THIS IS HOW TEAM DIVING WORKS
There are a bunch of topics that fall under this catch-all: among them is watching your dive buddy analyse and label ‘their’ gas.
Just in case there’s someone out there who doesn’t do this or who wonders why it’s necessary, allow us to give your head a shake!
Safety Reasons
- Verify the mix: it doesn’t really take much of a difference in oxygen content to change a safe depth into an unsafe one. And this can work both ways… risk of oxygen toxicity or decompression sickness.
- Prevent human error: it doesn’t take much of a distraction at a fill station to misread an analyser or to write the wrong numbers on a tank label.
- Confirm shared data: Everyone in the water together, certainly in a team, must agree on the real oxygen percentage to calculate the correct target and maximum depth for a proper dive plan.
- Building the team ethos: Backing up major decisions protects shared safety… nobody ‘rolls the dice’ and relies on memory or trust.
AND THE KICKER SHOULD BE THIS… remember that one third of the gas in your dive buddy’s cylinder is for you—and vice versa—if there’s an OOA (out-of-air) situation the two of you will be sharing that gas.
Following this one simple rule to watch your dive buddy analyse and label ‘their’ gas, will help to catch a potentially dangerous mistake before you even get into the water.