How common is solo RB diving?

[OceanEyes]

I'm having a tough time thinking of any of the many CCR divers that I know who have not dived solo.

 

[Wookie]

We allowed it on the Spree, specific people. You couldn’t be a stranger and dive solo rebreather.

 

[Wookie]

Fiona Sharp’s death in Bonaire yesterday makes me ask just how common is solo RB diving.

The question isn’t “how common is solo rebreather diving?”, the question is “do you carry enough bailout gas for the depths you dive solo?”

Eyewitnesses state that Fiona was carrying insufficient bailout for her planned dive.

And I saw that often.

 

[tbone1004]

at least in my circle it's pretty common. We all like to dive with each other, but most of it is same ocean diving and I don't know many people who object to solo diving and don't do it on a reasonably frequent basis.

 

[Jeremy Williams]

I think it’s selection biased. Those that find rebreather diving an acceptable risk proposition also tend to find solo diving acceptable. Perhaps I would go so far as to say... if you accept the risks of diving a rebreather then doing so solo may seem to add relatively little additional risk.

 

[jstrang]

For most CCR divers the mindset is that we are self sufficient. We have enough bailout gas to get us out of any situation and we have enough experience to deal with any issue.

For me a 300’ dive is still a big dive though. I know I wouldn’t plan to do that on my own.

 

[fsardone]

I was a solo diver well before being a reb diver ...
When I moved to reb my instructor told me to wait a bit before going solo ....
I tend to prefer to be with other reb divers but if unable I dive solo or solo with an OC partner ....

My limit is normoxic range and 15-20 min of deco max ... while solo with OC partner his limits....

 

[Kay Dee]

Fiona Sharp’s death in Bonaire yesterday makes me ask just how common is solo RB diving.

It was the norm in the group I dove with, and the liveaboard I dove off (on wrecks primarily in the 50 to 75m range).

 

[PT4476]

Pretty common. A lot of my RB dives are solo, I carry at least two bailouts on any solo dives with a deco obligation.

 

[JonG1]

I do and most divers with RB that I know do. Min of 2 bailout, usually 3 in OHE worked on 2 times bailout volume.

Tank vol are chosen to permit exit on any 2.