New Divemaster air consumption

[Blackcrusader]

Ok, before this becomes an argument, yes, I understand I’m a new diver, especially compared to all of you. That’s why I posted a question. I’m beginning the DM course with only 47 dives under my belt, but I’m not doing this for ego. I left my stressful job and moved to Florida. As a turn of fate I discovered scuba and am obsessed. But have no dive buddies, it costs me $150-200 to get a dive in, and I’ve spent thousands on classes and equipment. The local dive shop has offered me the job of running a 30 ft shore dive (close to EMS, no current) when I finish DM because they like me and think my skills are good. I agree instructor should wait, but this will give me the ability to dive free, make a little income at the same time. Sorry if you disagree, but it’s the best opportunity I’ve had in my life. I love people and love seeing the face on new divers, or after a new site. Just wanted some advice.

Dang, I pay around US$20 - 25 for a boat dive in Asia and sometimes just rent tanks for shore dives and head off with a buddy.
You should find a dive buddy to do shore dives with and just rent tanks.
It's great you want to be a DM and you want to improve your gas consumption no one is mocking you for that. All people were saying is that perhaps get in more dives and experience before continuing your DM course. I've dived with DM's who have done OW to DM in the shortest possible time and they were not very good divers. They had the certs but lacking in experience. That is not a good thing when you are being paid to lead divers as a professional especially as some of the divers you will lead will notice that.
I have thousands of dive but only consider myself a competent deco recreational diver.

I can do helicopter turns and fin backwards I avoid silting up the bottom and maintain depth using my lungs and be motionless in a water column. Over the years I improved my gas consumption to a point that people think I have a broken SPG after a dive.
When I had 47 dives I would never have considered doing a DM course. I was not even comfortable at times with the diving I was doing at the time. In fact just getting from one course to another I would put at least 50 dives in. PS after several thousand dives I have still not done the DM course as I do not want to be a working diving professional.

When people dive with a DM they have certain expectations that has not only the certification but also the experience. This year I plan on diving in extreme fast drift currents that also have strong down currents in Lombok Bali Indonesia. The dive center will not take out divers who have not dived in those conditions before. The first dive they will assess the divers regardless of certification levels and numbers of dives before being allowed to these dive sites. All the divers have to be self reliant as being separated does happen.
So yes become a DM and work as a DM that's great. Some of us just think you should have more diving experience before doing that
but it is up to you not us. I would expect a DM to be able to lead me on dives to 40m 130ft and be able to complete an hours dive where the average dive depth is around 45 ft / 14m for the dive.

DM's need to be able to dive deep to sometimes stay with clients who go deeper than the dive plan. It happens a lot. So you may want to look also at the TDI ANDP Course as you will learn a lot about diving techniques and gas management.

Good you plan to dive to 30ft with clients and use that to build up experience. But what happens when you discover one of your divers is down at 100ft and cannot hear your tank banging or shaker stick?

 

[Blackcrusader]

Maybe for you, but for a lot of us the camera is the reason for the dive. For me SCUBA is a way to get close enough to something to get video of it, otherwise I wouldn't be doing it.

I get what Wibble means. I too take photos and video and diving for me is my form of mental and physical therapy.

 

[SlugLife]

Sometimes I just cross my legs and drift in the currents or just hover in no current water. Sometimes I close my eyes and see if I can maintain depth with my eyes closed. I've been accused of taking naps on my dives lol

If I had a big enough, or continuous air-supply, I just might take a nap underwater.

Ok, before this becomes an argument, yes, I understand I’m a new diver, especially compared to all of you. That’s why I posted a question. I’m beginning the DM course with only 47 dives under my belt, but I’m not doing this for ego. I left my stressful job and moved to Florida. As a turn of fate I discovered scuba and am obsessed. But have no dive buddies, it costs me $150-200 to get a dive in, and I’ve spent thousands on classes and equipment. The local dive shop has offered me the job of running a 30 ft shore dive (close to EMS, no current) when I finish DM because they like me and think my skills are good. I agree instructor should wait, but this will give me the ability to dive free, make a little income at the same time. Sorry if you disagree, but it’s the best opportunity I’ve had in my life. I love people and love seeing the face on new divers, or after a new site. Just wanted some advice.

The only thing it costs me per-dive for a basic-dive is air-fills, time, and fuel for my car. A free park, solo dive, and I'm gold. Sure there are much nicer dives that cost money, but for about $35 (2 tanks of air, plus fuel), I can do 2 dives I don't know your exact situation, but you might need to "shop around" for ways to dive cheaper. Maybe ask other divers you need how they dive inexpensively in your area.

Other people mentioned solo-dive training, and I'll give that a vote. It's not hard for me to find dive-buddies at dive-parks, or through various dive-groups, but I usually just prefer to dive solo. You probably want those skills and redundancy anyway as a guide, because you're basically solo-diving while herding cats.

---

You're not the only person to come along appears to be rushing things when it comes to scuba-diving. The passion and motivation is a great thing, however the obsession (as you call it) might mean you're rushing past some fundamentals, including simply enjoying the dive. I'm not judging or criticizing, but rather suggesting you try to reframe your mental-state a little. That change in mental state may even help you relax underwater, which may help you improve your SAC rate.

If you have a dive-shop thinking of hiring you, I'd try to see if they have an experienced DM or instructor willing to go on a dive with you, and offer some serious critique of things you need to work on. Or simply ask any dive buddy to look for any 1-thing that they think you could improve.

 

[Cthippo]

I get what Wibble means. I too take photos and video and diving for me is my form of mental and physical therapy.

That's great. I'm glad diving can be that for you. I know lots of people who go just to be in the water and that is all they seek. Fully encourage that.

Lots of people dive and boat and swim and do lots of things for lots of reasons, and those reasons are all valid (well, maybe not hiding bodies, but besides that). It just gets frustrating how many times people come to this board asking for help or advice and get told "You're doing it wrong", or "you're not good enough to be doing what you are doing". The OP in this case said they are good with their skills but concerned about their air consumption rate. Why is it that people cannot just accept that and provide advice instead of assuming that because he has limited experience or concerns about his SAC he must therefore be unqualified for the training his is currently doing and for which he has a conditional job offer?

 

[Blackcrusader]

That's great. I'm glad diving can be that for you. I know lots of people who go just to be in the water and that is all they seek. Fully encourage that.

Lots of people dive and boat and swim and do lots of things for lots of reasons, and those reasons are all valid (well, maybe not hiding bodies, but besides that). It just gets frustrating how many times people come to this board asking for help or advice and get told "You're doing it wrong", or "you're not good enough to be doing what you are doing". The OP in this case said they are good with their skills but concerned about their air consumption rate. Why is it that people cannot just accept that and provide advice instead of assuming that because he has limited experience or concerns about his SAC he must therefore be unqualified for the training his is currently doing and for which he has a conditional job offer?

Working DM's are professionals and we expect them to have the experience and ability to go with it. Yes the OP could use a bigger tank or even learn back doubles or side mount. Some recreational divers are into side mount nowadays.

However a DM must also when leading a group be able to deal with all sorts of situations. Divers losing weights, fins, cameras, exceeding NDL, exceeding MOD on nitrox mixes, OOA, getting separated and lost, panic attacks, vomiting underwater which may divers do not know how to deal with, then you have injuries from stone fish lion fish being bitten by a turtle or maybe even a shark attack.

Now we can be on a shallow dive at 10 feet depth but how will one react when this friendly GWS is coming at you out of a bait ball you were diving near? Snap a photo? fight and flight response aint going to make one iota difference. Maybe squirt air out of your reg and hope the bubbles hide you or cause the shark to turn away

 

[BlueTrin]

@Orenda I don’t know if that will help you, but when I got a Shearwater with AI, I could display my SAC rate in real time and did a couple of quarry/training dives where I would try to reduce this SAC but trying to relax and changing breathing patterns.

It helped me a lot to get it to a better rate: I am still fairly high but it’s much better than before. Because it updates fairly quickly you’ll see how much your air consumption changes in real time.

What works for me is to focus on reducing unnecessary movements/improving kicking efficiency(a class like Fundies will help with that), but also learning to sip my air slowly when relaxed, with a tiny pause then breathing out slowly.

 

[Blackcrusader]

@Orenda I don’t know if that will help you, but when I got a Shearwater with AI, I could display my SAC rate in real time and did a couple of quarry/training dives where I would try to reduce this SAC but trying to relax and changing breathing patterns.

It helped me a lot to get it to a better rate: I am still fairly high but it’s much better than before. Because it updates fairly quickly you’ll see how much your air consumption changes in real time.

What works for me is to focus on reducing unnecessary movements/improving kicking efficiency(a class like Fundies will help with that), but also learning to sip my air slowly when relaxed, with a tiny pause then breathing out slowly.

Can also use this SPG lets you know time left to 50 bar 750 psi from any point of the dive. ( range )

 

[KitHuff]

I am not sure if I am hijacking this discussion or if the discussion has been bleeding into this direction, so I am going to ask it here. I don't mean to be rude, but I have not thought of a better way to ask this.

What dive shop has offered you this job when you have so little experience? I am not trying to be rude or be mean. I really do want to know for my own safety. I am planning a trip to Florida to dive and want to make sure that I do not use that shop.

I do expect my DM in charge to have a lot more experience than I do. I am sorry, but I would not feel safe using anyone in that shop. I have not experienced or watched any real problems underwater, so I have no way of knowing how I would react or if I know what to do. How do you handle a situation where someone loses their regulator, their buddy tries to help and has their regulator knocked out of their mouth while being jerked around by the first person who is panicking, and the second person starts to panic? There are a lot of other things I can think of that I do not have experience with that I need to trust the DM to resolve.

I understand why you want to do this. I understand there is always more to a story than someone can type in a short time. But for my own safety, I would like to know this DS so I do not use them. It isn’t fair to me that I am paying for an experienced DM and get someone who only has 20 dives more than I do. I do not want my DM to be a rookie like I am. I should not have to ask to see the log book of the DM in charge of my dive.

 

[EFX]

I know my consumption will go down the more I dive/become more and more comfortable .....

^^^
this
Also with correct weighting and proper trim your SAC rate will go down.

 

[bmorescuba]

I'm 6'5" and well north of 250. I'm also a DM and photographer. If you want to be a DM, be a DM. I started the DM with maybe 150 dives, and I felt like that was enough experience to begin. I did a lot of quarry work, pool work, and shadowing instructors before I did things on my own. When you're leading dives, you are assuming some level of responsibility. Let your conscience guide you and live up to any responsibility you commit to. If you're unsure of a situation, don't take people out.

In terms of your actual question, it took me a good long while before my air consumption got good. Proper weighting, proper trim, and proper buoyancy are all very important. My photography actually helped me develop those skills. I wanted to be able to hover 6" above a subject and not touch anything. Several hundred dives later, and I can do that. Now I can lead a dive and photograph the people on the dive and be the last one back on the boat. But it took years.

There's lots of good advice here, but the biggest thing that I've observed is what @BLACKCRUSADER said - and that's being relaxed. I think I'm relaxed in the water, but the people I've observed who are best on air are completely Zen in the water. One frog kick every 30 seconds. No body/arm movement. No fidgeting with gear. I've seen it in resort dive staff as well - people who have 5,000 dives. They barely move unless needed. They sip air, and they come up with half a tank when everyone else is at 50bar.

Good luck and enjoy the journey!