More question than challenge

[aainslie]

OK, we've had this happen a couple of times. You get used to a system, so you do quite a few visual jumps, on scooters. On your way back, the guy at the front goes the wrong way on a jump. He's not really watching you so though you wave your light at him, he keeps going. Your scooters are pretty evenly matched and you're far enough behind him that you can't catch him immediately.

What do you do now?

(I'd like to test against what we do. Our solution works but has its downsides. Im hoping someone has a better solution)

[sandy]

Never having used a scooter, I'll take a shot. I would:

1. Grab the permanent line and shake it in hopes my buddy saw the movement and looked back to see what was happening.
2. Point my light in the opposite direction in hopes that my buddy would notice and then perform a lost buddy drill.
3. Wait for his/her return until air indicated otherwise. Before exiting, I would leave a personalized arrow on the line.

Upon a hopefully safe return, I would discuss buddy awareness with my partner and eliminate visual jumps.

Look forward to seeing your solution.

[lonestarfl]

What to do? I would continue doing what WE had been doing....SOLO diving with another diver. If the lead diver continues on into the wrong tunnel despite light signaling, I would try to help him. But, only after I made sure that I was OK! I would stop scootering, mark and line the gap, determine if I was comfortable to continue with my current gas and equipment (as a solo diver), evaluate the tunnel to determine if I have the correct scooter speed set or if I should enter without the scooter...or should I just sit and wait till the other diver comes back. There are alot of variables to consider. Never just assume chasing a diver down the wrong tunnel is the correct decision. Stick to basics first. The wrong turn might turn into a silt out, a tunnel too small for scooters...a cluster waiting to happen. Make sure that you can safely get yourself out so that you can confidently help you "buddy" out when the two of you are back in communication.
Safe Diving,
Lee

[Guy Bryant]

Two things have happened that shouldn't happen.

1) Even with scooters you should not be doing visual jumps. You have lost the guideline to surface. However, due to convience and familiarity with a system we will all probably do it sometime.
2) You should always be cognizant of your buddy. Especially if you are leading the dive. At least when you come to a jump in a line or a "T" you should wait for your buddy to make sure you both are going the same route.

OK, with that said, if I had been in the situation outlined and my buddy took the wrong jump or went the wrong direction then I would just stop and wait. Sooner or later he/she should notice you are no longer behind and turn to see what happened to you.

Hopefully, your buddy will turn and come back thus making everyone happy. If not, then after a few minutes I would proceed to look for my buddy till I hit my gas limit for safe exit.

If I never locate my buddy by the time I need to exit then that is too bad for the buddy, as I'm out of there. Hopefully, my buddy is familiar enough with the system to exit without me and not become a negative statistic.

Guy

[REastman]

I'd practice buddy skills so that when you come to a jump / T / restriction in the cave you know to get a good signal from your buddy(s) so that every one in the team knows it is okay to precede. That way no separation occurs to begin with.

[Cindy]

Guy said exactly what I would do. Cindy

[aainslie]

Thanks all. He's a great guy to dive with, this is his one irritating habit!

Cindy and Guy, that's what we've been doing - we stop and cover our lights until he comes back. The nice thing about this is he does it a lot less, and it's trained him to GIVE and RECEIVE the circle signal on the jump.

There's no time to stop, gap etc - things happen fast on scooters. And lonestarfl, if you can maintain zero separation on scooters you're better than anyone I've seen in the caves. it's nice to go side by side or in a wing formation but in some passages not feasible. And once he goes the wrong way, it can take a while to chase him down.

There IS of course a sting in the tail to that. Having an OOA as the last member of a scooter team in a narrowish tunnel (e.g. most of Little River) could be real interesting. Yet another reason to go sidemount....

The only thing I don't like is it does create separation for a few minutes while he works it out.

Good news is, he's gettng way better!!!