Team Diving & Procedures
Team Diving vs Buddy Diving: How DIR Teams Work
A buddy pair shares a dive. A team shares a plan, a configuration and a response. How DIR teams position, communicate, plan gas and handle problems.
Team Diving & Procedures
Build your understanding, one dive at a time.
Articles in this topic
8 articlesTeam Diving & Procedures
Gas Switches: Why DIR Divers Don't Color-Code Regulators
Why a gas switch is a team protocol, not a regulator swap: what it has to confirm, why color-coding isn't a check, and where you learn the sequence.
Team Diving & Procedures
The Five-Minute Check: A Situational Awareness Habit for Divers
Every five minutes, check yourself, your team, then the environment. Why this one habit catches problems early, and how to build it into every dive.
Team Diving & Procedures
Pre-Dive Checks That Catch Real Problems
A team pre-dive sequence that finds real problems: equipment match, gas check, the GLADDDDD plan review, quick long-hose and valve checks, and a bubble check.
Team Diving & Procedures
Light Signals for Dive Teams
The three light signals every dive team should know (OK, attention and emergency), how to light up hand signals without blinding anyone, and why they matter.
Team Diving & Procedures
The Valve Drill Explained: Why Doubles Divers Practice Shutdowns
What a valve drill is, why UTD trains it in Essentials and Doubles courses, how the valves on backmount doubles work, and why you learn it in the water.
Team Diving & Procedures
Deploying an SMB From Depth: Why, When and What Goes Wrong
Why DIR teams send up a surface marker buoy before the ascent, when to deploy it, the gear UTD requires, and the failures that pull divers off their stop.
Team Diving & Procedures
Out-of-Air Drill: Why DIR Divers Donate the Long Hose
Why DIR teams donate the regulator they're breathing on a long hose, what a good gas share looks like, and why it's a skill you learn in the water.