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This is my response to the Solo-diving thing.  Out of respect for Frank's
wishes (I agree with him in general), I'll try to keep it brief.  I think
it is justifiable to talk about it with regard to technical diving, as I am
about to do:

I think that what it comes down to is training/education.  The REAL
message should be the one that I have yet to see an objection to: "Don't
do technical dives unless you're qualified!"

Now, on the issue of solo diving - I want it on the record that I only
advocate solo diving in SOME situations, and I'm only talking about
technical dives (in fact, solo diving by definition is technical diving in
& of itself).  I would never advocate solo to recreationally-trained divers.

My philosophy is this:  VIRTUALLY ALL technical dives should be conducted, and
all technical divers should be trained to dive, AS IF ALL TECHNICAL DIVES WERE
SOLO DIVES.  What I mean by this, is that one of the fundamental
characteristics that should separate qualified technical divers from
non-qualified technical divers is that qualified ones should be trained to
be ENTIRELY SELF-SUFFICIENT (I'm highlighting bits of this message only to
underscore important points, not 'cause I'm worked-up or anything).  The
reflex-reaction to any problem should be "How can I solve this", NOT
"Where's my buddy, I need his/her help".  Before ANY technical dive
(except, perhaps, training dives, and some really hard-core cave
penetration dives), ALL participants should ask themselves "If I were
about to do this dive SOLO, would I be within my own personal margin of
safety?"  If the answer is no, they should seriously reconsider making the
dive.  (There are a few cases - VERY few - where mandatory reliance on
in-water buddies is justifiable).

Now, this is most CERTAINLY NOT the same as saying all technical dives
SHOULD be done alone.  There is an argument (and, I believe, a very valid
one in many, if not most, cases) that having two totally self-sufficient
divers in the water together on a technical dive is safer than one, just in
case one of them happens to be in a situation where they can help solve a
problem for the other.  This is why most technical diving should probably
NOT be done solo.

HOWEVER, (and this is my only point - sorry it took so long to get here
:->) people should realize that there are a substantial number of
circumstances (including the majority of deep diving I do) where a buddy
can pose more of a liability than an asset - REGARDLESS of how well
qualified both divers are.  Given the assumption (as I stated above) that
all technical dives should be done as if they could be done solo within
acceptable levels of risk, it's not too difficult to imagine such
circumstances (decompression drift diving frequently represents such an
circumstance).  As I said in an earlier posting, the very presence of
another diver in the water can sometimes limit one's options for solving a
problem.

As a final point, the underlying cause of buddy-related problems, I think,
ha to do with inadequate means of communication.  If both divers, and the
surface-support crew, are equipped with reliable through-water electronic
communication devices, then the probability that a buddy may pose a
liability goes way down (tho' doesn't disappear altogether).

O.K, nuff said.

Aloha,

Rich

BTW, just so everyone knows - Denis Pierce (aka EPIC DIVES) and I are good
friends - he called me up to tell me he was about to send his message
before he did, and he and I have been on the phone repeatedly - with no
tension, hard feelings, or harsh words - over the past hour....

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