Tons of Questions

[Culcuhain]

I got back into diving after a 20 something year hiatus. (something called, life got in the way).
I audited the SSI class my wife took and I went out with her on her OW check out dives.
My SAC (Surface Air Consumption) was between 1.1 and 1.2cfu/min. That really sucks. (pun intended)
Went back out to the lake a few weeks later... SAC rate in the upper nines... still getting used to everything. (The wife and I practiced some skills and then just cruised around the lake).
2 weeks later we are in Antigua... I got my weights right. I was comfortable in my gear, I got my arms close to me, buoyancy near perfect and my SAC rate was between .62 and .72.
We got diving again a few weeks later... it is in the .62-.67 range....
I am short and fat (5'6" 200#).
The biggest difference for me was being comfortable, buoyant, and relaxed. Then it all came together.
Good luck!
As far as taking the Rescue class, I would wait until you are comfortable with YOUR gear (emphasis as there can be a difference between what you rent and own) and get a few more dives under your belt.
No sense rushing anything. I will be taking that rescue class towards the end of the summer.

 

[BauderDesign]

Learning different kicking techniques is definitely a good idea, but take it one step at a time. I always encourage newer divers to focus on their bouyancy first. But if you are curious, go onto YouTube and do a few searches about "scuba frog kick", "scuba back kick" and "scuba helicopter turn".

The main thing though is just to keep diving!

Don't worry I'm going to keep diving and I'm saving up to buy my full set of equipment so that I can try and dive at least 2 weekends a month if not more and even if that means freezing my A** off in the quarry near my house.

 

[BauderDesign]

The Atomic fins are fine. Split fins take a little getting use to, but they are fine. They will not be the secret to improving your air consumption though. That comes with experience and proper weighting. Most new OW folks wear too much weight. Wearing too much weight pulls your waist down. You compensate by adding air. This pulls your shoulders up. You move through the water more upright than you need to be and this is inefficient. Get the weighting right and stop "happy hands" (excessive use of hands on scuba). The results will surprise you. It is not uncommon for AOW students of mine to lose 6-8 pounds off their weight belt/weight system when we use the Peak Performance Bouyancy elective dive.

I'm going to do the Peak Performance Buoyancy soon along with doing the Advance Open Water Certification. I will probably do the Nitrox Certification at the same time as the AOW. I'm still working on learning how to properly weight myself but I only have 4 dives under my belt all which were OW certification dives so I still have a ton to learn and I'm excited to learn as much as possible. I'm hoping to try and get in around 50 more dives this year if not more and maybe even some deep wreck dives (after passing the needed certifications of course). However Rescue Diver is on my list of stuff I want to complete in the next year or two. I really love diving and would love to get to the level where I can use it to help save lives if possible.

 

[BauderDesign]

I agree on the Rescue. I had 26 dives at the time and think 40 or 50 would've been better.

Any specific tips that you have on preparing for it?

 

[BauderDesign]

I applaud your desire to learn more things and acquire more skills -- it's a good quality in a new diver.

Almost all new divers want to lower their gas consumption. Newbies go through their gas for a combination of reasons, with the big ones being lack of comfort with what they are doing, and lack of efficiency. Every muscle you contract underwater requires some oxygen to work, and releases some CO2 -- so the less work you do, the less gas you go through. HERE is an essay I wrote on this topic.

Integral to the concept of efficiency is that of trim. If you present a big surface area to the water, as you do when trying to swim forward at a 45 degree angle to the horizontal, you have to work very hard to move. If you are horizontal, you're more like an arrow cutting through the water, and swimming requires less effort. HERE is an excellent article on trim.

Alternative kicks are great to know. For one thing, they won't disturb silty bottoms, and leave the viz untouched. For another, they allow you to maneuver much more freely in the water -- if you've had the experience of swimming over the thing you wanted to look at, because you couldn't stop, and then having to swim a great big circle to get back to see it (at which point it's often gone) then you will immediately recognize the utility of being able to stop wherever you want, back up, or pivot. However, I will warn you that these alternative kicks are difficult to learn and somewhat difficult to perform in split fins, because they are so soft and squiggly in the water. You CAN do them all in splits, and I have, but I knew extremely well how to do them in paddle fins before I tried, and it was much more difficult. A non-silting kick you CAN easily do in splits is the modified flutter, which is done by holding your body flat from the shoulders to the knees, bending the knees about 45 degrees, and then kicking gently from the ankles. This will move you nicely along a reef (where you don't want to hurry anyway) and will not kick up any silt. Look up 5thD-X videos on YouTube, and you can find excellent examples of the kicks.

Finally, have fun with the learning process. Don't worry about being new and a little awkward -- we were all there once (read the journal of my OW class, if you don't believe me!)

WOW thank you for all of this information and I will check out your dive journal as well.

 

[TMHeimer]

Any specific tips that you have on preparing for it?

Academically, I would get the manual well ahead of time and study it. There is a ton of info. in there, much like the OW manual. I think you can do it online now, but that's a foreign world to me. There is (was in '06) a 25 question final exam.

Practically, Become super familiar with your own gear. Be able to gear up quickly and correctly every time--in a sitting position unassisted. In the manual, pay close attention to the sections on rescuing a panicked diver on the surface and bringing an unconscious one up from the bottom. Familiarize yourself with the pocket mask.
Physically, I didn't find it to be as tough as some people said it would be (even at then age 52). But it was somewhat mentally tough (for me anyway).

 

[fnfalman]

I have Atomic Split Fin fins but for some reason they always feel weird like when I'm swimming it feels like one is twisting or something. I have tried adjusting the tension on each side of the straps but it doesn't seem to help any ideas on how to fix this problem?

I've used Atomic split fins for three years now. I have no idea what you mean by twisting. Lots of people don't kick with their full legs, regardless of fin type, so you need to have an instructor or somebody who has some good experiences observe your kicks.

I'm looking to lower my air consumption rate but don't know how can someone point me to some resources on this if their is any?

Lots of things affect your air consumption: neutral buoyancy establishment, better kicking techniques, less struggling underwater, and finally breathing technique - breath in and out slowly and in a regulated manners instead of just gulping air and spitting it back out.

[quoteIs it better to get the same brand main regulator and octopus or is it better to get two different manufactures?[/quote]

Whichever you want to do. It doesn't matter one wit in real life.

Is their a resource for learning better finning techniques because I want to improve that skill as best as I can before our family goes to Marathon,Florida in mid-July?

YouTube. Though I must say that YouTube generally shows solid fin kick techniques and not a lot on split fins technique. With split fins, you don't do a big kick, but small and quick kicks. With either fins, you must make sure to point your toes like a ballerina.

I really want to take the rescue diver course so that I know how to handle emergencies if they arise but should I wait until I have 40-50 dives under my belt?

Some people say do it as soon as possible because you will learn all sorts of shortcomings as a diver. I say wait until you're comfortable in water, got basic techniques down, don't have to worry about neutral buoyancy, fin kicks, ascension, descension, etc. That way you can concentrate on learning the lifesaving techniques instead of learning how bad of a diver you are. I waited until around 150-dives in before I took the Rescue class.

Thank you in advanced[/QUOTE]