Buddy Sought

deepseamonkey · Member

Buddy Sought

Leaky · Veteran Member

Hi
Very impressed with your commitment to be a diver though perhaps diving alone is not wise. I am diving most weekends with my partner, both of us fairly experienced. Please feel free to contact me with a view to safe diving, in Delph or Capernwray at first, perhaps Menai or Anglesea after that.

Leaky

deepseamonkey · Member

Hi Leaky,

Yes, I would love to go diving with you. Perhaps you can get in touch with me or let me know when you going to Delph and I can come along. Although, I have very little experience I consider myself a fast learner and an indiviual who is bright and intelegent. To be a good diver requires nothing more than common sense and listening and following instructions. An as John said, know your limits.

I look forward to diving with you.

Regards,

Kirk

Leaky · Veteran Member

Hello

Glad you got the note. Will not be diving for a couple of weekends due to family stuff. How about an evening dive at the delph on a wednesday? Would probably be the 28th of may. Let me know what you think. My number is 07980823821, what's yours! Also, if anyone else is out there, how about joining us and giving this newbie some support!

Leaky confused

deepseamonkey · Member

Hi Leaky,

I did go Anglesey on Sunday, was planning to try and locate the place I used to go as a kid but had no idea of its name. When I arrived on Anglesey the tide had been in and was going out so I checked Red Wharf bay out, mainly to get some lunch. The price of fish and chips in the Ship Inn was £11.99!! which I considered mighty expensive, so a couple of miles down road went into The Pilot were they cost £6.99.

Anyhow, checked another bay out nearby which turned out to be unsuitable, eventually arriving at Bull Bay where I set up my kit and went into the water. Unfortunetly, vizability was poor and I could just about see my fin tips when on the surface. I also noted that there was a lot of mooring ropes, chains and possibility of other underwater obsticles in the vacinity, I did not feel confident about diving on my own and decided to abandon the dive and settle for a little bit of a paddle around at 3 metres near to the shore.

I was a little anoyed at having come so far yet being unable to dive, but my instincts told me that it was not safe, so although a bit miffed, i thought it best to be so and that i would be able to dive another day. Obviously as a new diver I am wanting to get as much diving done as possible, but I will not take unforeseen risks. I am seriously paranoid about entanglement, but I think that is a good thing!!!!

Yes I will quite happily dive at the Delph with you next Wednesday. My number is 07926 640 239. By the way, less of the 'newbie' you old salt 'vetran'!!

Kirk

-- Edited by deepseamonkey at 12:07, 2008-05-20

Dr Del · Senior Member

Kirk

With regard to solo diving, I think its not such a good idea, the buddy system is far from perfect, but when I ran low on air at 30m and had to use my pony for ascent I was glad to have my buddy (Thanks Geoff) close by! Also when Steve had a free flow in Capernwray we were able to share air and sort it out; later on the second dive I had the same experience (it was realy cold that day), and he helped me out. I am sure other members of the club have similar experiences!

The statistics bear out the fact that solo divers are more likley to die than ones in buddy pairs.

I don't think the buddy system is perfect, especially when some buddies swim off and leave you or you aren't confident of thir abilities; in those circumstances heading to the surface (controlled) may be the best option if you have a proble., If they follow protocol they should follow you up pretty soon after, then you can give them a good bollocking!

Suggest you read around the subject a bit more and look at some of the incident reports, try www.divernet.com for more information.

You are at an early stage in your diver development I'm sure you will go all the way to the top but don't take too many risks this early!

Sorry for the sermon, but it's my job!

By the way one good place to dive in N Wales is Trefor Pier (Google it!), which is relativly shallow, but can only be dived about an hour before and after high tide, but take a buddy with you!

Dr Del

deepseamonkey · Member

Dr Del,

Thank you for those pearls of wisdom, yes the buddy ssytem is a great idea in principal, but as you are aware it is only works well when both divers intereact and stay close to one another. hopefully given time i will link up with someone who has the same ideas as me.

just something i want to mention, in saturation diving, you dive in pairs, but the third man, the bell man is there to to aide rescue should it be needed, but more often than not they fail to react quickly enough. But with ROV's etc there are a lot of eyes watching and more often than not things get spotted before they go wrong.

yes, thanks for the advice