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I disagree. I dive for fun, and diving with someone who is an idiot or
wants handholding is not my idea of fun. Now I'm sure that there are
some out there who like to be a mentor, I guess I'm not one of them.
Who has had this happen to them:
-You ask your buddy "you ready?" "yes" jump in the water, go down to the
hangbar and wait for 10 minutes for your "buddy" to show up. When the
idiot finally shows up you he/she has to futz at the hangbar for and
additional 20 minutes. Dive is shot.
-You ask your buddy "you ready?" "yes" jump in the water, go down to
the hangbar and wait for 10 minutes for your "buddy" to show up. He/she
does not show up. You go back up and your previously enthusiastic, very
knowledgeable "buddy" is sitting there saying that he/she had a last
second change of heart and decided not to dive. Dive is shot.
(after a couple of those I started insisting that my "buddy" go in
first).
-You get to the bottom and one minute later your "buddy" is gone. You go
up to the surface and a while later your "buddy" shows up telling
everybody what a great dive he/she had. Dive is shot.
-You are swimming along and your buddy shows you his/her gauge and it
has 300lbs in it while you have 1500 in yours. Dive is shot.
-Your buddy suddenly starts messing with his/her mask and then takes off
like a Titan rocket to the surface. You go up (in a more controlled
fashion), buddy is on the surface coughing and spitting. You drag buddy
back to boat. Dive is shot.
-You get to the bottom and, after a few feet, you find out what "same
ocean" buddy system is all about. All you can do at that stage is follow
your "buddy" like a stray puppy dog and hope he/she can find their way
back to the anchor line. But they can't, after wandering aimlessly about
for a while they suddenly look at their gauge, spin around in panic and
for the first time look at you and single "wheres the anchor line?"
After having all this and more happen to me I almost gave up diving but
decided to try going solo. Suddenly diving was fun. But at that time I
really had no clue about the risk. Now in technical diving there is a
slightly different thing going on. Your time is limited, everybody has a
different gas plan and different objectives, different computers,
tables, etc. Ever had a lobster hound as your dive buddy? Talk about a
wasted dive.
I also propose that there are some really marginal training programs out
there which are putting out divers who are a danger to themselves and
anybody near them. I want nothing to do with a panic stricken diver,
trying to claw my face off because they got some water in their mask or
suddenly felt claustrophobic.
No, having a goofball for a partner is as close as you can get to
turning a fun sport into an expensive excersize in self-abuse. The key
is either having a regular buddy or getting trained by an agency you can
trust to put out competent divers who are buddy trained. DIR has
standardized gases, standardized gear and gear placement, standardized
deco procedures, standardized buddy procedures, all that stuff no other
agency has.
I'm not trying to be an advertising agency for DIR rather I am trying
to seek a reasonable solution to this buddy thing. And the only one I
see is DIR. If you all have a better idea, I'm open. The "other guys"
solution to this issue is to put out "solo diving" certification. Pretty
much sums it up.
Jim
On Thursday, August 8, 2002, at 02:37 PM, JOHN SAMPSON wrote:
> Jim,
> Most of the time I think your pretty dead on, but not this time.
> In the sport diving world I would rather have a brain dead, just
> certified idiot to dive with than nobody. Your way if the shit hits the
> fan, & I can't handle it, I'm dead. My way I could still be dead, but
> maybe not. I'll take maybe anytime. On the tech dives, I dive with a
> good buddy or I don't dive. Hope you come back to diving soon.
>
> John Sampson
> Phoenix, Az.
>
>
>
>
>
>
>> From: Jim Cobb <cobber@ci*.co*>
>> To: Joel Markwell <joeldm@mi*.co*>
>> CC: Hugh Moore <hughmoore@bi*.co*>, Techdiver
>> <techdiver@aquanaut.com>
>> Subject: Re: solo diver cert
>> Date: Thu, 8 Aug 2002 10:53:23 -0400
>>
>> Joel, lets do the math correctly here. One brain plus one half-brain =
>> no brain at all.
>>
>> In other words just the mere fact of 2 guys with scuba tanks hanging
>> out together under water does not make it a buddy team. Nor does it
>> increase your survivability one iota.
>>
>> A real buddy team must consist of two or more divers who have trained
>> together, worked out the problems together and dove together and have
>> practiced team skills, coordination, communication and drills.
>>
>> Please don't fall into the stupid, mindless rut that the "buddy"
>> system is today. It is worthless or even less than worthless,
>> downright dangerous. IOW take two random assholes, put them together
>> and declare them a buddy team as if you are suddenly endowing them
>> with some mystical shield against all that's deadly. What Bullshit.
>> You put two half-assed divers together and all you get is twice the
>> clusterfuck factor.
>>
>> What does work is the GUE DIR premiss of training divers so that any
>> diver properly trained in DIR can get together with any other properly
>> trained DIR diver and function like they have been diving together as
>> a team their whole life. This is the only alternative. No other
>> program offers this sort of training. A DIR diver should either have a
>> DIR buddy or not dive at all.
>>
>> Currently there are not enough DIR trained divers to assure this
>> happening on every trip so you have to work at creating a functioning,
>> usable buddy team. You have to work very hard at it.
>>
>> If you don't make this substantial time and money consuming effort you
>> might as well toss the dice, put the single bullet in the revolver,
>> tie the vine to your leg and take the leap. You may die, you may not.
>>
>> Solo is better if you decide to do the crap-shoot. There will be no
>> witnesses when you croak and the coroner can safely declare a "heart
>> attack" to satisfy the insurance underwriters.
>>
>> Jim
>>
>>
>> On Thursday, August 8, 2002, at 09:06 AM, Joel Markwell wrote:
>>
>>> On 8/9/02 6:57 AM, "Hugh Moore" <hughmoore@bi*.co*> wrote:
>>>
>>>> Whats the problem, when I lived in Papua New Guinea, I did hundreds
>>>> of solo
>>>> dives off liveaboards/PNG Dive boats with my Camera. Crystal clear
>>>> water,
>>>> mostly less than 20 metres, photographing & filming the marine life.
>>>>
>>>> In the mid nineties, operators requested that solo divers (read
>>>> photographers) carry a Pony bottle in case while concentrating
>>>> filming/photographing, ran out of air.
>>>>
>>>> Most photographers would spend hours under/near the boat getting that
>>>> perfect shot. You didnt have to go far!
>>>>
>>>> I havent come accross many "BUDDYS" willing to sit under the boat in
>>>> ten
>>>> metres of water for an hour and half while you shoot off a role of
>>>> film on a
>>>> unique creature.
>>>>
>>>> Maybe its OK with you, but havent seen it too often.
>>>>
>>>> So Im a stroke, stiff shit, I dont need a baby sitter to reef dive
>>>> with my
>>>> Camera. I wore a pony for years, never used it once, didnt see a
>>>> need for
>>>> doubles either for the depths we were doing. Never ran out of air
>>>> once,
>>>> after 90 mins, you are either out of film or battery was flat on the
>>>> video.
>>>> Its not hard to look at the gauge. I dont need a buddy to tap me on
>>>> the
>>>> shoulder every five minutes to check my air!
>>>>
>>>> When doing a wreck/diving deep, you would dive as a group/with a
>>>> buddy.
>>>>
>>>> Hugh, South OZ
>>>
>>> I've run into this mentality for years. I do UW photography too and
>>> have
>>> spent hours just watching and the funny thing is, I've never had a
>>> problem
>>> finding a buddy who wants to spend long periods of time underwater.
>>> Not
>>> everyone needs to be cruising the reef as fast as possible, ignoring
>>> the
>>> small stuff, not really paying attention as they cruise by, faster,
>>> deeper,
>>> more macho. Maybe it's a Southern thang . . . .
>>>
>>> And as for your "safety" record, I'm pretty sure that every one of
>>> those
>>> solo divers who died while alone, before that final dive, would have
>>> touted
>>> their record of a string of "safe" solo dives.
>>>
>>> It's simple math. Two brains and two sets of eyes are almost always
>>> are
>>> better than one. When you read the accident reports that are
>>> available (and
>>> too few are) it's not hard to figure out that in nearly every
>>> intentional
>>> solo, eventual solo and unintended solo dive, the addition of a buddy
>>> would
>>> have increased the chances of survival immensely.
>>>
>>>> I havent come accross many "BUDDYS" willing to sit under the boat in
>>>> ten
>>>> metres of water for an hour and half while you shoot off a role of
>>>> film on a
>>>> unique creature.
>>>
>>> I'd get a new set of friends/buddys. I'm trying to picture guys/gals
>>> who'd
>>> say, "spend hours underwater with you examining a beautiful reef in
>>> close
>>> detail? You gotta be balmy!"
>>>
>>> JoeL
>>>
>>> --
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>>> request@aq*.co*'.
>>
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>
>
>
>
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