The Buddy Check Diving is a check we do every time before we go scuba diving. It is easy to remember the steps for the buddy check by using the scuba acronym BWRAF.
You learn the Buddy Check BWRAF during your PADI Open Water Diver Course. This is such and important skill that you will practice it many times. You will practice the Buddy Check diving skills on PADI Confined dive 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5 and all the 4 PADI open water dives.
The scuba acronym BWRAF stand for: BCD, Weight System, Releases, Air and Final OK.
Buddy Check Scuba Diving – BWRAF
Steps for the PADI Buddy Check Scuba Diving BWRAF:
1. First we need to test each others BCD’s
2. Using the LPI button, start inflating your buddy’s BCD (you can do this at the same time to save some time
3. Once you are sure the power inflator works and your buddy’s BCD is not leaking, then deflate the BCD.
4. Next step for the Buddy Check in Scuba Diving is to Orally inflate each others BCD, this time a few breaths will be enough as you already tested for leaks before.
5. After checking the BCD, check the weight system, making sure nothing is entangled, streamlined, no weights are missing and that the weight system quick release mechanisms works properly
6. Then check the releases on your buddy’s dive equipment, no entanglement, all releases secure, especially check your Buddy’s Cylinder Band / Strap to prevent a loose cylinder band
7. After that, the most important part of the buddy check scuba diving is checking your buddy’s Air
8. First make your you Buddy’s Air is fully open (Double check which way is open and close on the side of the turn valve)
9. After you both checked each others tank valve, grab your regulators and purge, smell and breath from them while looking at your SPG (When you breath the pressure gauge needle should NOT move)
11. Finally the Final OK in the Buddy Check, which means fully check all the dive equipment, do we have fins, a scuba mask, snorkel, are all hoses streamlined… If all good then give the Final OK to your Buddy and then we are ready to Scuba Dive!Check out this video for the PADI Buddy
Check. The video is with a voice over, so don’t forget to put the sound on 🔈
It is easier to do the buddy check if you and your buddy have their own full set of diving equipment. Also knowing that the dive equipment has not been used by so many others is much more hygienic. There are many good set’s of dive gear. But check out this Aqualung dive gear package:
We have made a second video that explains how to perform the BWRAF scuba in a demonstration level for the PADI Divemaster and PADI Dive Instructor course:
For some people this is a very hot topic. Whether or not it is better to teach scuba diving skills on your knees on the bottom or when being neutrally buoyant in confined water.
FULL NEUTRALLY BUOYANT (TRIM) / FIN PIVOT or KNEELING for beginner divers?
Some Scuba Divers and Professionals fanatically say that you have to teach new scuba divers from the start to be neutrally buoyant, others say the opposite and believe that new scuba divers should first feel relaxed practicing skills on their knees first before moving on to buoyancy skills, while others are anywhere in-between with their opinions about teaching skills kneeling or neutrally buoyant whilst scuba diving in confined water.
Different factors play a role in choosing Neutrally Buoyant vs Kneeling
Personally, I am one of those scuba dive instructors that is in between with my opinion of whether neutrally buoyant or kneeling is better in confined water. I read a lot of opinions from dive professionals leaning towards neutrally buoyant or just kneeling, but to be honest in my opinion a great dive instructor makes his/her choice depending on many different factors.
Different factors to consider when teaching skills Neutrally Buoyant vs Kneeling are: How big is your group size? Are you in the pool or confined open water? Which confined dive are you on? Are any of your scuba diving students nervous? How are their motor skills? How are the conditions in confined water? And more…
Pros and Cons of teaching skills whilst Neutrally Buoyant vs Kneeling in confined water
Kneeling Pros:
Kneeling is an easier position to be in when learning scuba diving skills for the first time
Kneeling makes you focus fully on the skill instead of stressing about buoyancy at the same time
Kneeling in the beginning makes you first focus on breathing and awareness of being underwater before practicing new balances or scuba diving skills
Kneeling makes it easier to control a larger group of students in confined water as a dive instructor
Building confidence (depending on the person) before practicing skills neutrally buoyant
Kneeling Cons:
Kneeling is not a realistic diving position
Could lead to some people thinking that kneeling on the bottom is “ok” on a real dive site
Will take a bit longer to get buoyancy under control in confined water
Neutrally Buoyant Pros:
Instantly in the right trim position for scuba diving
Neutrally buoyant will make you look cool if you get it under control!
Neutral buoyancy is a more realistic position while doing skills
Prepares you to handle skills and situations whilst neutrally buoyant in real-life diving circumstances
Makes you a better diver faster (depending on the person)
Neutrally Buoyant Cons:
Hard for new diver to achieve in their first confined session
Teaching brand new diver skills whilst neutrally buoyant can significantly raise stress levels
Risk of “floating” or sculling to the surface
Can make a new diver feel bad and increases the chance for them to quit the course early
Harder for dive instructors to control larger groups
Of course, there are more pros and cons for teaching scuba diving skills neutrally buoyant vs kneeling in confined water. Also, the pros and cons above can be different depending on different factors, like student comfort level, instructor skill level and more.
(definition of confined water: Confined water is a swimming pool or open water with swimming pool like conditions depending on depth, calmness and clarity)
On what Confined Dive are you teaching Neutrally Buoyant vs Kneeling?
Depending on the scuba diving training organisation, there are many confined dives to teach before you can move onto teaching scuba diving in open water.
When I read opinions around being Neutrally Buoyant vs Kneeling on forums and social media, most of the time I see people talking about the environment – like confined water, the pool or during diving in general. But I rarely hear people discuss what confined dive they are conducting.
Should Student Divers learn skills first kneeling and then repeating them Neutrally Buoyant?
Let’s say for example you are teaching 5 separate confined water dives before moving onto open water dives, then there is a big difference in student comfort level between confined dive 1 and confined dive 5. Personally I believe that during confined water dive 1 we should focus more on making student divers feel comfortable in the water, focusing on breathing and practicing some basic skills on their knees as that is easier and more comfortable to achieve. Again this is just confined Dive 1.
Then during confined dive 2, 3 or 4 we should introduce teaching neutral buoyancy diving skills. Then when the student divers have mastered the skills on their knees and mastered being neutrally buoyant, then we can combine performing / repeating some skills neutrally buoyant on a simulated dive in confined water dive 5.
I am a strong believer when teaching anything that “babies should learn to crawl before they walk, before they run, before they ride a bicycle and before they fly a F-16 Jet fighter!”
Teaching skills kneeling before being neutrally buoyant is bad for the environment
Some dive professionals claim that teaching new scuba divers skills while kneeling in their first confined water dives will make them damage the reef or any other aquatic life.
This can be true if those divers continue to kneel, sit or touch the bottom on all confined water dives, then also continue that during the open water dives and if the instructor puts them over the coral.
If, for example, you just teach a few skills on confined water dive 1 or 2 (especially in the pool on the knees and then progress to teach neutral buoyancy and then combine skills while neutrally buoyant before their open water dives, then I have never seen those student divers damage a reef.
The reason why student divers on their first open water dives damage corals etc. is because of a bad diving instructor not paying attention, diving in the wrong area or not having their students master neutral buoyancy in confined water before moving on to open water. This has nothing to do with some new students performing their first skills kneeling on the bottom of the pool or plain sand on confined dive 1 or 2.
Should teaching skills be taught neutrally buoyant or kneeling in the Divemaster and IDC Course
Opinions about whether we should kneel or be neutrally buoyant whilst teaching scuba diving skills are heavily debated for recreational divers, however, many scuba divers do agree that conducting skills whilst neutrally buoyant is very important in any Divemaster or Diving Instructor IDC courses.
I do agree that it is fantastic to test and improve the skill level of any Divemaster and Diving Instructor candidate during their Skill Circuit. We should have skills in the Divemaster and IDC Skill Circuit that need to be conducted neutrally buoyant. PADI for example released their New Revised IDC Course in 2020 emphasising more neutral buoyancy during the IDC Skills Circuit.
Alternate Air Source Skill Neutrally Buoyant during the PADI IDC Course
However, if you are teaching the confined water presentations during the IDC with all participants neutrally buoyant, then are you really simulating a real beginner level course? I still believe it depends which skill you are simulating.
For example, if you are conducting a Regulator Removal and Recovery skill in your IDC Confined Water Presentation re-enacting a real-life situation with brand new students during confined water dive 1, then maybe have the “students” (acting IDC Candidates) kneel. But if you are conducting a Panic Diver Out of Air Skill from the Rescue Course in your IDC Open Water Presentation, then you should choose to have your simulated rescue diver students (acting IDC candidates) in a neutrally buoyant position the whole time.
Kneeling in the beginning can help to make more people enjoy scuba diving
If we would force all new scuba divers to be perfectly neutrally buoyant in their first hour underwater, before relaxing and learning the right breathing techniques and skills, then I believe that many people will just give up on scuba diving as it make it too stressful.
Student Panicking during Skill Practice in Confined Water
This is unnecessary as, with a bit of patience, a smile and some time, almost everyone can get the confidence and skill level to enjoy this amazing activity. Some people can be neutrally buoyant in the first 5 minutes while others may want to stay on their knees for a bit in confined water before progressing on to neutral buoyancy skills… There is nothing wrong with that and it makes many more people become divers.
If of course they can be neutrally buoyant instantly and perform the skills, then great! No one is forcing people to kneel.
Is teaching skills kneeling in confined water against training organisation standards?
I can’t speak for all training organisations, but the mainstream scuba diving training organisations have no specific standards on which position new divers have to be able to master a diving skill.
Training organisations want student divers to master a diving skill in a way that is safe, comfortable and repeatable. If that means kneeling, then that is fine, and it is also fine to do it neutrally buoyant depending on what confined dive you are teaching. Of course, during neutral buoyancy skills, you need to achieve neutral buoyancy to master the skill to stay within training standards.
It does depend on your location, like for example, are you on the bottom of a pool or are you on sand in confined open water, or are you doing skills in full open water etc.
Final word about discussing Neutral buoyancy vs Kneeling
There are so many heated debates about which is better, neutral buoyancy or teaching people skills kneeling on the bottom. These debates are discussed in dive shops, pubs and mostly on social media. Sadly, sometimes in a very aggressive way. You meet a lot of people that only think “Black or white” and one way. That by itself says a lot about that person as I believe that neutrally buoyancy has its pros and cons, and kneeling also has its pros and cons.
It just really depends on so many different factors and situations that you can’t really say if being neutrally buoyant or kneeling is better in the first moments when teaching people to scuba dive in confined water.
You just read my opinion in this article, but that doesn’t mean it is the right opinion. For this reason, when I teach new Divemasters and scuba dive instructors, I like to teach both neutrally buoyant and kneeling so they can then form their own opinion. Try different styles and see what works for you, but what is very important is that you should never certify any person as an Open Water Diver unless by the end of the course they are able to master all skills and can dive neutrally buoyant so they don’t hurt themselves and any aquatic life when they enjoy Scuba Diving during and after completion of their first Open Water Diver (Entry Level) Course.
