Solo diving on a rebreather

[tphelps]

Wow, glad you had some good dive buddies! Thank you for sharing. I've gotten breakthrough before on my Prism2. I guess I first "felt it" coming up from 190' swimming back up the reef to deco. And you're right at first I didn't think anything of it. But after we cleared deco and had to swim against a current that suddenly picked up, it hit me that I probably had hypercapnia. Bailed off the loop and yeah everything just cleared right up.
But thanks for the warning about the "cheap sorb!"

 

[tstormdiver]

I have been warned again & again in my training, that a CO2 hit can be quite insidious. That is proof positive. Thank you!

 

[w ripley]

For those of us whom have several hundred hours solo in caves on a RB, many of mine in the 5- to 7- hour range: What can we say?

It's your decision to solo or not.
It's your decision to substitute an unknown sorb product.
It's your decision to pack the sorb in the way that you did.

So, how are your poor decisions the basis for others not to solo dive? Not solo diving a RB is obviously the right choice for you, but it offends me to have someone badmouth solo rebreather diving because he or she doesn't know how to do it safely.

 

[atedeschi]

Very true also of any scuba accident but CCR especially



Sanity breaths are a double edged sword. A traditional CO2 rentention hit will not clear up from just a few breaths. The fact that mine did means I had not retained that much CO2 and in the absents of other symptoms I did not even consider it to be an issue. I was convinced I was OK right up until I bailed out.

How so? Also you knew you where working hard and experience vertigo. I would think thats a symptom something was up no? I only get vertigo during hot drops in blue open water when there is no frame of reference. If you took some OC breaths when you experience vertigo maybe you would have gotten a clear head just like you did when you bailed out later in the dive.

 

[kwinter]

I have promised my wife I will not dive solo anymore. What actually ends up happening in the water is a different story. Bill is correct. We make our own decisions and live with the consequences. As long as I keep making the payments on my ample life insurance policy, I am accepting responsibility.

 

[wedivebc]

So, how are your poor decisions the basis for others not to solo dive? Not solo diving a RB is obviously the right choice for you, but it offends me to have someone badmouth solo rebreather diving because he or she doesn't know how to do it safely.

I relayed my experience. If you were offended that's on you. I did not bash solo diving in my post.

 

[w ripley]

I relayed my experience. If you were offended that's on you. I did not bash solo diving in my post.

Probably a knee-jerk reaction on my part. Anytime I see a new thread heading that has solo & RB in it, and then the OP's post saying that the diver isn't going to do it anymore because he almost died, it paints a negative picture in my mind.

Your statement may be true: "I am convinced beyond a doubt if I had not been diving with an attentive buddy (two in this case) I would have eventually succumbed to CO2 accumulation which several hundred feet back in a cave is as good as dead. I completely lacked the ability to recognize the symptoms and therefore would not have been able to save myself or bailout on my own."

My problem with your post is that you tend to blame the absorbent and not that you bought absorbent that you had no idea what it was (absorbent is arguably the most critical component of a RB), that you apparently improperly packed it to get such an even spread of the dye reaction, and that you pushed your diving/breathing on your RB, as these machines don't respond well to that (an indication - to me - that you lacked experience on a RB).

We solo divers have been fighting these battles for a long time, just like we did for Nitrox (it was a voodoo gas for many years), RBs (we're still fighting this one), solo diving, etc. If someone doesn't say something to the contrary, like I tried to do, it tends to invite all of those who are against it - usually for no logical reason - to jump in and rebuilt momentum in the other direction. Remember, Scuba Board tends to have many more divers that are newer to the sport and more highly impressionable than say the cave diving and/or rebreather forums, so what we say and defend is important.

Accept my apology for barking at you, but realize the obligation you have, as an OP, to present any opinions you have fairly, which if you re-read your post you might agree - regardless of your intention - you may not have done.

 

[mala]

thanks for the post.
takes a bit of balls to post about numpty moments.
Personnaly I think rb's are best dived solo as it focus's the mind both before and during the dive.

To buy a rebreather ,do the training,fly to mexico and then try to save $10 on sorb takes a bit of beating.

 

[atedeschi]

Care to respond to questions above? I'm not trying to turn this to a fight but trying to get a understanding of your thoughts and why you think it wouldn't work?

 

[oldschoolto]

I have never used a CCR.... But , have hundreds of solo diving northeast wrecks.... One thing sticks out in your store... You " KNEW " you were swimming hard ( Not a good thing to do ) and you " KNEW " your body/mind was sending you warning signs.... One of the " BIGGEST MISTAKES " people make is not taking first warnings of trouble to heart...

We have a saying in flying.... When you start thinking you may need to turn around.... It means you should have done it already.....
The sea and the sky are VERY UNFORGIVING.... Your story is a chain of events that if taken one or two links out it would have never happened...

Glad you made it...

Jim...