Posted by Ed on December 05, 2001 at 17:11:40:
I could not but notice the 'solo diving' thread below, and had to throw my 2 cents in....
First off, I do both (solo and buddy diving), but now, I have a self imposed rule when diving with a buddy (as it was said by some of you earlier):
I have to know the person, and his her abilities, capabilities, etc....
I too have had buddies that at the VERY BEST, were completely and utterly useless as ANY means of redundancy (and were a danger to me).
Most of my dives in the past couple of years have been solo. Although I admit that diving with a GOOD buddy (someone you know and practice with) CAN BE safer than solo diving, most often it is more risky.
This is not only because of the added liability and responsibility that you take on when buddy diving, but also as far as YOU are concerned.
Let me elaborate:
Often times, diving with a buddy can give one a false sense of security, jeopardizing the overall safety. When diving solo, you MUST be aware that YOU are the ONLY one you can count on, so it's up to you to do all that you can to avoid/prevent/remedy whatever issues that you may have, before, during, and after the dive.
I can give many examples of this, but here are just a few:
Mentaly, comparing 2 dives, one solo, and one with a buddy, some of the experiences are:
Buddy: I Watch my depth and air supply (and hers/his) regularly.
Solo : I find myself monitoring my air supply, as well as depth at least 3 times as often.
Buddy: Even though we often have a dive plan, we often deviate somewhat from it.
Solo : Again, I find myself VERY aware of my surroundings, following the 'plan' a lot more closely.
Buddy: My diving style has more of a tendancy to do what might be considered 'risky' (relatively speaking. I NEVER do anything that I was not trained for or have experience in doing)
Solo : I find myself taking a VERY conservative approach to EVERYTHING.
Additionaly, with a buddy, I would dive on days/conditions that I would never dream of diving solo.
Also, often I return to the boat/shore with 500 psi in my tank, whereas diving solo, I find myself having 1000+ psi (often 1200-1500) after the dive.
I observe my overall attitude (and maybe it's just me), and it becomes clear to me that I am a much safer diver when diving solo (unless I'm diving with a couple of my very experienced, and conservative, cool headed friends).
This is NOT even discussing some of the 'useless' buddies that I've had to baby-sit before.
One so called 'buddy' just suddently disappeared. What was to be a lobster dive, turned out to be 'buddy search' dive. He wasn't under (that I could tell), and he wasn't on the surface.
After several minutes of searching for him, I abandoned the dive to go to shore and call the emergency personnel,
only to find his borrowed wetsuit and tank (both mine) thrown on the sand, and him nowhere to be found.
Later on, I come to find out that he had decided that he had had enough, so without signalling me or telling me, he got out, 'left' my wetsuit and tank(as he put it), and went home.
Not only did he really stink as a buddy (what COULD he have done in case I was in trouble??????)
. But now, I'm stuck having to haul my own stuff, plus the stuff that he had borrowed from me several hundred yards to the car.
I have had more than on 'worthless' buddy.... I feel MUCH safer without one (a worthless one, and NOT a GOOD dive buddy that you know and trust his abilities).
Sorry for ranting on.... I had to vent.....
Ed.