Hello Dale,
You hit the nail on the head with your August publisher’s message on the buddy system. Buddy separation is a common contributing factor in Divers Alert Network accident reports, but they don’t address a common shortcoming of buddying up. That is that victims often rely too much on their buddies. Each buddy must be self-reliant enough to fend for him/herself as well as the buddy. A strong/weak team is OK, so long as the weak member is the one that has a problem and that’s not always the case. Prudent buddies shouldn’t take on dives that exceed the comfort zone of the weaker member. Skills level out over years of diving together as buddies develop a library of memories to share with themselves and others. Thank you and Kim for sharing yours on the pages of California Diving News.
Safe diving,
Bob Sterner and Barbara Krooss
