Do you dive solo?

[jvoets]

According to the death -thread below, a lot of us dive solo.

[Tommy Engfors]

Freediving is a pretty extreme sport/activity. Not many people are into it.

If you can't find a buddy, do you just give it up? Well, yes. According to those who are lucky enough to dive with someone, that is the way to go (or at least such is the tone of 'voice' sometimes).

It will be interesting to see how this poll develops. I am quite confident that those who answer "Yes, regularly" never had a choice in the matter.

[Ben Gowland]

Guilty, your honour. Although only occassional, I have to admit I do it with little regret, due to:

It being more relaxed than most of my buddy diving.
It being more exhilarating that most of my buddy diving.
It is the traditional way.

I suppose a lot of this is due to a lack of similarly experieced, able and inclined buddies. I would certainly do a lot more deep diving if I had the time, buddy and acces to deep water. I am in what is probably a normal predicament for most of the people on this list in that whenever I buddy dive I am the 'leader' and feel a responsibility to do the job, and spend most of the time either buddying closely, or teaching. Maybe it will change one day, as I know from experience that having an equivalently able and experienced diver along with you is a great boon. Some of you don't know how lucky you are!

However, I still think I would dive alone occassionally for the feeling of solitude that can be really relaxing.

[Pekka]

Guilty as charged.. regularly... Sadly, but trying to improve the situation...

Pekka

[1 Tadpole]

Yes I do occasionally dive solo. Like others that have posted so far and those that will post, the lack of buddies plays a huge factor in this decision.

The solo experience is one that brings you closer to yourself. Safety and moderation are #1 when I go out alone. My first solo dive was magical. Much like solo mountaineering, knowing the risks, having confidence your own abilities and listening intently to your common sense keeps you alive and content.

I enjoy the company when it is available, but when it's not I enjoy the solitude experience just as well. Safely.


Happy New Years!
Tad

[shaneshac]

I go spearing on my own occasionally as all my buddies are working. Always really careful with the depth and time of apnea and mostly do inshore fishing at 15m max. Got a few scares from big fish a number of times but that is all.

[neshamah]

It was one morning while I dive and coming afloat
at a certain distance from the deep - when I noticed that my soul
and strength were vanishing in that blue deep ocean and I
couldn't tell
where I was heading or where was the surface or how deep it was -
suddenly a violent fear took over me and without expecting the help of
anybody
I did'nt know how I ascended little by little until I was able to reach the
surface - I breathed
and looked at the sky and looked ahead to the coast and I looked up
again
and I appreciated life with more sense.


This happened 15 years a go before I was a Christian but it's worth remembering it
and
take
into account this event because se when my life was vanishing - there you
were
oh God

__________________________________________________

Fue una manana mientras pescaba submarino y ascendiendo yo desde una
cierta
distancia de profundidad - cuando note como mis sentidos mi alma y mi
fuerzas se iban desvaneciendo entre aquel azul y los pocos rayos que
penetraban- ya no tenia control de mi y tampoco podia distinguir en que
rumbo me dirigia y cual era la superficie o lo profundo...un violento
temor
se apodero de mi mientras clamaba en mi interior por vivir- y como algo
divino y con la ayuda inesperada de alguien divino mi cuerpo fue ascendiendo
poco a
poco hasta que logre llegar a la superficie- respire mire al cielo al
sol.mire a lo lejos la costa -volvi a mirar hacia arriba ..entonces
aprecie
con mas sentido la vida

saludos

Daniel.

[cjorca]

Hopefully the fatalities due to solo doving don't increase.
Think of it like driving a car, no matter how carefull you are, whether its your fault or not, someday, you will be involved in an accident ( hopefully not a fatal one)
safe diving to all

Cali

[1 Tadpole]

So is that a YES or a NO Cali?

[BladeRunner]

I dive solo because I can not find anyone in my area that will even think about freediving. I did find someone close here on the forum that I was diving with regularly but he passed on in August when he was training in the pool alone. He was doing a certain type of training that we both talked about never doing without someone watching.

When I dive now I've had to cut my depth and time by half because of the possiblity something happening. It scares me more to put my family through possiblity of my death.


BladeRunner OUT

[neshamah]

Well if is truth diving solo is danger.. the same fear we have in our mind sometime is danger too..as bladerunner say is our enemy # one

.just be relax and do everything we do in water.....knowing how to do it-and when to act
there was I time since I was spearing by my self at 4 am ..that a shark appeared close to me( Cornuda o pez martillo as we say and espanol) AT the begigin I thought was a man...but when I realize what was going on...I went out of the water the faster That I could

minutes latter I was thinking about going home and stop fishing that day ...but I change my mind and continued spearfishing and forgot about the shark..... what I mean is that sometime we have to confront fear...

__________________________________________________

Don't fear to chat at deeperblue....go to chat

[cjorca]

oh sorry, no I do not solo dive
Cali

[Tommy Engfors]

Bladerunner,

What kind of training did he do?

[Bindlestitch]

I don't mean to be fatalistic but the fact is (as we all well know) that everyone of us will eventually die. You never get out of life alive. I understand and agree with those who warn against solo diving but like most others I have no one within 200 miles who even knows what freediving is. There is just no interest in my area, therefore I have no dive buddy. So it's either give it up totally or risk going by myself. I'm not afraid of dying, just the method of said death and causing grief to those I love. But as said before , we all die and it's something we should come to accept and understand. I could have an anurism(sp?) while typing this message. I'm sure my chances of that are much less than dying while diving solo but the chance is still there.
I so want to see statistics on solo diving deaths because I have a strong suspicion that it is very low on the statistical scale of accidental deaths. I'm not saying "it won't happen to me" I'm saying that there is always the possibility that it will happen, myabe even it's inevitable as some have said. I can not control when or how I will die, I can only know where I am going when I die. I can "decrease the risk" of dying young of course but to do so in a statistical manner would mean doing absolutely nothing. Not leaving the house or eating anything I might choke on or any other manner or activity of life.
I don't recommend diving solo by any means but I will not say that I haven't or still do not dive solo. It is a risk like any other and I choose to take it. Just like driving to work in the morning or deer hunting. It is far more risky than those things I know but I love it and can not dive unless I dive alone. Although I am never truly alone because Jesus is with me in all that I do. I know that is silly to some but it is what I believe.
Sorry for rambling...and thankfull that I didin't have an anurism while typing this.
God bless and safe diving,
Stitch

[Jon]

During Kirk's clinic, a couple of years ago, he gave us stat's for that year. I think that it was 85 divers and counting- most he stated were spearo's. Maybe he, or Cali might know too, of the latest numbers.

In tech diving, especially cave diving, they use accident analyisis to try and make the sport safer. It would be nice to know if there is any orginization that does that for freediivng as well.

Jon