elan
Contributor
do not stress out , if you can make 45 min at 35 ft on an aluminum tank you sac is around .7 which is good for a new diver.
Sucking down a tank quickly
- Thread starter AlwaysBeachin
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T.C.
Contributor
Best advice: Slow down. You will actually see less the faster you know and the more you try to see. Next dive, find a coral head and spend 5 minutes looking really, really close at it. Don't swim, don't do anything but float and look. Then see how much air you've used. In short; You're swimming too fast, trying to see the whole reef. You can't. I've spent my entire dive under the boat, and seen much more than the divers who swam out everywhere.
Next, get a camera. Not only can you take pictures of the cool stuff you're now seeing, but because you have to hold it, you can't use your hands to scull. Your workload will go down, and so will your air consumption.
Then, talk to the other divers about what they see you doing. Is your trim bad? Do you kick all wrong? Are you using too much lead?
Lastly (without getting into your current fitness state) add some moderate cardio to your exercise routine- and watch how you breathe doing that. Good breathing techniques for running can be applied underwater.
And if all this fails, and since each person is different, and your air use is still high, invest in some high pressure steel tanks. A 119 cuft tank will give you a dive equivalent to your buddies with AL80s.
Next, get a camera. Not only can you take pictures of the cool stuff you're now seeing, but because you have to hold it, you can't use your hands to scull. Your workload will go down, and so will your air consumption.
Then, talk to the other divers about what they see you doing. Is your trim bad? Do you kick all wrong? Are you using too much lead?
Lastly (without getting into your current fitness state) add some moderate cardio to your exercise routine- and watch how you breathe doing that. Good breathing techniques for running can be applied underwater.
And if all this fails, and since each person is different, and your air use is still high, invest in some high pressure steel tanks. A 119 cuft tank will give you a dive equivalent to your buddies with AL80s.
OP
AlwaysBeachin
Registered
All good advice, thanks! The captain did say that all I had to do was drop down under the boat and hang out to see plenty of stuff. I probably would have seen more. I'm a fast-paced person by nature too. (I'm that guy that goes through the museum in 1/2 an hour vs 4). Next time I'll slow down and stay within a smaller area to see how much of a difference it makes. There's so much to look at and so much space underwater, you just want to keep exploring, lol.
USFpsychDiver
Contributor
When I started diving I always felt like I was struggling in the water, because I was always struggling in the water. Everything was work: going down, staying down, not hitting the bottom, not floating up, not rolling to one side or the other, trying to keep track of my dive buddy and the way back to the boat and how much air I had left, holding a safety stop. It's all well and good to say "relax", but I couldn't relax until I had some time in the water diving with some experienced (and patient) buddies, and got some good, solid, more advanced training (OW training really just scratches the surface). Spend some more time underwater, get experience, and it'll become more fun and less work, and like magic, air consumption will improve. Soon you'll be floating horizontal in the water moving about with little fin flicks and it'll be no-deco time that limits your dive, not running out of air. Have fun!
OP
AlwaysBeachin
Registered
^ This exactly. It will take more water time. I think, how can I relax when I have to keep track of all this stuff going on, not crash into the reef and wipe out the coral, watch my air, my navigational route, worry about watching/keeping track of my dive buddy (my biggest pain in the ass pet peeve thus far), and after all that relax and watch the wildlife.
Bob DBF
Contributor
It's just the advantage of being an old diver.
Bob
---------------------------
I may be old, but I'm not dead yet.
At the end of the day there is still going to be a 700 psi spread between some divers of reasonable ability. Some of the air consumption is what it is, person by person but with fewer that 24 dives you have lots of opportunity. You mention working on buoyancy control, you will forever improve but there comes a time when you are in control and working on it is not a factor that's a big one. Have you determined an optimum weighting? That can do a lot to advance your buoyancy control, more here. Part of it surely is new diver adrenaline, that will ebb with time. How is your configuration?
I want you to visualize a parachute diver in a flat free fall, can you hang in the water steady and flat like that. When you are on the move do you have a good controlled kick? I don't care if it's a flutter kick but is it a kick glide, kick glide full leg technique? Where are your hands, sculling, flapping, doing the crawl like you are in Sea Hunt? I don't care where you put them but be still!
Consider that your forward movement is essentially punching a hold in the dense water. You want to pierce the water like a shark. That means swimming flat and reasonably streamlined. Don't obsess about hoses and crap like that but do have your gear restrained more for safety's sake. The big opportunity is horizontal swimming and being still.
As for swimming to the boat, someone needs to start navigating. You can do a reciprocal course, triangle or other appropriate pattern and end in the neighborhood.
You have only just begun, dive with a spirit of continuous improvement and check those weights then their placement. Don't get uptight about the air you are now using, it's well traveled path and it is to be expected at least for now. Eventually if you don't reach the excellence you seek you can always opt for larger cylinders for your local diving.
Above all, have fun.
Pete
driftwood
Contributor
Relaxing is the big one. If I hit the "Zen" moment on a dive, my air consumption drops like a rock. Working at 10m, I am good for 80min on an AL80.
Take your time, work on one problem at a time. When that problem is "fixed", move on the your next issue.
This isn't a process that can be done on vacation dives. You need to dive locally as often as possible. First step, is getting the right exposure protection that allows frequent local dives. Next comes buoyancy, ......
Take your time, work on one problem at a time. When that problem is "fixed", move on the your next issue.
This isn't a process that can be done on vacation dives. You need to dive locally as often as possible. First step, is getting the right exposure protection that allows frequent local dives. Next comes buoyancy, ......
Here is piece I did for scubadiverlife.com. You find it useful.
DIvemasterDennis
Will I Always be an Air Sucker?
New divers are often concerned that they breathe through the air in their tank faster than other divers. When a new diver compares his air consumption, and accordingly, his or dive time on a given size tank of air, they often find they consume air faster than other divers. There are a lot of reason that is true. Variations among divers in gender, body size, body type, activity in the water, and experience as a diver all impact air consumption rates. As all divers know, people who breathe through their air quicker than their dive buddy, or other divers on a group dive, have a nickname no one really wants: air sucker. Some divers wonder if they will always be an air sucker. The answer is, not so much as when you start out, but some people, by reason of their body size, particularly lung capacity, will breathe through their air faster than others, no matter how experienced they are. Not everyone uses up their air at the same rate. We get that. But some people are terrible and dont need to be. Some air suckage is correctable. You can, through good diving practices, reduce your air consumption. Here are some tips to help you do that and increase your bottom time.
1) Check your weighting. If you go through air faster than everyone else, there is a real good chance you are over-weighted or under-weighted. Properly weighted, you will exert less effort during a dive, you will maintain neutral buoyancy with less adjustment of air in and out of your bcd or wing, and you will use less air.
2) Trim your buoyancy often through adding or venting air from your bcd or wing. I often observe other divers and see that they cannot hover. To remain at a certain depth, they are kicking or moving their arms to maintain that depth. Those movements burn air. Use your low pressure inflater/ deflater- that is what it is there for. Maintain neutral buoyancy and you will use a lot less air. Remember that variations in depth during a dive will cause the air in your bcd or wing to compress or expand, impacting buoyancy. If you are overweighted and carrying a lot of air in your bcd or wing, then the effect is more pronounced. Once you are properly weighted, still trim your buoyancy often.
3) Move less. You will move less if you are properly weighted and trim your buoyancy often. But you will still burn air if you are swimming from place to place and back again, chasing fish you will never catch, or lagging behind the group and speeding to catch up. This tip is simple: move less. Stop and smell the coral. Look for pretty little things under ledges. Dont be in constant motion. The less you move, the more you will see, and the less air you will breathe.
4) Monitor your depth regularly. Even depth variations of a couple of meters can impact air consumption substantially. Remember your training. If you are 10 meters deep, it takes twice as much air to fill your lungs as it does at the surface. If you are 20 meters down, it takes three times as much, and at 30 meters, four times as much. Dive planning involves planning a profile concerning depth and time at depth. Often divers are distracted by something they see and do not pay attention to their depth. A dive planned to 80 feet is shortened when the inattentive diver is suddenly at 95 feet , or even deeper. Whether due to distraction or poor buoyancy control, descending deeper than planned will cause rapid air depletion. Monitor your depth and maintain the planned profile.
5) Stay (or move to) a few meters above the rest of the group. If during a dive you notice that you are going through air quicker than the others on the dive, consider ascending a couple of meters. As noted above, it can make a measurable difference in your air consumption.
If you will do these five things, I am sure that you will improve your air consumption rate. Some of you will notice a dramatic improvement. Happy diving, everyone.
DivemasterDennis
DIvemasterDennis
Will I Always be an Air Sucker?
New divers are often concerned that they breathe through the air in their tank faster than other divers. When a new diver compares his air consumption, and accordingly, his or dive time on a given size tank of air, they often find they consume air faster than other divers. There are a lot of reason that is true. Variations among divers in gender, body size, body type, activity in the water, and experience as a diver all impact air consumption rates. As all divers know, people who breathe through their air quicker than their dive buddy, or other divers on a group dive, have a nickname no one really wants: air sucker. Some divers wonder if they will always be an air sucker. The answer is, not so much as when you start out, but some people, by reason of their body size, particularly lung capacity, will breathe through their air faster than others, no matter how experienced they are. Not everyone uses up their air at the same rate. We get that. But some people are terrible and dont need to be. Some air suckage is correctable. You can, through good diving practices, reduce your air consumption. Here are some tips to help you do that and increase your bottom time.
1) Check your weighting. If you go through air faster than everyone else, there is a real good chance you are over-weighted or under-weighted. Properly weighted, you will exert less effort during a dive, you will maintain neutral buoyancy with less adjustment of air in and out of your bcd or wing, and you will use less air.
2) Trim your buoyancy often through adding or venting air from your bcd or wing. I often observe other divers and see that they cannot hover. To remain at a certain depth, they are kicking or moving their arms to maintain that depth. Those movements burn air. Use your low pressure inflater/ deflater- that is what it is there for. Maintain neutral buoyancy and you will use a lot less air. Remember that variations in depth during a dive will cause the air in your bcd or wing to compress or expand, impacting buoyancy. If you are overweighted and carrying a lot of air in your bcd or wing, then the effect is more pronounced. Once you are properly weighted, still trim your buoyancy often.
3) Move less. You will move less if you are properly weighted and trim your buoyancy often. But you will still burn air if you are swimming from place to place and back again, chasing fish you will never catch, or lagging behind the group and speeding to catch up. This tip is simple: move less. Stop and smell the coral. Look for pretty little things under ledges. Dont be in constant motion. The less you move, the more you will see, and the less air you will breathe.
4) Monitor your depth regularly. Even depth variations of a couple of meters can impact air consumption substantially. Remember your training. If you are 10 meters deep, it takes twice as much air to fill your lungs as it does at the surface. If you are 20 meters down, it takes three times as much, and at 30 meters, four times as much. Dive planning involves planning a profile concerning depth and time at depth. Often divers are distracted by something they see and do not pay attention to their depth. A dive planned to 80 feet is shortened when the inattentive diver is suddenly at 95 feet , or even deeper. Whether due to distraction or poor buoyancy control, descending deeper than planned will cause rapid air depletion. Monitor your depth and maintain the planned profile.
5) Stay (or move to) a few meters above the rest of the group. If during a dive you notice that you are going through air quicker than the others on the dive, consider ascending a couple of meters. As noted above, it can make a measurable difference in your air consumption.
If you will do these five things, I am sure that you will improve your air consumption rate. Some of you will notice a dramatic improvement. Happy diving, everyone.
DivemasterDennis
when I started diving I had the same problem. It wasn't until I accepted my fate and stopped worrying about it- that it got much better. It will for you too as your skills improve and you feel more natural when diving.
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