The Amazing Air Sucking Vacuum

[ScubaThor]

Dive more... Living in Tennessee, I don't often get the chance to dive, but I can usually go over to the Rec Center pool, which is 12' deep, and swim around in there, if no one's using the pool for some sort of event. Will this help, even though I'm not at any great depth?

I was planning on doing exactly the same thing...go to the pool and f' around with weights. I am convinced that I was overweighted...no question about it. Not so sure about the humming thing though...
Thank you all for your advice.
T

 

[Shadow]

Coming from a scientific background, i'm loathe to hear people make such generalizations without backing scientific data, i.e. studies.
Heavier skeletons implies greater bone density.... :06:.

Greater bone density is exactly what I was referring to. There is a ton of unquestionable, unrefutable, scientific data regarding bone density and race. And thanks to the Internet, anyone can find it in about 2 seconds. There are studies reported in the most respected medical journals, and such places as the Mayo Clinic, etc.

IMO the individual variability in body composition, i.e., percentage of muscle and fat in a person's body composition is going to vary a lot more from person to person than throughout a 'race'.

I never said that percentage of muscle and fat had any relationship to race, just bone density. So, if you're Asian, and need more weight than your Caucasian buddy, you don't automatically need to feel inept or less skilled. There's likely a very sound genetic reason.

The main point I tried to make is this: two people of the same height and weight can require very different amounts of lead to achieve neutral buoyancy. I just listed a few of the factors so that the diver who started this thread doesn't beat himself up about how much weight he needs.

 

[morayp]

With fewer than 50 dives your anxiety level was probably higher. Did your consumtion rate go down any over the course of the dives? If you have an air integrated computer it will tell you your breathing rate and give you instant feedback. I find that this helps to slow my breathing. i think the best cure is to dive more!

 

[Jamdiver]

Thanks for that, Shadow but Mike already clued me in to some studies and references.

 

[limeyx]

I agree...6-7 pounds with a full 3mm does seem a bit light...at least for me.

More like 10-12 if I remember. Then I could hold safety stops.

Yeah, I was in Hawaii earlier this year and was amazed at how little weight a lot of people took -- seemed to be some kind of "i can dive with less weight than you" kind of thing (of course, I have 6lb on my backplate

Then i wasn't so surprised to find clusters of people hanging onto mooring buoys for (what looked like) dear life as an approximation of a safety stop

 

[limeyx]

I can limeyx, thanks for asking.

In fact i've held a safety stop at 20ft with about 600 psi.
I do my safety stop at about 6m (20ft).

Interesting -- and I honestly wasnt trying to slam you (as your response seems to indicate you thought i was). I am just interested to see if I could drop some weight in that configuration and maybe I can. Maybe not.

 

[Daryl Morse]

On further reflection, I think a part of the air usage equation is excitement or nervousness over diving a new location like you did.

On a test, my yoga teacher, who has never dived, did a SAC of 0.43. (Guess why I'm taking yoga?)

What kind of test? If your yoga teacher has never dived, you don't know what his/her SAC is when diving. Measuring SAC while doing yoga is hardly indicative of SAC while diving. If you measured your SAC while sleeping, what would it tell you? (Not much, IMHO.)

 

[Jamdiver]

Interesting -- and I honestly wasnt trying to slam you (as your response seems to indicate you thought i was). I am just interested to see if I could drop some weight in that configuration and maybe I can. Maybe not.

Sorry limeyx, didn't mean anything by my statement.

7 lbs for me, is my absolute minimum holding a safety stop at 20ft with 1000 psi isn't a prob, below that requires careful breathing from me. I.E. my breathing is modified from earlier in the dive, I tend to breathe more quickly and have faster inhalation and exhalation cycles.