I recently participated in the last spearfishing championships in Kona, Hawaii and noticed no rules of diving with a partner. This being my first time, I was surprised of no rules (that I know of or read) that existed for requiring a partner for safety.
I realize this cannot be new news to most of you and I assume there must be a reason for this in the US, as other countries do require safety partner(s). So my question is why. Why is it not a requirement to have a partner for safety reasons?
While we're required to participate in teams with multiple people/partners, everyone splits up, going solo. I just find it ironic is all, that regardless of what type of diving we do, we heavily promote diving with a partner and never diving alone.
During the competition, my partners and I decided not to split up for safety reasons. I realize now that it was heavily to our disadvantage as I know we could have shot more fish total and individually if we weren't spotting each other.
Every year multiple people die diving/spearing, just around Hawaii. 3 in the past couple weeks alone. I can't imagine collecting the most points being the reason for disregarding having a partner....right?
I realize this cannot be new news to most of you and I assume there must be a reason for this in the US, as other countries do require safety partner(s). So my question is why. Why is it not a requirement to have a partner for safety reasons?
While we're required to participate in teams with multiple people/partners, everyone splits up, going solo. I just find it ironic is all, that regardless of what type of diving we do, we heavily promote diving with a partner and never diving alone.
During the competition, my partners and I decided not to split up for safety reasons. I realize now that it was heavily to our disadvantage as I know we could have shot more fish total and individually if we weren't spotting each other.
Every year multiple people die diving/spearing, just around Hawaii. 3 in the past couple weeks alone. I can't imagine collecting the most points being the reason for disregarding having a partner....right?