redacted]

Then I can only assume that you have never dove in a team. (I do not equate buddy as being the same as a team)

Situational awareness of a nonexistent team mate would be annoying for a "team" driven solo diver. If you solo dived enough, you would suppress that skill, which would cause an issue if you went back to team diving.

I thought that might be the catch. Clearly some folks that I pair up with I would consider a buddy dive but not a team dive. It is not as bad as same ocean but there are times when the pairing may approach that. But when I dive with my wife, it's not synchronized swimming, but its fairly close. We tend to have occasional post-dive discussions of any lapses of SA.

 

[WVDiver]

Then I can only assume that you have never dove in a team. (I do not equate buddy as being the same as a team)

Situational awareness of a nonexistent team mate would be annoying for a "team" driven solo diver. If you solo dived enough, you would suppress that skill, which would cause an issue if you went back to team diving.

I don' know that I find it "hard" to switch from solo to team but it is different. The more I dive solo the more in control and self assured I become. When switching back to team, I find myself wanting to be much more in control of the dive planning and usually find that I position myself to be in a "guide" position much more than I probably would have had I not found solo diving.

This is more pronounced after doing many solo dives prior to the team experience. I guess it is natural enough. It is not as pronounced when I am diving with familiar divers that I am comfortable with and that I know are good divers, but when confronted with a new buddy it is very noticeable.