Question Air Hog

[Open Ocean Diver]

I will go out on a limb and suggest wife needs to slow down.

If you feel that you are trying to keep up with someone then you are almost certainly over exerting yourself.

Slow down what do you mean?

 

[lowviz]

Swimming at a rate that you feel that you are working to keep up.

Holding hands is great, you can tug to signal 'slow down'.

 

[Jaan]

I’m in the same boat with my wife who I think has developed gills. I’m thinking to get a faber steel 100 to take while she dives our steel 80s. They seem to have very similar buoyancy characteristics. -7 empty or so

She is usually 500 - 700 psi less than me on our dives.

Meanwhile we did find a spot that does volume fills

 

[Open Ocean Diver]

Swimming at a rate that you feel that you are working to keep up.

Holding hands is great, you can tug to signal 'slow down'.

I should clarify keeping up is probably a bad word, I meant matching her air consumption. Sorry

 

[Open Ocean Diver]

I’m in the same boat with my wife who I think has developed gills. I’m thinking to get a faber steel 100 to take while she dives our steel 80s. They seem to have very similar buoyancy characteristics. -7 empty or so

She is usually 500 - 700 psi less than me on our dives.

Meanwhile we did find a spot that does volume fills

Just looking at the specs they do compare quite nicely. Would work for local dives.

 

[TMHeimer]

As long as both divers save enough reserve, I see no real issue with it from a safety standpoint. In fact, if the buddy team frequently shares air and are comfortable with it, then if/when a true emergency occurs, they are more likely to be able to handle it without problems.

I was on a dive about 6 weeks ago with a dive instructor and she was VERY conservative with her gas reserves. I had a larger steel tank and also a pony bottle. On a dive to 85 feet to look at some goliath grouper, we got close together and just hung onto the wreck in the current and remained still to allow the jewfish to move in around us. A cool dive.

I offered her my primary reg and I used the Air 2 for 4-5 minutes. I had way more air than I needed, we got to extend the dive to the No Deco limits, and she was able to preserve like 1000 psi (or something like that in her 80 tank). She needed to preserve that much air to feel comfortable ascending with. Not a big deal and I really see no safety concerns.

I wasn't referring to any safety concerns, just that for me it would be a drag (no pun intended) to be constantly keeping the same distance so each of you could breathe while swimming. I guess the situation where you were just still for 4-5 minutes makes sense.

 

[Trace Malinowski]

Women tend to be better on gas than men. There is a simple trick that you can use to breathe more efficiently when diving with a woman who is more experienced and better on gas.

Try to match her breathing pattern.

When no bubbles are being exhaled from her regulator, assume she is inhaling. When bubbles are coming out of the exhaust T, she is obviously exhaling.

Sip your gas slowly as she inhales. When she exhales, match her with an immediate, long slow exhalation and repeat. After a couple of dives, compare your consumption rates. See if you are improving.

 

[Blackcrusader]

@Open Ocean Diver

My first question would be why is your buddy a gas hog? Is he a new diver or just a big guy?

Marie 13 I am a big guy, 185cm tall and weigh around 135kg. Sac rate is not always about someone's size. More often than not a combination of things work affect someone using a lot of gas. I know people a lot smaller and lighter than I am using far more gas on dives.

 

[VikingDives]

What kick are you using? If you're flutter kicking, you're probably kicking too much. Learn to frog kick. Kick once and then let that kick carry you almost as far as it can before you think about kicking again.

Learn to hover horizontally. It sounds counter-intuitive, but having sufficient buoyancy control to hover is dependent on skills that will lower your air consumption.

Take a tech class from a good instructor. (You'll learn the above and more).

Track your air consumption. Do you know your SAC/RMV? You can't improve things you don't measure.

Have someone video you while you are diving. There's what you think you are doing and there's what you're actually doing and often those things diverge drastically (see all things horizontal, trim and kick).

Accept that you're probably not going to ever outdo your wife. I am pretty fit, have pretty good air consumption, and I regularly train students in my open water classes that end up having RMVs that are close to mine when we get to open water. Why? They're younger, healthier, female... The list goes on.

FWIW, it's both rewarding and annoying when I take a brand new diver in the water for dive one and their air consumption is better than mine. I feel your pain.

 

[Blackcrusader]

No I get it a bigger tank, better SAC rate, she’s probably more relaxed than I am, but because she’s a female I just don’t think I’d ever get to her level of gas consumption. So I was just wondering what others do with uneven partner gas consumption.

Bigger tank does not equate to better sac rate. But having more air is always welcome.

I dive with an instructor buddy who uses more gas than I. When we did some 75 minute dives recently I was finishing the dive with 70 bar 1015 psi and he was at 30 bar or 435 psi. It does not matter as towards the end of our dives we are fairly shallow anyway sometimes diving at the safety stop level.

It's not common to find two divers who buddy up will be the same on gas consumption. Being relaxed makes a big difference.