Spare Air, Freediving, and scuba thoughts.

[Legionsx]

I've been reading the arguments against the "Spare Air" recently. I feel a strong urge to make some thoughts known and perhaps encourage some realistic thinking and training ideas. I'm shocked that no one has suggested "FREEDIVING" as the obvious illustration that a person can make an ascent from a depth of say... 100 feet... to the surface with a WIDE margin of safety using a spare air.

Now, let me explain.... obviously scuba diving ascents are FAR different from freediving ascents. Freedivers can blast to the surface safely, while scuba divers that blast to the surface would experience soda pop bubbles in bad places.

Background:
1. I'm a freediver and a scuba diver.
2. I dive 80-100 ft. with a single steel tank and a 3.0 cf Spare Air on the front of my BC.
2. I can hold my breath for 4 minutes... say... 3 minutes when i'm really moving alot.

So... a spare air to me? Good lord. That's MORE than 10 minutes of breathing. I do an exercise where i hold to diaphragm convulsion... exhale.... inhale a single breath... hold... I can go 10 minutes on 5-6 breaths.

To tie it all together... we all know we can't hold our breath while ascending from a scuba dive. BUT... that doesn't mean you have to suck air like a diesel engine either. It seems as though a lot of you guys are PLANNING AND TRAINING to be able to just hyperventilate air in an emergency. I PLAN AND TRAIN to STOP BREATHING ( trailing bubbles of course). 30 breaths from a spare air is a huge amount IF you know how to use the wisely. A tiny stream of bubbles is all you need to stay safe and not pop a lung. When i ascend from freediving... i usually trail bubbles anyway just to stay in the habit.

Single caveat: I do NOT swim in currents. I go down to a wreck, and I can ALWAYS go straight up. I don't go in caves... I don't even dive at night without more equipment. So this discussion is for true open water with no complications.

I STRONGLY suggest that anyone who is truly interested in safety as a scuba diver... do some freediving. It shows you just how long you can last on a breath. It also reduces panic an EXTREME amount in the case of an ooa emergency. Your thoughts cease to be "OH MY GOD I DON'T HAVE AIR!!!!".... to something like... "I've been out of air before when I was freediving." no big deal. No rush, but deliberate. Reach down, grab that spare air that you've practiced getting in 3 seconds or less to your mouth... get a full breath... trail those TINY bubbles... and make your way slowly to the surface.

By the way, i am a firm believer that any human being can hold their breath at LEAST 3 minutes with a moderate amount of training/practice. I personally have taught people how to go from a measly 30 second breath hold to 3.5 minutes.

 

[Legionsx]

As soon as i posted... i realized something.

A false sense of security from a "spare air" or "freediving" is dangerous and stupid. But training makes the right equipment work 100% of the time. Arrogance, lack of attention and training... make the equipment not really matter at all.

Buddies, in my opinion, are a great safety booster. I personally, plan for my buddy to be looking the other way and chasing a lobster at the EXACT moment when my first stage BLOWS UP!

 

[SteveC]

I'd be willing to bet that most divers would have a hard time holding there breath for 30 seconds setting at home on the coach, including me.....

Steve

 

[Legionsx]

Seriously, do some research on apnea diving. You will learn that the "feeling of having to breath" is an excess of carbon dioxide... not a lack of oxygen. With a little practice, you can overcome that feeling and go into "diaphragm convulsions" which are not as bad as it sounds. Most people think the "feeling of having to breath" is simply overwhelming and thus... would probably drown due to panic if faced with 2 minutes of no air.

 

[PugetDiver]

I've been reading the arguments against the "Spare Air" recently. I feel a strong urge to make some thoughts known and perhaps encourage some realistic thinking and training ideas. I'm shocked that no one has suggested "FREEDIVING" as the obvious illustration that a person can make an ascent from a depth of say... 100 feet... to the surface with a WIDE margin of safety using a spare air.

Now, let me explain.... obviously scuba diving ascents are FAR different from freediving ascents. Freedivers can blast to the surface safely, while scuba divers that blast to the surface would experience soda pop bubbles in bad places.

Background:
1. I'm a freediver and a scuba diver.
2. I dive 80-100 ft. with a single steel tank and a 3.0 cf Spare Air on the front of my BC.
2. I can hold my breath for 4 minutes... say... 3 minutes when i'm really moving alot.

So... a spare air to me? Good lord. That's MORE than 10 minutes of breathing. I do an exercise where i hold to diaphragm convulsion... exhale.... inhale a single breath... hold... I can go 10 minutes on 5-6 breaths.

To tie it all together... we all know we can't hold our breath while ascending from a scuba dive. BUT... that doesn't mean you have to suck air like a diesel engine either. It seems as though a lot of you guys are PLANNING AND TRAINING to be able to just hyperventilate air in an emergency. I PLAN AND TRAIN to STOP BREATHING ( trailing bubbles of course). 30 breaths from a spare air is a huge amount IF you know how to use the wisely. A tiny stream of bubbles is all you need to stay safe and not pop a lung. When i ascend from freediving... i usually trail bubbles anyway just to stay in the habit.

Single caveat: I do NOT swim in currents. I go down to a wreck, and I can ALWAYS go straight up. I don't go in caves... I don't even dive at night without more equipment. So this discussion is for true open water with no complications.

I STRONGLY suggest that anyone who is truly interested in safety as a scuba diver... do some freediving. It shows you just how long you can last on a breath. It also reduces panic an EXTREME amount in the case of an ooa emergency. Your thoughts cease to be "OH MY GOD I DON'T HAVE AIR!!!!".... to something like... "I've been out of air before when I was freediving." no big deal. No rush, but deliberate. Reach down, grab that spare air that you've practiced getting in 3 seconds or less to your mouth... get a full breath... trail those TINY bubbles... and make your way slowly to the surface.

By the way, i am a firm believer that any human being can hold their breath at LEAST 3 minutes with a moderate amount of training/practice. I personally have taught people how to go from a measly 30 second breath hold to 3.5 minutes.

Good post. I agree with you. The Spare Air is not there so you can take your time getting to the surface. The Spare Air will allow you to gain control of the situation, stop and think (Something we all learned in OW).

I too can hold my breath for quite sometime. I am sure that the 30 breaths (breathing out slowly) would be plenty for me to get to my friends OCTO or to the surface (non-overhead /rec diving limits).

 

[ScubaSarus]

I would be concerned more of embolism for someone taking in spare air at the bottom from freediving.

 

[PugetDiver]

I would be concerned more of embolism for someone taking in spare air at the bottom from freediving.

Tell that to the guy without air. Embolism is better than the alternative.

 

[redacted]

I'd be willing to bet that most divers would have a hard time holding there breath for 30 seconds setting at home on the coach, including me.....

Steve

Boys football or girls basketball?

I think part of the agruement is that it is like carrying around a 1/2 of an asprin in case you get a headache. Why not just go ahead and carry a full dose (2) if you need to carry any at all. It doesn't cost that much more and it really doesn't take that much room. And it will work as well or better. You can actually do a normal ascent rather than an ESA with a couple breaths to get you by.

 

[jimmyboy]

Simply put, in an OOA situation at any depth up to 100 feet spare air is better than NO air.

 

[freediver]

I agree that freediving will make one more comfortable on scuba. I question whether every human has the ability to hold their breath for three minutes. I teach freedive clinics and have been freediving for 16 years and have attained a 6 minute breath hold through years of training. However, I find it difficult to imagine the average diver, after a lifetime of stress induced habits can overcome these to the point of having a three minute breath hold. I would love to see everyone focus on fundamental freediving skills so that they will gain more comfort in the water, esp. in a crisis situation. As far as the necessity of the spare air, I would like to know whatever happened to good ole' monitoring of air supply?