Posted by mike on November 17, 2000 at 01:13:35:
In Reply to: Buddy diving: an opinionated opinion posted by AADIVER on November 16, 2000 at 23:57:00:
i was driven hard astern away from buddy diving early on by several incidents where i felt in greater danger following the DM, or with buddies than i ever have solo. MHK's arguments are hard to refute however, especially when it comes to playing around at the deep end of Farnsworth or Shiprock or the rigs. As for newbies, well one can only hope that they recognize their own limits (as i did) and advance VEEEERY SLOOOOOWLY! Even recently, one of my buddies sucked one of my steel '72s dry, and another exceeded his NDL and i ran my computer into the yellow (which i just don't f**king appreciate doing ever! solo or otherwise!) trying to be a good buddy and stick around in case something went wrong (MHK and RAP diver, i wish all my buddies were as capable as you two were that day on the Yukon, but i fear that you two may be the exception, rather than the rule, especially on some newbie-filled cattleboats and warm water resorts). I hate to say this, but then as now, i generally (but not always in all situations) feel safer when i'm by myself. BTW, what was my biggest ever confidence builder? Free diving to 20 or 30 fsw without all that Scuba crap strapped on to me. SInce i spend the vast majority of my underwater time at or above 30 fsw, i feel that if s**t hits the fan, i can handle it and enter the boat embarrassed maybe, minus an expensive piece of gear or two perhaps, but very, very alive.