Air consumption vs regulator ease of breathing

[Green Frog]

Congratulations on the weight loss. That will not only have an effect on your diving, but you’ll be diving a lot longer in life.

SeaRat

Unfortunately the weight loss was due to a mystery illness and came at the additional cost of loss of strength. Now the challenge is to try and regain the strength without simultaneously regaining ALL of the weight. I’m back to about my early 1990s weight or less, and in addition to fat mass, I’ve lost a bunch of muscle mass. At least I have an excuse to be lazy!

 

[Eric Sedletzky]

Unfortunately the weight loss was due to a mystery illness and came at the additional cost of loss of strength. Now the challenge is to try and regain the strength without simultaneously regaining ALL of the weight. I’m back to about my early 1990s weight or less, and in addition to fat mass, I’ve lost a bunch of muscle mass. At least I have an excuse to be lazy!

Increase your protein intake and cut out wheat, sugar, bad fats, etc.
Then order a good custom wetsuit to stay motivated to keep the weight off so it continues to fit. Then hop on a plane and head out here to the west coast and help us collect urchins. The cold water does wonders for burning fat off.

 

[Nemrod]

I think the U.S. Navy Experimental Diving Unit has data on this. I’ll check.

SeaRat

PS, Well, now that I’ve checked, I’m going to throw a different wrinkle into this discussion. It turns out that higher negative breathing in scuba divers because of body position, and the function of the regulator, can significantly contribute to a condition known as interstitial pulmonary edema, a potentially life-threatening condition.

Very good Mr. John. Those studies correlate well with a number of others including the full face snorkel mask Hawaii study. They are always picking on those young, fit males, how about some of us older but still sort of fit males .

And for Jean buying recommendations

, personally I prefer slim straight Wranglers because they go over my cowboy boots and stack nice. And I like the way they fray right behind the heel. And they work as well on motorcycles as they do in the saddle roping doggies. I usually go for 30 inch waist and 34 inseam if I want them to hang or 36 inseam if I want a stack. If I know I am going to be in the saddle, I go long. Nothing worse than high waters to spoil the authentic western look or wind up with cockleburs in the boots.

 

[Green Frog]

Nemrod, you and I must be built in reverse…there’s a 30 on my Jeans as well, but it’s the inseam! After losing 50#, I’m “down to“ a 34” waist. I do like to have my boots inside the bottoms of my jeans, it just doesn’t require as much cloth for me to do it!!

 

[Green Frog]

PS the last time I used a DH regulator was in the pool at Wake Forest University in the Fall of 1969. Back then I didn’t know any different so it was all good to me! Move over Lloyd Bridges and Jacques Cousteau!

 

[Nemrod]

Nemrod, you and I must be built in reverse…there’s a 30 on my Jeans as well, but it’s the inseam! After losing 50#, I’m “down to“ a 34” waist. I do like to have my boots inside the bottoms of my jeans, it just doesn’t require as much cloth for me to do it!!

Did you see the Seinfeld episode where Jerry was cutting the tags from his jeans and sewing on a smaller waist size tag ? I might need to start doing that soon if I keep this up, may be time for another year or longer scubaboard hiatus. No worries, I will keep my Supporter status up .

On subject sort of, the DH regs, most have a strong Venturi to assist inhalation once the air is flowing and yes they can be tuned down to a very low on the bench cracking effort. But, in the water with the regulator perched atop the diver, in the swimming position, they are at nearly their worst despite all the admonitions to take long and slow breaths and long and slow exhalations, I must say, they are like sucking on a vacuum cleaner to get a breath. But the exhalation side of the loop, fantastic! Even JC tired of it so I am in good company. He relocated the housing to his chest and then swam around puffed up like a parade balloon float.

 

[CT-Rich]

I took my Mistral DH out for its annual swim. Breathing resistance is very noticeable at the beginning of the dive and got better over time. The Venturi on it is mission critical, but can’t be adjusted anyway.

 

[John C. Ratliff]

Did you see the Seinfeld episode where Jerry was cutting the tags from his jeans and sewing on a smaller waist size tag ? I might need to start doing that soon if I keep this up, may be time for another year or longer scubaboard hiatus. No worries, I will keep my Supporter status up .

On subject sort of, the DH regs, most have a strong Venturi to assist inhalation once the air is flowing and yes they can be tuned down to a very low on the bench cracking effort. But, in the water with the regulator perched atop the diver, in the swimming position, they are at nearly their worst despite all the admonitions to take long and slow breaths and long and slow exhalations, I must say, they are like sucking on a vacuum cleaner to get a breath. But the exhalation side of the loop, fantastic! Even JC tired of it so I am in good company. He relocated the housing to his chest and then swam around puffed up like a parade balloon float.

Well, J.Y. Cousteau, who got me into diving very young, was a life-long smoker. In his later years, he went to a chest-mounted Mistral double hose regulator because of his lung problems. He probably should not have been diving. One of the last Cousteau movies made was in caves, and Cousteau did not dive, saying that his diving days were over.

Concerning the two-hose regulator, I’ve been using them for over half a century, and continue to do so. I like having my exhalations behind me, where they don’t bother the fish and other small critters I encounter underwater. I wear my scuba set low, and so the demand box is nearer to the center of my lungs. You can see that J.Y. Cousteau, in his prime, also wore the demand regulator very low on his back.

IMG_0205 by John Ratliff, on Flickr
Cousteau sometime in the 1950s, with the rather difficult-to-breath DA Aqualung regulator.

JY Cousteau in triples by John Ratliff, on Flickr
An aging J.Y. Cousteau using the front-mount Mistral regulator for positive pressure breathing.

DSC00286 by John Ratliff, on Flickr
Me, with the Mossback Mark 3 regulator (a converted DA Aquamaster with an improved, balanced first stage).

I like diving my modern regulators, and the easiest breathing regulators I have are my Scubapro Pilot and A.I.R. 1 regulators, whereby the entire demand diaphragm is also the exhaust diaphragm, with a huge area for exhalation. These two regulators are really a wonderful breathing experience.
fullsizeoutput_29b4 by John Ratliff, on Flickr

SeaRat

 

[Nemrod]

John, every dog has it's day and for me DH regulators had their day, another day and yet another day.

 

[John C. Ratliff]

Nemrod, the point of my post above wasn’t about you, or convincing you about anything. I was pointing out your statement about J.Y. Cousteau, and why he went to a chest-mount system for his last dives. ‘Nothing to do with you….

A lot of people read things here, and the rest was to point out to them the correct way to wear a double hose regulator.

Saying that, I do enjoy my really easy breathing modern regulators, especially the A.I.R. I and the Pilot by Scubapro. ‘Don’t think that anyone has improved the breathing characteristics since the Pilot. Both of those are very nice in high currents too, as they are streamlined.

‘Sorry you thought I was talking more towards you than the rest of the readers here.

John (SeaRat)

PS, I’m now 77, going but 78 years old. I kinda envy you being on reefs in Cozemel too.