A question for divers.

In My Humble Opinion
1

I’ve been diving for a long time (certified in 1975) but have only dove about 20 times.

With the buddy system so ingrained in us, why don’t we make it easier?

I’m talking colors. Yep colors get muted quickly in water, but why are we all wearing the same stuff?

My suit and fins have blue highlights, my Wife has silver highlights. Black and blue, black and silver. It looks pretty much the same. And everyone is wearing it.

On a trip to Belize a few years ago, the dive master had a bad fin. He had to improvise. Ended up wearing two different colored fins. I could always spot him.

99% of us rent our tanks. Why not color code this stuff for the buddy system?

On a related note, my Wife just ordered a new wet suit for an Iron Man. Black. Black like the 1000 other people that are swimming. Now, a few colors might not make it that much easier to spot her, but with 4 or 5 distinct colors, it sure would help the odds.

2

We put our name on the bottom of our fins in white so we can see who it is in front of us in murky water when the fins are about all you can see.

Day-glo colors are good in murky water. I would like to see more of it.

Not sure about predatory fish in the oceans and their reactions to bright colors. But if it does not draw attacks, I like the idea. Also use bright arm bands and paint your tanks. Carry bright rubber bands to mark rented tanks.

3

[QUOTE=GusNSpot]
We put our name on the bottom of our fins in white so we can see who it is in front of us in murky water when the fins are about all you can see.

Day-glo colors are good in murky water. I would like to see more of it.

Not sure about predatory fish in the oceans and their reactions to bright colors. But if it does not draw attacks, I like the idea. Also use bright arm bands and paint your tanks. Carry bright rubber bands to mark rented tanks.
[/QUOTE]
One thing I forgot was snorkle colors. My Wifes is orange. Mine is yellow. We should have the same colors. Be a ‘team’.

4

What has worked for me is the wingman approach. For the first 5 minutes of the dive, my partner leads, and I am his wingman. This means I swim behind/above and conform to his movements as he looks at stuff. After the time is up, we switch and he is my wingman. I have never had any trouble following my buddy this way as he is never out of sight.

5

[QUOTE=Rick]
What has worked for me is the wingman approach. For the first 5 minutes of the dive, my partner leads, and I am his wingman. This means I swim behind/above and conform to his movements as he looks at stuff. After the time is up, we switch and he is my wingman. I have never had any trouble following my buddy this way as he is never out of sight.
[/QUOTE]
I agree. And that’s what I do. My Wife though, is not as good at it, and I have talked to her about it.

In her defense, I’m a bit OCD when it comes to this.

In Belize in '02(?), my Wife and I where on a dive when I noticed a fellow diver loosing his tank. The strap wasn’t on tight enough and it slipped out. The tank was boyant at that point and was caught up in hoses and valve in the tank strap. The diver didn’t know it. He was dragging it with the hoses. I stopped him, somehow communicated that things where fucked up and got the tank strapped down again. Mostly, I just managed to muscle it back in. The videographer got it on tape. I’ll have to look for it.

Dive master and ‘buddy’ where no where to be found.

I watch everyone. It’s nice to know who is supposed to be a team.

6

I’ve been diving since 2000, and have done a fair number of trips.

The buddy system only works as well as the buddies want it to work. That is, it takes effort. Even with matching colors, it would still be easy to “lose” a buddy, if that buddy decides to not care about his/her buddy. Trust me, I know this first hand.

As to color coding tanks - if you have your own and bring them on trips, then this makes sense. But no dive op would be willing to go through the additional hassle of matching colors to buddy teams. On some operations, they’re lucky to get all the tanks swapped out in time for the next dive.
And then there’s the issue of a blown O-ring, or an unfilled tank - the color matching would easily go out the window.

With “good” buddies, you are generally close enough to be able to recognize their particulars without extra colors. Colors may all seem “the same”, but there are enough differences that you learn to recognize your buddy - especially if you dive with them regular enough (like 2 or 3 dives a day, on a 5 dive day trip).

One could argue that if you are not “close enough” to be able to identify your buddy, then you are also likely not close enough to 1) observe a problem, and/or 2) get to your buddy in time to help.

7

[QUOTE=cormac262]
I’ve been diving since 2000, and have done a fair number of trips.

The buddy system only works as well as the buddies want it to work. That is, it takes effort. Even with matching colors, it would still be easy to “lose” a buddy, if that buddy decides to not care about his/her buddy. Trust me, I know this first hand.

As to color coding tanks - if you have your own and bring them on trips, then this makes sense. But no dive op would be willing to go through the additional hassle of matching colors to buddy teams. On some operations, they’re lucky to get all the tanks swapped out in time for the next dive.
And then there’s the issue of a blown O-ring, or an unfilled tank - the color matching would easily go out the window.

With “good” buddies, you are generally close enough to be able to recognize their particulars without extra colors. Colors may all seem “the same”, but there are enough differences that you learn to recognize your buddy - especially if you dive with them regular enough (like 2 or 3 dives a day, on a 5 dive day trip).

One could argue that if you are not “close enough” to be able to identify your buddy, then you are also likely not close enough to 1) observe a problem, and/or 2) get to your buddy in time to help.
[/QUOTE]
I pretty much agree with everything you say here :shrug: Just think that specific colors would make it easier.

What made me think about this is my Wife just bought a new wet suit for an Iron man. Black. I didn’t see any color choices in the catalog at all (though I really haven’t looked too hard). Even in that circumstance, I think it would be safer to be blaze orange or something. They do have boats and kayaks in the water looking out for people.

I wonder if it has something to do with the sun? Perhaps black is more resistant to UV?

8

[QUOTE=enipla]

I wonder if it has something to do with the sun? Perhaps black is more resistant to UV?
[/QUOTE]

As to why black is so predominant, it does have to do with sun/light. Although the water filters out so much light, what light does get through would be absorbed better by black (or rather, not reflected by light colors). Along with the light comes heat. I think the gains below 30 feet would be marginal. But I can see how for swimmers at the surface, that additional heating would be advantageous.

9

[QUOTE=cormac262]
I’ve been diving since 2000, and have done a fair number of trips.

The buddy system only works as well as the buddies want it to work. That is, it takes effort. Even with matching colors, it would still be easy to “lose” a buddy, if that buddy decides to not care about his/her buddy. Trust me, I know this first hand.

(snip)

With “good” buddies, you are generally close enough to be able to recognize their particulars without extra colors. Colors may all seem “the same”, but there are enough differences that you learn to recognize your buddy - especially if you dive with them regular enough (like 2 or 3 dives a day, on a 5 dive day trip).

One could argue that if you are not “close enough” to be able to identify your buddy, then you are also likely not close enough to 1) observe a problem, and/or 2) get to your buddy in time to help.
[/QUOTE]
I agree with all of this.

I’ve been certified since 1990, but most of my diving has been in the last 5 years since my wife got certified. If you aren’t close enough to be able to recognize your buddy (and you haven’t been keeping half an eye on where they are so you can find them quickly), then you’re not close enough or attentive enough. I’m a little obsessive about this (as well as checking air levels), but I think it’s better to err on the side of caution when your life is dependent on the bottle of air strapped to your back.

As for looking distinctive enough to be recognizable, there’s all kinds of ways to do this. Most brands of fin are available in many colors, so picking something a little out of the ordinary wouldn’t be hard. I write my name on my fins in big letters with a white paint marker, although that’s mostly so they don’t get mixed up with someone else’s. A brightly or unusually colored mask strap is a good idea, too. Get a neoprene “Slap Strap” in an obnoxious color, or with your local dive shop’s name printed on it (most shops carry these). Colored snorkels are fine, although most divers I know don’t wear one (wearing one might in itself make you distinctive).

Depending on where you normally dive, you might be recognizable by your gear. I dive with a backplate and wing as opposed to a jacket-style BC, and my primary regulator is on a 7-foot long hose, with the backup bungied under my chin. In Florida, I was often one of half-a-dozen people (or more) on the boat with a similar rig. On most Caribbean dive boats, I’m the only one. Last weekend on Lake Michigan, I was the only one diving in a drysuit. You can’t necessarily count on these things, but it is not as hard as you might think to be recognizable.

10

[QUOTE=enipla]
One thing I forgot was snorkle colors. My Wifes is orange. Mine is yellow. We should have the same colors. Be a ‘team’.
[/QUOTE]
I haven’t worn a snorkel in years; unless you are doing a long surface swim on rough water they’re just about the most useless piece of equipment to have.

As far as “being a team”, if you want to mark fins or whatnot be my guest, but it may not always be the case that you are buddied up with the same person. You may be out on a boat and your buddy decides to sit a dive out, so you pair up with someone else; or it may be that visibility is too poor to be more than a kick’s length away from your buddy anyway. I don’t think that you want to count on markings to identify your buddy.

I think Rick’s wingman approach is the best, and this is what I generally do, especially when unavoidably diving as a three person group; one person takes the lead, the second person is responsible for following him, et cetera, and the point man just checks back once in a while to make certain that he hasn’t lost his wing. This assumes, of course, that both or all members of the team have comperable mobility and buoyancy control skills, and may not be appropriate for someone you don’t know. When I dive with someone with whom I’m not previously acquited, I generally take the wing position and just stay there unless I see something interesting, in which case I’ll point it out to my buddy.

Stranger

11

[QUOTE=Stranger On A Train]
I haven’t worn a snorkel in years; unless you are doing a long surface swim on rough water they’re just about the most useless piece of equipment to have.
[/QUOTE]
Hell, I’m not even sure where my snorkel is. I think it’s in a pocket in my gear bag, but I couldn’t swear to it.

For people that I’ve just been buddied up with that I don’t know very well, I make sure we talk things over long before gearing up. How do I dump your weights if I need to? Where is your backup reg? If I need air from you, which reg do I grab? How do you signal air levels (In fives with one hand? Individual digits with two hands? Individual digits with one hand?) When do we head back to the anchor line/start our ascent? How long and at what depths do we do safety stops? Having a conversation about all this stuff will do two things. Firstly, it will begin to make you better acquainted with your buddy such that you will likely be able to communicate better underwater. Secondly, and more importantly, it may tell you whether you want to be buddied with that person in the first place. I have known people to start conversations like this, only to discover that their new-found buddy isn’t, in fact, a good match. You can then go about finding someone else that’s a better fit.

My wife, being the newer diver, is a bit more cautious than I am about diving in unfamiliar or challenging conditions. I have stressed on any number of occasions that I will never, ever give her flack for opting out of a dive at any point if it is beyond her comfort level. Similarly, I would never, ever give someone shit for not wanting to be my buddy if our diving experience, styles, or personalities just don’t make it a good match. And, if someone ever gave me shit for not thinking we would be a good buddy team underwater, well, I obviously don’t want to dive with them.

12

During my certification dives, I had the same problem… I was part of a 3 man “buddy team,” all using equipment rented from the same place.

On the 2nd day of dives, after complaining of this to my wife, she gave me 3 strips of bright fabric, which we each put around our right ankle. Once I had that, I had no problem finding my “team,” and the divemasters thought that was a fantastic idea.