Buddy Diving - Responsibility

Responsibility

With buddy diving, each of the divers is presumed to have a responsibility to the other. The "buddies" are expected to monitor each other, to stay close enough together to be able to help in an emergency, to behave safely and to follow the plan agreed by the group before the dive. When the system fails, it is generally because one of the divers does not fulfill his or her responsibilities as a buddy. If one of the divers is incapable of providing the expected assistance the buddy system has already failed.

The responsibilities of each buddy during a dive are:

• Forming an agreed dive plan (dive objective, course to follow, depth limits and distance from exit point), agreeing on air pressure at which the dive will be terminated and ascent started, who leads and who follows, and reviewing emergency measures to be taken
• Helping a buddy to get in and out of their equipment, particularly in assisting donning of heavier items of diving equipment and adjusting hard to reach items
• Checking the buddy’s equipment setup before the dive to assure that it is complete, in proper working order and configuration prior to the dive
• Keeping track of the other buddy and staying together for the entire dive – maintaining a separation that can be closed up within only a couple of seconds.
• Maintaining active communication throughout the dive by means of hand signals and regular monitoring of each other's gauges during the dive. Also, checking that the buddy is OK with the conditions and progress of the dive via such hand signals.
• Managing the dive duration by following the most limiting conditions indicated by the gauges and dive computers of the buddy partners
• If separation does occur, searching to reestablish contact with the buddy for one minute, and if that fails safely returning to the surface to re-establish contact in this way
• In the case of a dive emergency, assisting a buddy to extricate himself/herself from the danger. This particularly applies to the dangers of entanglement and for out of air situations, and includes providing rescue assistance for an immobilized or unresponsive buddy should this prove necessary.