Boarderguy
Chief Narctopus Wrangler
Dive more, breathe easier, do less, enjoy more. You'll get it.Nothing kills my confidence faster than asking literally anyone else on the boat how much gas they have left in their tank after the dive
How long for air consumption to improve?
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Boarderguy
Chief Narctopus Wrangler
If all else fails, get a scooter and stop fining. Life is better at the pull of a trigger.
Great advice. I realized after looking at my logs from the last five dives that this is exactly what I need to do. In my case at least, "doing less and enjoying more" matches perfectly with my idea of recreational scuba diving...
Boarderguy
Chief Narctopus Wrangler
Sometimes you need to focus on a small portion of the site vs trying to see the whole thing.
SouthernSharktoothDiver
Contributor
So, I'm also new, but I'll share a tip I learned from Diver's Ready that cut my SAC down by a chunk. Count while you breath. On inhale, do a slow 1-2-3-4-5-6, then exhale 1-2-3-4-5-6. Obviously there will be times you'll have to breath faster cause you're exerting yourself, but in my experience, most of my breathing underwater was just habitual breathing, not necessary for what I was doing, and largely in response to the whole "don't hold your breath" thing. So, yeah, count off as you inhale and exhale, and that should extend the time you get on each lungful without holding your breath (which obviously you should not do, AGE is no joke).
Also, if your reg has a flow rate adjuster or a predive switch, try turning it down? My reg (tusa rs1001) on dive mode breaths like a CPAP machine, and the guy at the shop where I bought it advised me to dive it in predive mode. Works much better that way.
Also, if your reg has a flow rate adjuster or a predive switch, try turning it down? My reg (tusa rs1001) on dive mode breaths like a CPAP machine, and the guy at the shop where I bought it advised me to dive it in predive mode. Works much better that way.
SouthernSharktoothDiver
Contributor
On the whole "hands are not propulsion" thing, is this also true on the service? I rarely used fins before diving, and my open water class did little on teaching proper fin use when not submerged, so I'm not really sure on the best way to surface swim. What I've been doing is lying on my back (I dive a BP/W), fully inflating the BC to lift me as high out of the water as I can to reduce drag, and then finning and using my hands to paddle towards my hips, but this seems very inefficient. Thoughts on surface swimming technique?
J-Vo
Contributor
This makes it vary easy to get into a situation where your buddy does not have enough gas for you in an emergency. Have you and your buddy done gas matching for the dissimilar tank sizes? You will probably find you still need to call the dive in about the same time, you just have more leftover gas. More reserve gas isn't a bad thing though.
Boarderguy
Chief Narctopus Wrangler
Easiest way is lean back and use a nice way frog kick to propel you backwards. Next would be face down breathing through your reg or Dorkel if you have one. Neither use your arms except to quickly correct your heading if you can't get your feet to do it. Surface sucks no matter what
Do it slow or you'll be panting and trying to slow your heart before you drop. An accelerated heart rate will help you blow through air fast.
I scull on occasion underwater is I need to rotate my upper body faster than I can do it with my feet. More often than not my hands are full of camera, light, and scooter so no way to do it easily. Use your fins and figure out how they move you by manipulating your ankle and hips.
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