Just certified for open water today! How to improve SAC rate?

[gtalum]

I went for my checkout open water dives for my NAUI Scuba Diver open water certification. All went well, and the diving was excellent right off of Bradenton. I need to imporove my SAC rate though. I sucked down an AL80 in 20 minutes and 30 minutes respectively on my two dives to 50 and 40 feet. Aside from getting into better shape, how can I go about improving this?

 

[plot]

Dive more. The more you dive, the more relaxed you get in the water and the calmer/more steady your breathing becomes... and your SAC will magically improve all by itself.

That's the theory anyways.

 

[pir8]

What he said!

 

[meesier42]

+1

as your comfort in the water goes up so will your bottom time. Other than that, run more, being in better shape will help too.

 

[Crowley]

Here's a technique I always used (and still do sometimes). Breathe slowly and deeply, and count your breathing - 5 seconds inhalation, 5 seconds exhalation. That way you're only breathing 6 times per minute, nice and steady and slow. If you have adjustable regulators, you may find that turning them down to the minimum delivery setting also assists (usual disclaimers apply)

Other than that - as has already been said - the more you dive the better our air consumption will become. Working on perfecting your buoyancy is key - remember: the more air you have to put into your BCD the less you have to breathe. It'll happen with time!

 

[rawls]

A big CONGRATULATIONS on your OW dives...The thing you said is everything went great, by which I interpret that there were no problems, you were comfortable on the dive and you had a blast...SAC rates will get better, as the above posters stated. In the meantime, keep having fun...That's what it's all about...Congrats again.:bandsmlz: :dancingsnoopy:

 

[1_T_Submariner]

Did anyone Mention Dive Dive and Dive some more. Hitting the gym/running will also help.

Edit:
Pardon me but CONGRATS!!!!! on getting certified.

 

[gtalum]

Thankls for all of the advice and insight. I really do love this so far! I think my bouyancy is pretty good (though not yet perfect of course). I descend slowly, and use almost no air in my BC to stay in one position near the bottom.

 

[TSandM]

There are two big reasons why new divers go through gas in a hurry.

One is that diving is new, and they aren't completely relaxed, and they're breathing faster.

The other is that they are inefficient. Many new divers are vastly overweighted (instructors do this on purpose, so the students can kneel on the bottom to do their skills and not float away), and the distribution of their weights is such that it almost mandates that the diver remain at a significant (45 degrees or more) angle to the bottom. As a result, each time the diver kicks, he pushes himself upward. To avoid ascending, he must keep himself negative, which means he constantly tends to sink. Half of the effort he's expending leads to no net movement in the water, and the air goes fast.

Getting your weighting correct with a formal weight check, and distributing the weight so that you can attain and maintain a horizontal posture in the water will go far toward dropping your gas consumption.

HERE is a nice discussion of weighting and balance.

Above all, keep going diving, relax, and don't worry about your gas consumption. It is what it is, and deliberately altering your breathing to try to reduce it is a recipe for a CO2 retention headache. Work on relaxation and steady, rhythmic breathing, and not hurrying through the water. That will do a lot!

 

[ChiTC]

First, a big Congrats to gtalum!! Welcome to the club.

TSandM has a lot of really good points. Remember too that every time you hit your BC inflator button, you need to wait a few seconds for it's effect. When I started diving, I would dump a lot of air into my BC, not see it's effect immedialtely, and dump some more in. Then, a few seconds later, I'd be dumping air out as the effects set in. Went through a lot of air that way!