anchochile
Contributor
My SAC rate ranges from around 0.45-0.50 cuft/m on a relaxing warm drift dive to about 0.55 or 0.6 when I have to work harder. I'm male, on the smaller side, not too much fat or muscle. I usually get placed in groups with more advanced divers because my buoyancy and trim are pretty solid (or so DMs tend to tell me - it doesn't always feel that way!).
When I'm diving a cattle boat with lots of once-a-year vacation divers, I have plenty of air - I'm often back on the boat with 1000 PSI or more in a scenario where the whole group goes up together.
But when it's an option, I tend to pick operators who cater to more advanced divers, and I've noticed that when in groups with advanced divers, I tend to be the first one to hit my reserve pressure, even when my SAC rate is around 0.45cuft/m.
I know there are threads going on and on about how it doesn't matter what is "average" air consumption, personal physiology plays a huge role, etc. I get it - I don't have anything to prove, and I'll breathe how I breathe. But I'm still curious - is 0.45 or 0.5 cuft/m a "high" air consumption rate for most advanced divers? If this is my air consumption, should I expect that I will often be the limiting factor, and perhaps should spring for bigger tanks when traveling so that I'm not cutting everyone else's dive short? Or have I just been paired with some ridiculously light breathers on recent trips?
When I'm diving a cattle boat with lots of once-a-year vacation divers, I have plenty of air - I'm often back on the boat with 1000 PSI or more in a scenario where the whole group goes up together.
But when it's an option, I tend to pick operators who cater to more advanced divers, and I've noticed that when in groups with advanced divers, I tend to be the first one to hit my reserve pressure, even when my SAC rate is around 0.45cuft/m.
I know there are threads going on and on about how it doesn't matter what is "average" air consumption, personal physiology plays a huge role, etc. I get it - I don't have anything to prove, and I'll breathe how I breathe. But I'm still curious - is 0.45 or 0.5 cuft/m a "high" air consumption rate for most advanced divers? If this is my air consumption, should I expect that I will often be the limiting factor, and perhaps should spring for bigger tanks when traveling so that I'm not cutting everyone else's dive short? Or have I just been paired with some ridiculously light breathers on recent trips?