Lowest SAC possible ? (without being dead)

[Hoyden]

I don't think so, no offense to Hal but .2 is really unrealistic. People use more air sleeping, and you can't get more relaxed than that without channeling your soul somewhere else and that would double the SAC of whoever you possess I figure.

I love my instructors too, but I know they are not defying the laws of physics to be as good as they are.

Hal is not my instructor, although I am sure that he would be a great teacher. The guy in my class with a sac rate of .3 ish is not an instructor either. We are headed back top 40 Fathom Grotto next month. I'll see if I can find out his sac rate on a tourist dive.

Jackie

 

[Hoyden]

Here again, what fun would it be to settle down to 60feet and just lay there for one hour.

Kind of wandering from the original topic, how about macro photography or marine life observation? Those can be pretty rewarding and really don't require much movement.

Jackie

 

[bradshsi]

Hi all,

I began the practice of zen meditation when I was fourteen. At fifteen I joined a Chinese Martial Arts School, and continued to teach and practice the same until I was 42. Along the way, I also studied other forms of movement, including dance, Classical Ballet, Jazz and Modern. Oh yeah, Yoga was in there too! I think I know more than a little about breathing and movement.

To those who want to challege me, and I love a challege, come dive with me.
One day, three dives, no deeper than sixty feet, no shallower than fifty, until ascent. Fifty minutes bottom time, ten minute ascent. I fill my tank, I usually start the day with 3100-32000 psi 32% EAN. I do my own thing, nice and relaxed. If I can't do the three dives, your three dives are on me, but when I do, you pay double the posted rate for a three dive day. Now, you can put your money where your mouth is.

Many thanks to Fred R. for expanding on his original posting. I kind of suspected that disingenuity aside, the only other reasonable explanation was Zen/Yoga.

Even allowing for a 55 ft average depth and 3200 psi, those are still very impressive figures. I think I'll pass on your challenge though, because I know I'd loose.

Also I wouldn't be too concerned about the scepticism (my own included). Most times, when someone comes on a discussion board making extreme claims, they are false. It is rare to find someone like yourself who is the genuine article. i'm sure ScubaBoard will be the better for you posting here.

 

[Diver0001]

My name is Fred Riger
I operate Grand Bahama Scuba and will await your reservation!

Hi Fred,

I'm curious. Based on what I had to work with I worked out your respiration rate to about 3 breaths a minute. Is that accurate?

R..

 

[Xanthro]

I don't think so, no offense to Hal but .2 is really unrealistic. People use more air sleeping, and you can't get more relaxed than that without channeling your soul somewhere else and that would double the SAC of whoever you possess I figure.

I use more air while sleeping than if I'm relaxing. REM sleep is actually a very taxing acitivity. Remember, what you do in a dream your body tries to replicate. If it weren't for the fact that you are paralyzed you'd be running around, jumping and any other activity you experience in a dream.

If I'm wholly relaxed while diving I use less air than at any other time, this is because I can relax more while diving. Now moving, taking pictures, keeping track of a buddy all increase my SAC.

Whether someone could reach .15 I don't know, that does seem low, but I'm not sure it's impossible.

 

[Fred R.]

I didn't want to say, for fear of another BS storm, but yes. When I fully relax, and concentrate, I can slow the rate down to just under 2 bpm, but I don't do that diving because it requires very full breaths and that plays havoc with my buoyancy.

I'll use shorter breaths to control my buoyancy, usually at a rate of about 4 per minute.

One note, to those worried about skip breathing, which is bad. I lower my breathing rate by relaxing my musculature as much as possible. A relaxed scuba diver, trimmed out and neutral needs very little effort to move in the water. I can glide upcurrent in rough bottom terrain without coming off my resting respiration rate. Short of an emergency, you'll never see me kicking upcurrent over the top of the reef!!!

 

[Snowbear]

4; learn to relax EVERY muscle that you are not consciously using

That's SOOOO hard to do when shivering :ice:

I think my SAC rate doubles when I get cold :11:

 

[scubatexastony]

do a bit of research of the SAC rates for my wife and me. Colder dives and current dives where photographing were the elevated SACs, so I hunted for the warmest, relaxing tours. Found this series while we were in Houston camping out at the local scuba park, back in '04. She had been diving a bit over 2 years at that point. Here's my findings: Water temps 85 +/-

Time of day 4pm 8am 11am 5pm 9am 11am average
bottom time 55 56 47 51 39 60
her SAC .34 .23 .26 .31 .26 .34 .29
my SAC .36 .33 .37 .40 .38 .35 .365

her personal best I could find .21
my personal best I could find .29

so sub .2, IMO, entirely possible on a relaxed dive in warm waters

 

[Fred R.]

Snowbear;

I moved to the Bahamas to avoid shivering, it hurts more than my SAC rate!!!

That said, my minimalist motion leads to chilling, even in what you would call warm water here.

I find that if I point my toes hard enough to almost cramp my calves and release, repeatedly, I can avoid shivering without affecting my air consumption very much. If that doesn't work, its time to go home

 

[Snowbear]

I found the same thing in Palau. Even in a 5ml wetsuit in 81F water, I was getting chilled by the 5th dive since I wasn't moving much... Guess I should have brought a hood