One of the most important people on your freediving path are your buddies. A buddy is someone you entrust with your life and wellbeing, so you can allow yourself to be picky. Unfortunately, there’s no Tinder yet to help you find a dive buddy. So we have to do it instead, which is why we’ve prepared this guide for organizing a freediving session with a buddy:
1. Never freedive alone
Rule number 1 in freediving is to never freedive alone. Most casualties occur to people who train on their own — or spearfish, as spearfishers tend not to have buddies in general. No matter how strong your urge to train is, no training is worth your life. And if that isn’t convincing enough, remember accidents are not just bad for you — they are bad for the image of our beautiful sport. So even if you tried all the ways to find a buddy you could think of and didn’t succeed, training on your own is not an option.
2. Find out your buddy’s experience level
Ideally, your buddy should be on the same level as you. But in real life, it’s often not the case. Also keep in mind that requirements and skills differ in different education systems. So, for example, for line diving with a buddy, it’s important to discuss your personal bests and comfortable depths and make sure you understand the key concepts of each other’s dives such as freefall, hang, FRC, and so on, depending on what you’re going to do. Also make sure you both agree on what buddying involves and what depth you expect your buddy to meet you. Make sure you both know how to operate the gear you’re going to use (such as the pulley system with the rope, the buoy, the counterballast, the lanyard, and so on). It’s also a good sign if your buddy has a first aid certificate.
3. Discuss your plans and communication
Create a dive plan and discuss them in advance. Make sure you’re both happy with what the other person is going to do. If you feel uncomfortable about anything, don’t be shy and say so and encourage your buddy to do the same. Announce your dive (depth and dive time) before performing you so that your buddy knows what to expect and won’t be caught unawares. One more thing that may improve the atmosphere on the buoy is communication. Some people are chatty while others prefer to be mindful and taciturn and concentrate on the upcoming dive instead. To avoid mutual frustration, it might be a good idea to clarify which of the categories each of you belongs to before going to the water.
4. Make a plan B
It might be useful to devise a plan B for your session. The sea is unpredictable. A current or thermocline may appear, preventing you from performing your planned dive. Your buddy might not feel well enough to provide safety at the expected depth because they have problems with their equalization. It doesn’t mean your training session should go down the drain. It’s worth it to have some other exercises that only require surface safety or shallower depths up your sleeve. Any training is better than no training at all, so don’t let the changing conditions discourage you!
5. You can always say no
If your buddy is engaging in practices you deem unsafe, such as overweight diving, you can always say no — and so can they. No one has to dive and then risk their own health and life to rescue the other person. If you’re not confident you can handle a possible accident, don’t dive this time or with that person. If you don’t think your buddy can pull off an ambitious diving plan, don’t dive. If you think they act recklessly, don’t dive. It’s better to cancel a dive or the whole session than to end up with two people suffering from injuries.
6. Talk about each other’s past injuries
It’s a good idea to discuss the injuries you’ve had. How is their hypoxia resistance? Are you prone to blackouts or squeezes? Is any of you likely to push your limits to the point where it becomes harmful? As dragging the freediver up from the depth in case of an emergency will become their buddy’s responsibility, you have to be prepared and know what to expect. And don’t forget:
7. Children can’t act as safety divers
Parents are sometimes tempted to avoid the hassle of looking for a buddy and train with their kids supervising them instead. This might seem an easy solution, but we strongly advise against it. First, no matter how well you instruct your child, in case of an emergency, they might find themselves at a loss. Even adults may find themselves at a loss — which may prove fatal. Second, this experience may be traumatizing for a child. Seeing a parent blacking out or even hypoxic definitely won’t do them any good. So leave your kid out of your training — being a safety is a responsibility no child should bear. If you want to introduce your child to freediving, don’t ask them to be your safety buddy — register them for a freediving course for children instead!
We are never tired of saying freediving is safe if practiced safely, and a reliable and competent buddy is part and parcel of safe training. It might require time and effort to find one, but getting a friend who will share all your best dives and totally understand your love for this weird activity is worth it at the end of the day! A perfect way to find a buddy is joining the master course at Freedive Nusa. It’s a wonderful opportunity for long-term regular training and getting to know the community, because there are always students who take this course at any given moment. You’ll be sure to meet certified and dedicated freedivers some of whom may well become your life-long freediving buddies!