Posted by Kendall Raine on March 14, 2001 at 15:55:21:
In Reply to: solo certification - an opinionated opinion posted by AADIVER on March 14, 2001 at 11:09:56:
Hi Frank;
With all due respect, I'm afraid you lost me on one thing here. You say one of the motivations of diving solo is you only want to concentrate on what you're doing (presumably artifact recovery) and that another is you don't want a buddy to compete with you for the same artifacts. Translation: "I do not want to have to worry about, or share loot with, someone else." OK, fine. I understand that. That's the wrecker's way. Frankly, it used to be my way, too.
What I don't get is how this group of individuals who, by mutual acceptance, take a "me first and last" attitude can somehow function as a buddy team, loose or otherwise: "All of us diving on the same wreck... was, and still is, one great big loose buddy team..." That just doesn't make sense to me. Maybe it's semantics, but a buddy is someone who, by definition is aware of, and prepared to respond to, the needs of their buddy as a basic part of their dive attitude and plan. Sure, if you see another diver in distress I accept you're not going to just swim in the other direction. You'll do what you can to help. But the fact that you become aware of the distress, and were in a position to help at all, is coincidental since what you're really trying to do on the dive is focus on your personal goals and remain unobserved by competitors. As Lamar Hires, my cave instructor, said to me when I asked how far away cavers should be from each other, "one breath." He's right. One breath is all you've got sometimes when it hits the fan. Some other wrecker 100 feet away with his head in a hole digging for artifacts is nothing more to you than an accidental resource. Yes, redundancy helps, but a pony of 40% on the Moody (145 fsw=PO2 of 2.16) ain't going to cut it if you're also entangled and struggling.
Dive the way you want, Frank, and may you have many safe and happy years ahead doing it your way. It's not my place to dictate to anyone, but to suggest that in diving your way you are anything but alone is beyond my comprehension.
Best regards,
Kendall