3-Buddy diving technique

[jwdizney]

wife, daughter and I will be diving together this year for the first time and we want to utilize a buddy system for the three of us. any tips, techniques to share? also, we're planning a trip to Bahamas and wonder if dive operators will allow us to dive as a threesome, or will we be split up and have an "insta-buddy" added?

[CompuDude]

Designate one person the dive leader, another the #2 position, the last the #3 position.

Diver #2 is responsible for passing messages from #1 to #3, and vice versa. Keeps everyone in the loop.

Put your weakest diver in the middle position, so two people can keep tabs on her. (assuming it's not you. )

Leave the camera behind for the first dive, so you can concentrate on keeping everything running smoothly and work out any hiccups without the extra distraction.

3-person teams require more active thinking about the buddies, but offer more safety with reasonable team awareness, since there are more people to help (more air to share, etc.) in the event of a problem.

[cmburch]

We never knew anything about how to run a 3 buddy team. Essentially 2 would be buddied-up where the third would be semi solo. Or everyone would almost be solo depending on how many of us were hunting. I'll have to try it out to see how it works. Anything has to be better than what we're doing now.

[terrillja]

Originally Posted by jwdizney

wife, daughter and I will be diving together this year for the first time and we want to utilize a buddy system for the three of us. any tips, techniques to share? also, we're planning a trip to Bahamas and wonder if dive operators will allow us to dive as a threesome, or will we be split up and have an "insta-buddy" added?

When I dove in Key Largo, we had one diver added to my dad and I, I led, my dad took up the tail, the other guy was in the middle. No problems at all, we did 2 dives at a threesome with silent world and 3 dives as a threesome with Conch Republic, neither one had an issue with a buddy team rather than a buddy pair. I'd agree with CD though, put the least experienced in the middle.

[fireflock]

Positioning matters. Putting everyone single file in a line means that the first diver can easily swim away from the others and not notice. Along the same lines, the last diver can fall behind and no one notices.

An alternative to is dive side by side, 3 wide, with the diver who is showing the way in the middle and only slightly in front of the other two. That way divers 2 and 3 can see everyone at once, and the lead diver can just look to the side to find the others (vs having to look directly behind).


Rich

[CompuDude]

3 wide (flock of geese V formation) works well when you have the type of terrain that supports it... but far too often, you don't.

Echelon and single file work well also, but there's always a need for care. HID lights help a lot, but there's a limited pool of divers that have those tools available to their budget.

Positioning is one of the trickier aspects, I agree.

[cummings66]

I think it depends on the terrain, my worst would be the single file without lights that can be seen from the back. The best would be a very slight V so everybody could see each other.

Different depths suck, avoid that at all costs.

[jwdizney]

Originally Posted by cummings66

Different depths suck, avoid that at all costs.

sounds like a good point, cummings. makes sense that different depths would add another dimension to keep track of.

all good tips, everybody!

thanks!

another thing for considering is how would you "buddy drill" for emergency situations, such as OOA? nearest buddy, or specific buddy assignment? or is this even of concern, considering there are two buddies to pick from in an emergency?

[Splitlip]

Single file is very difficult. You very likely will be diving ledges where single file is most logical. Care must be taken and as Dude says no cameras and no distractions until you get a handle on your protocols.

I normally dive with 2 others. More often than not, it turns into 3 semi solo divers. Rear diver stops in a hole, other 2 drift. Middle diver sees rear diver stop. Does he go back or does he try and signal lead diver. No signal? What does middle diver do? Head to lead diver or try and keep both in sight.
(Not that big a deal for us. All experienced and viz is usually very good. Can always keep an eye on bubbles.)
You get the picture. Plan your dive and communicate. This is your familly.
When my daughter is in the mix, all others are on their own.

[CaptainRon]

I often dive with my 2 kids. I feel safer when all three of us are together. In the boy scouts, we had a policy when hiking away from the main group that we always went in groups of three. If someone had a problem, there would be someone to assist that person and another to go for help. I think the concept works well for scuba too.

When we were in Cozumel in January, the DM had no problem with us diving as a trio.