Why the Buddy Check Still Matters: Common Mistakes and Smarter Pre-Dive Practices Every Diver Should Know

The buddy check is a form of vital pre-dive checks that all divers learn to perform before each dive. But during the transition from student to certified diver, the buddy check is one of the procedures that causes the most doubts, if not problems, sometimes even leading to genuine stress.

This is particularly odd considering the actual ease of checking a recreational diver’s limited gear, and the fact that the entire process occurs out of the water.

One reason can be practical, because we are not in full control of the whole process, given that we must share decisions with our buddy, which could be even an unknown one. But even more abstract reasons, such as social conformity, may undermine a good buddy check. Whatever the reason is, we should not dive if we cannot execute an efficient pre-dive check. 

But what constitutes an efficient pre-dive check can be a debatable point. While all divers agree on why the check must be performed, and there is strong convergence on what to check, more diverse opinions exist on how to execute this vital procedure, even though we all have learned the same basic procedure.

In this document, we briefly discuss the official state of the art, the unofficial possibilities that are becoming more popular every day, and a trick usable regardless of the chosen procedure.

Thank you for reading!