Good post And.
I think the term buddy is used far to often to describe someone who, in my eyes, is far from a buddy.
Quote:
| Originally Posted by Janos Other agencies do talk about this (cf the BSAC Incident Pit) but I don't think other agencies put quite the same emphasis on it as GUE do. |
The idea of a good buddy is included in the training courses of all the recreational agencies but the emphasis on doing it well is sometimes forgotten. GUE (and in some cases, some of the other technical agencies) do emphasis it more. This means that a DIR diver is often (but not always!) a good buddy but a non-DIR diver can also be a good buddy.
To me a good buddy is someone who;
- has planned to do the same dive as me
- is with me for the whole duration of the dive, including ascent and deco stops
- who accepts that if I abort the dive they abort with me, no questions asked
- is close enough to help in the case of incident
- is aware of where I am at all times
- is never further away than i can swim on one breath
- can tell from body language if there is a problem
- understands all the standard signals I use
- adds or is neutral to my comfort level in the water rather than detracting from it
- has simillar expectations to me as to what we expect from the dive
- carries out the dive in a simillar way to me