Bailout gas.....how much is enough?

[sum-yung guy]

Having no CCR experience at all but quite a bit of OC under my belt, I feel that in any situation having more than enough gas to get to the surface in a problem is always a good thing. As I move into CCR in the next few months, I am going into it with the mindset that I will always be carrying enough gas to get myself to the surface in any type of situation comfortably and with gas if my buddy has issues. I have heard about many CCR divers who dive the team philosophy, and personally can't find my "warm fuzzy" feeling to think about diving it. I have always been taught in the technical realm to dive with enough gas to get yourself to the surface and (on the rule of 1/3's) your buddy too. I practice this style of diving to keep not only myself comfortable with ever having a problem at depth, but my buddy too.

I understand that some people move to CCR to minimize the amount of gear they are carrying, but at what cost do you not carry enough gas to save yourself?  ??? I can see if you are using a rebreather recreationally without a huge amount of deco and could bail out to OC to get yourself to the surface and any minor stops you might incur. But for any big dives, I always come back to the question...why wouldn't you carry enough gas for yourself?

Lets be honest...the chances of everybody having a major problem at the same time are minimal, but why leave that to chance? Don't we train for the worst case scenario for everything? Even starting at Open Water with our five different ascents that we teach. We will never get to the last one if we follow the first four steps before it, of course the first being, don't run out of air!!!

If we go back to our bread and butter of diving, it seems to make sense to me, but everyone learns a different way and that is why I am always open to hear about everyones different styles of diving to learn more about diving in general.

Good Thread, I am curious to see all the different responses!