Breathing and buoyancy control

[sroot17]

I'm looking for some pointers on better controlling my buoyancy underwater in regards to my breathing. I find that in order to conserve air and stretch my tank to a reasonable limit I have to almost hold my breath for a few seconds after inhaling and exhaling. I know you're never supposed to hold your breath at all but I find that slow continues deep breaths drain my tank much faster than most others I am diving with.

My method works great for preserving my tank and getting me up to the 45 mark or so in about 40ft of water however I find that my deep breaths really affect my bouyancy more than I would like. When I inhale I find myself ascending a lot and then when I exhale I sometimes find myself almost skimming the coral below.

Does anyone have any pointers on how to limit the amount of positive and negative bouyancy that I generate when taking slow deep breaths? I've tried using quicker breathing which does keep me more neutrally buoyant but like I said, this kills my tank much faster that I would like.

Thanks for any help!!

 

[scubafool]

Have you tried slowing your breathing cycle way down in the area where your bouyancy is closest to neutral? Anotherwords, if the middle of your inhale/exhale cycle is where you are neutral, take your time in the middle both on the inhale and the exhale and don't stay at the top or the bottom for any amount of time. If the sweet spot is at the top, with the most air in your lungs, tap your inflator, if the bottom, bump the deflate.

But in the end, you need to breathe, and you need to breathe a certain amount. Don't skip breath or anything similar to try to stretch your air.

 

[Rick Murchison]

See this thread...

Rick

 

[Twiddles]

Stop trying to regulate your breathing to maximize your air. When your not worried about it you will get the best consumption available for your skill level and current conditions . Worked for me.

 

[sroot17]

Thanks for the pointers, seems like I just need to keep on practicing!! Do you think the extreme fluctuations in my buoyancy are at all related to being improperly weighted? I weigh 175lbs and dive with 14lbs in salt wearing a 3mm full and have never found myself to be too heavy even though I've bee told that 14lbs seems heavy for me.

Thanks again!

 

[spectrum]

sroot17

There is a difference between holding your breath and pausing your breathing. You never want to close your glottis and trap air in your lungs. You can slow the breathing process down as much as you want and the safest way to do this is to never stop breathing but to slow things way down.As long as you can hear some air movement you will be safe. It may take time to get that sort of diaphragm control but it will come to you.

Pausing your breath at the end of your inhale and exhale is OK as long as you maintain the open airway. For the moment that will only exacerbate your porpoising. Some divers will exhale slowly and inhale fast or vice-versa.

As for porpoising watch for the instant where you begin to descend and start your inhale just then. When you start to rise start to exhale. That will begin to center your buoyancy. It will cost you some bottom time eventually but it will come to you.

Make sure that you are not over weighted. Unnecessary air in your BC bladder will expand and contract with depth and amplify the changes in your actual lung volume.

Being conscious of this stuff and working on it is a huge milestone many never realize. Congratulations!

Pete

 

[scubafool]

People are all different, and as such need different amounts of weight.

If you are severely overweighted, that will make bouyancy control much harder to get a handle on, as you will have to carry extra air in your BC to float the excess weight, and that increased amount of air will have a larger effect on your bouyancy as it expands or shrinks due to changes in depth.

The only way to truly know your weight requirments is to do a weight check.

 

[spectrum]

The only way to truly know your weight requirments is to do a weight check.

Remember to set your weight so that you bob vertically at eye level at the end of your dive with an empty BC, an average breath, your feet still (crossed) and about 500 PSI in your cylinder. A deep breath should get your mask out of the water and a deep exhale should sink your mask. Do all of this while breathing from your regulator. The end of the dive is the defining moment for your weight requirement and you want just enough to let you stay down in the shallows with a light cylinder.

Pete

 

[emanuelw]

I found a while back ago that the key to my air consumption was weighting, I was able to maintain my buoyancy but had to adjust to the greater buoyancy changes your're subjected to when having too much air in your BC to compensate for the weight. It also affects your position in the water and makes you swim in a less streamlined way, thus using more energy and air. I strongly disagree with using your BCD to compensate for buoyancy change with a breath, if the change is too big you need less weight, simple as that. You seem to be using way too much weight, start stripping weight off gradually and get accustomed to relying on your breathing more than your BCD until you reach the point where you hold your safetystop with an empty BCD just using breathing at the end of the dive.
Instructors tend to overweight their students during courses to make them stay at the bottom for skills and DMs tends to hand out extra weight under water to prevent people from popping, which usually solves the problem only temporary but doesn't teach the diver how to maintain neutral buoyancy.
Keep up the good work

 

[MXGratefulDiver]

See this thread...

Rick

I like this one better ... http://www.scubaboard.com/showpost.php?p=180342&postcount=3

... Bob (Grateful Diver)