Lowest SAC possible ? (without being dead)

[Gary D.]

My wife could almost be an air compressor. I don't know how she survives. She can make 3 100' dives and max the tables on a single 80 and still have air left. I used to sneek up behind her and breathe off her octo for a while. But I changed her system and now I can't sneak up without her knowing it.

She must be recycling the air. Maybe she's a human rebreather.

Gary D.

 

[Tavi]

I really enjoyed this thread!!

Fred was my first Instructor. My wife and I do our best to spend 2 weeks diving with him each year.

Any takers on the challenge Fred??

 

[Drew Sailbum]

I just shake my head. It's just not that difficult, given the right combination of factors, to achieve rock bottom SAC rates. You might not be able to bottom out at .15, but some can.

My first tech diving instructor planned dives using her SAC of .15 She was below that rate during the dives I did with her. Admittedly training dives usually raise the SAC rate of both instructor and student, but our dives were relatively relaxed as I don't think I was a "problem" student.

To get those rates... well, consider she is 1)female 2) in excellent physical condition 3) a world class freediver 4) highly skilled in relaxation and visualization techniques and 5) diving in warm clear water with adequate thermal protection.


This isn't a "my buddy told me about a guy who heard about somone who could breathe a .15" type statement. I went diving with her. I am an experienced dive instructor myself, logging 500+ dives per year. I though my SAC rate of .30 was pretty damn good. And I got completely skunked on those dives. So what! It just meant I didn't have to carry around as much gas for her to cover the what-if scenarios.

And in my humble experience, I know I have one of the poorer SAC rates among our shop's current dive staff. Gotta shed a few pounds and do a lot more aerobic exercise to do better.

 

[Pondfrog]

I've always had a pretty respectable SAC rate @ .3 depending on conditions, etc. I'm also a pretty small dude about 5'5" 160 lbs.

I just wanted to post because I've been diving with Fred and although we didn't do SAC calculations (we were fun diving with friends/ spouses) he made me feel like an ASD. In all my years of diving I honestly don't think I've ever dived with anyone with a lower SAC rate than Fred.

Patrick
PADI #46198

 

[Snowbear]

Any takers on the challenge Fred??

Not me! Though I would probably enjoy diving with him

Somehow I don't think he'd have made the challenge if he didn't know he could do it

 

[Fred R.]

Now how is a poor working dive guide supposed to make any extra money if you all keep spoiling the bet!!!

Anybody for a bet on a breath hold dive to grab sand from the bottom?

Snowbear, love to have you come and dive, I can even think of a couple of people who are trying to fill a trip. Big grin there, I'm sure.

 

[Snowbear]

Snowbear, love to have you come and dive, I can even think of a couple of people who are trying to fill a trip. Big grin there, I'm sure.

I'd love to come down there someday, but can't even begin to afford it right now :frown:

Meanwhile, Alaska has some pretty fantastic diving in summer.
I don't run a charter, but I have a Whaler that reliably gets folks to the dive sites of Resurrection Bay and back

 

[lamont]

Now how is a poor working dive guide supposed to make any extra money if you all keep spoiling the bet!!!

i'll dive my double-130s if you only use an Al40 stage bottle =)

 

[getwet2]

The subject of a very low SAC came up in another thread I was reading.

In that thread the person posting stated that they http://www.scubaboard.com/showpost.php?p=1662772&postcount=36

Assuming they sucked dry a regular 77.4 cubic foot AL80, that equates to a SAC of 0.15.

For comparison, the typical SAC for a person sleeping is 0.22 and my average SAC on a good day in the warm and toasty Pacific NW is about 0.5.

So my question is what is the physiologically lowest SAC possible for a diver without him being dead, comatose or otherwise incapacitated (or unsafe) ?

We've had plenty of threads on average SAC but none that I could find on this topic. My apologies in advance if this has been discussed before.

Gotta be a GIRL!

 

[Fred R.]

Hey Lamont,

I might put my wife up with an al50 against your double 130's. After almost 1000 dives with me, her SAC rate is about 20% lower than mine. But seeing as how much grief I took for bragging, what will they say about that.

Snowbear, I'd love to take you up on the Alaska diving, but I can't get my wife to wear a drysuit, even though I have one in her size. So I'll probably just have to wait until you get to the Bahamas!