Dive Rite Celebrates 40 Years of Innovation

Lead image: Dive Rite’s Lamar & Jared Hires at Ginnie Springs, Florida. Photo by Fan Ping

10 APRIL 2024—DAN has released a preliminary  accident analysis report regarding Jared Hires’ death. See: Preliminary Accident Analysis .

4 APRIL 2024—Dive Rite general manager Jared Hires died yesterday, 3April, on a dive in Plura Cave, Rana, Norway. The full details have not been released. The 33-year old father, explorer and educator was an exceptional young man and much admired and loved by the community. Our hearts and prayers go out to his parents, Lamar and Lee Ann, Jared’s wife Taylor and their two children, and the Dive Rite Team for their loss. Note that we have temporarily held the story, “Forty Years of Dive Rite (1984-2024), from the April issue so as not to distract the family in their grief.

14 March, 2024—Dive Rite was officially established 40 years ago today! The company started manufacturing dive equipment in 1984 to address the growing demands of North Florida cave explorers and early tech pioneers. Cave diving was a new and growing sport, and early cave explorers needed equipment that wasn’t commercially available (yet!). Dive Rite’s history of innovation started with cave explorers but has grown into an international brand delivering high-quality diving gear for all types of underwater explorers, ranging from open water reefs to deep wrecks to remote sumps and more.

Dive Rite started with a product line encompassing thirteen tools for cave exploration and has expanded to include recreational and technical equipment lines of over 200 products. Dive Rite pioneered some of the first commercially available products for underwater exploration, including the canister light, the backplate, and the first doubles wing. Dive Rite entered the early rebreather market in 2004 with the O2ptima CCR. Since then, the O2ptima has evolved into an even more modular unit designed for exploration and travel: the O2ptima Chest Mount.

Dive Rite’s employees are actively involved in every aspect of the dive industry including exploring, teaching, and testing the equipment Dive Rite sells. The Dive Rite team enthusiastically participates in diving every imaginable underwater environment worldwide, including caves, sumps, wrecks, reefs, and ice diving. They are also heavily involved in instruction, from open water courses all the way through mixed gas rebreather instructor training. Insights from these environments and experiences are brought back to the research and development team so Dive Rite can continue the process of continuous innovation, striving to fulfill the needs of all types of divers.

What began as a small family business based in North Florida’s Cave Country has grown into a prominent global brand. Dive Rite is a company of serious divers, making equipment for serious divers. Dive Rite will continue to meet the needs of divers for the next 40 years, constantly looking for ways to improve the diving experience, not just following trends but setting them.

“Keep an eye out for a detailed timeline of Dive Rite’s past 40 years in the next issue! 👀”

DIVE DEEPER

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