My SAC is really bad.

[Gil Middlebrooks]

I feel your pain. As a new diver with just over 20 dives, I have the same problem. But, I figure: why worry? My plan is to keep diving, keep learning, stop worrying, start exercising more, and it will take care of itself. If not, I might learn doubles.

 

[RTee]

DV...are you planning to dive this weekend? A guy who works for me in Montreal will have his daughter doing her OW certif dives at Morrison quarry Sat and Sun and my intent would be to drop by Sunday AM ...with my diving equipment. My GF may or may not accompany me but in either case we could still go out and have a look.

 

[ktomlinson]

Don't beat yourself up, just keep diving and calling the dives at the proper time like you've done. I just browsed through the SAC of most every dive I've done. I saw things I know about myself (like my SAC gets a lot worse in heavy current), but I also noticed that my average SAC did decrease over time...it just happened. I didn't think I was nervous back then, but I am sure that I have relaxed over time and have also improved things like trim, buoyancy, and fin kicks. Focus on the diving and the SAC will decrease on it's own. And BTW, you are not the worlds biggest air hog. I once saw a guy breath down a full 120 at 20' in less than 10 minutes. That tank had to be cold!

 

[NE_SSI_Diver]

I think anxiety is a major issue of yours. I am a new diver as well (only 34 dives) and getting used to being underwater takes some time.

I would suggest just getting out and diving a lot. Eventually you will become comfortable in the water and then you can focus on you SAC. As of now worrying about that will cause you to breathe more. Also use these short dives to get weighted properly. A drysuit is tricky to master and takes many dives. Once you are weighted correctly diving will be less stressful. Also, worrying about the extra gas within the drysuit can cause anxiety for any diver.

After you become comfortable in the water, practice slow and deep breaths on the surface. An impressive number to be able to obtain both above and underwater is 20 seconds for an inhale and exhale. I do not suggest trying this now, for it can also feel like you are out of breath at the end of the long exhale.

Practice, practice, practice. That is the key to lowering you SAC. The more time in the water, the more comfortable you will become. Eventually you will be sipping air like the pros!

Good Luck.

 

[luckydays]

When I had about the same amount of dives as you, my air consumption was horrid as well. I was not comfy on the dives even though I loved it. I came back from a FL trip and talked to the folks at my local LDS and the shop manager mentioned that I was probably breathing to fast. She said that most of us on land take 5-6 breaths a min and you should be doing about the same underwater. She said to try to breathe in for 4-5 second, pause (not hold breath but pause) then force yourself to breathe out for 5-6 seconds, pause, and start all over. This cycle gets you about a 10-12 second breath cycle which means you will be breathing similarly as you do when not diving.

I followed this advise and now have a SAC rate that averages .35 or so when I am in the tropics and around .5 when I am diving dry in cold water.

The biggest advantage of breathing slower and being conscious of it, I inherently became calm because of taking the deep slow breaths. Kind of like a yoga technique.

So as others stated, try to calm down, go slow, and dont worry about it. You will get better the more you dive (and if you consciously think about breathing slower too!)

 

[Agility]

I am really quite possibly the biggest air hog on the planet​

You are certainly not!

I always tell my divebuddies, that I use a lot of air, so they know beforehand the dive will be short(ish).
I carry a 15l steel tank when others use 10l for the same dive.
I try to get my trim right and regularily do a weight check at the end of my dives, just to be sure I still need the same amount of lead
I try to pause between exhalation and inhalation and glide along in the exspiration phase and keep my arms close to my body.
I have been given diametrally opposing tips how to reduce my breathing, read tons on the matter, but nothing helped but

accepting, that I need what I need.

Since I do not actively think about breathing any more when under water I seem to be using less of my gas.
Relax, enjoy your dives, be sure to surface with enough air in your tank.

 

[Mitchell Teeters]

I think the point of how much comparative air in the tanks is helpful. I was diving an Al 80 and getting much shorter dives than my buddy. I found out he was diving a hp 130. Well duh! Then I went dry. Based on our previous conversations I think the stress of the new diving gear and short fill are major contributing factors. Don't sweat it.

Sent from my DROID X2

 

[MXGratefulDiver]

Don't worry about it ... when I was a new diver my buddies used to tell me they could see the sides of my tank move when I took a breath. You need what you need.

Work on your buoyancy control, pay attention to maintaining a horizontal position relative to your direction of travel (i.e. push aside as little water as possible in order to go there), and slow down. Also pay attention to what your hands are doing ... a lot of hand motion makes you work harder, and physical exertion drives your SAC up way higher than it needs to be. If you tend to be a hand-waver, try putting your hands out in front of you, "superman" position, where you can see them ... or clasp them together and tuck them down close to your chest or tummy. Clip off your danglies ... get your gear as streamlined as possible.

But most important of all ... just try to relax. Think about the difference in how you breathe when you're jogging vs when you're sitting in a recliner. New divers tend to be joggers ... partly because it's easier to control your buoyancy when you're constantly kicking. So don't be acting like some baby harbor seal, zipping around trying to see everything. Be the guy in the recliner ... relaxed. Amazingly, the slower you go the more you see anyway. Once you start to relax, your SAC rate will drop all by itself.

... Bob (Grateful Diver)

 

[dv]

Hey all,

Thanks for all the tips. I've definitely noticed an increase in my breathing rate since going into the dry suit. I am still trying to work out the buoyancy, and I'm not paying attention to my breathing. On my last dive there were a few factors which I can see which would make it worse:

- 5-6 knot current. i.e. St Lawrence
- I had probably 4 pound more weight than I should have.
- I was finning a LOT.
- I had a video camera and I was too task loaded.

I need to get comfortable with the suit and realize that I'm not going to go feet-up to the surface. Once I have that down, I think my breathing rate will slow down.

 

[MXGratefulDiver]

- 5-6 knot current. i.e. St Lawrence

Just so you know, divers often tend to overstimate current. 5-6 knots isn't diveable except perhaps by very experienced divers who happen to be on an adrenaline overdose ... and even then it's a drift dive.

On a drift, that much current will make you go so fast you will have trouble recognizing what you're looking at ... unless it happens to be floating along beside you.

If you try to grab ahold of something, it'll either scrape the skin off your hands or rip a joint out of socket.

If you hook in using a reef hook, it'll cause your mask to flood, your regulator to freeflow, and possibly remove your fins from your feet ... and the current gods will claim your camera as their own.

Water's incredibly dense stuff ... moving water is way more powerful than we are. A strong scuba diver can swim against maybe a knot of current for a limited time. Anything over about a half knot becomes tiring after a few minutes.

A reasonably fast-paced drift dive is maybe 3 knots. Anything faster than that is like watching a movie in fast forward ... and you don't even attempt to do anything except go with the flow.

I'm in no way meaning to impugn your honesty ... I'm sure it felt that fast to you ... but thought you might like to know ...

... Bob (Grateful Diver)