Antmany2k
Contributor
hi there,
lately i have become worried about my air consumption and the feeling of letting others down. when i first learned to dive we posted dives of 38-45 minutes at between 14m-18m. as a beginner that was fine and i understood that air consumption would improve with time.
however i went away twice in 3 months last year and i became consciously aware that my buddy is coming out with around 10-20 bar more than me despite having only ever dived with me so we have the same amount of water time and i am usually the 1st to need to indicate i am at the pre determined level to turn back. the instructor/guide had a 10 litre tank and came out with 180!!!!!! obviously he dives every day 6 days a week though.and my times are still 38-45 minutes
we also did a dive around a wreck (our first) at 18m with a 15litre tank rather than 12 as the guide said we used to much to get away with a 12l. and admittedly i got very excited about the wreck and probably breathed too fast and moved to fast and used it too fast. but in general its still a problem.
so to cap of my ramblings. i decided to consciously stay a feet or 2 above my buddy, breathe slowly,deeply and exhale slowly. inflate my BCD by mouth rather than using inflator hose. consciously move slowly and not move my arms, work on my buoyancy and changed from front crawl kicking to slow frog kicks basically anything i can think of to conserve my air. my buddy on the other hand flails, front crawl kicks, spends most of his time vertical rather than horizontal and cant control his buoyancy and on one dive (after we had done AOW) chased an amber jack down to 38m with his go pro and the guide had to go get him. i stayed at 27m and i still used more air. i just don't get it
i worry that people will get annoyed or we will miss out on stuff because my bottom time is terrible. also with now being qualified to 30m its going to get worse unless i improve. is weight an issue? my buddy is stick thin but very unfit whereas i put on a lot of timber after a messy breakup but i am now working to get rid of it. but even for a bigger guy (probably twice the weight of my buddy) i am still fairly fit and swim regularly. could my weight be why i use more air or am i doing something wrong? i am not expecting to get a massive difference and have 100 bar left when i come out but i don't want to be the first one to make people turn back because of my poor consumption
lately i have become worried about my air consumption and the feeling of letting others down. when i first learned to dive we posted dives of 38-45 minutes at between 14m-18m. as a beginner that was fine and i understood that air consumption would improve with time.
however i went away twice in 3 months last year and i became consciously aware that my buddy is coming out with around 10-20 bar more than me despite having only ever dived with me so we have the same amount of water time and i am usually the 1st to need to indicate i am at the pre determined level to turn back. the instructor/guide had a 10 litre tank and came out with 180!!!!!! obviously he dives every day 6 days a week though.and my times are still 38-45 minutes
we also did a dive around a wreck (our first) at 18m with a 15litre tank rather than 12 as the guide said we used to much to get away with a 12l. and admittedly i got very excited about the wreck and probably breathed too fast and moved to fast and used it too fast. but in general its still a problem.
so to cap of my ramblings. i decided to consciously stay a feet or 2 above my buddy, breathe slowly,deeply and exhale slowly. inflate my BCD by mouth rather than using inflator hose. consciously move slowly and not move my arms, work on my buoyancy and changed from front crawl kicking to slow frog kicks basically anything i can think of to conserve my air. my buddy on the other hand flails, front crawl kicks, spends most of his time vertical rather than horizontal and cant control his buoyancy and on one dive (after we had done AOW) chased an amber jack down to 38m with his go pro and the guide had to go get him. i stayed at 27m and i still used more air. i just don't get it
i worry that people will get annoyed or we will miss out on stuff because my bottom time is terrible. also with now being qualified to 30m its going to get worse unless i improve. is weight an issue? my buddy is stick thin but very unfit whereas i put on a lot of timber after a messy breakup but i am now working to get rid of it. but even for a bigger guy (probably twice the weight of my buddy) i am still fairly fit and swim regularly. could my weight be why i use more air or am i doing something wrong? i am not expecting to get a massive difference and have 100 bar left when i come out but i don't want to be the first one to make people turn back because of my poor consumption