Posted by seahunt on August 18, 2004 at 18:04:55:
In Reply to: Team Diving posted by Tribes on August 18, 2004 at 10:45:35:
I thought YMCA and LA County came up with buddy diving. I never heard them mention team diving and I collect stuff like that. I first heard that term from JW in a DIR context.
I am a solo diver, but I have buddy dove when required or when I go down with newbies, something I used to do fairly often. In all cases, we have a bit of a discussion ahead of time. It's easy and takes little. A minor discussion of communication and intent is all it takes to make a real buddy dive. The other diver has always appreciated it.
Since I like to dive with newbies, does that mean I dive with strokes? I tell them ahead of time that they should lead and I will always be just a bit back and to the left. I point where to go if they look back. That gets appreciated by newbies. Still, I'm really solo since I expect no help from them.
For normal sport diving like we have in California, I have never seen the point of what DIR considers team diving. At most, a buddy is all that is needed. Past that it is stroking.
Enjoy the diving, seahunt