Trying to transition from total-noob, part 2
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My lowest SAC rate was 0.33, and I'm a fat old man. It's usually around 0.45-0.5 in the temperate waters of Monterey and Carmel. It was similar in Alaska, but it's always lower in warm water. I did actually DM an open water class a few winters ago. I took my gear out of the cold pickup truck, hopped in the heated pool, and 20 minutes later had 200 psi more than when I started. How's that for a SAC rate?
The best advice I can give you is to slowly breathe in and out. And breathe deep and fully exhale. Get enough dives under your belt to fully trust your regulator. At that point breathing becomes second nature, much like breathing on the surface.
Learn buoyancy control. Perfect it. Be able to hover motionless for at least a few minutes without changing depth more than a foot either way, using only breathing to vary your depth.
These things you can work on with every dive.
Weighting just doesn't seem to change my SAC rate much. I found a 30 lb weight belt at the beginning of a dive once, strapped it on and hauled that thing around for an hour. SAC rate was exactly the same.
dannobee;5001278]My lowest SAC rate was 0.33, and I'm a fat old man
Thats a fact, so listen to Dan!!
pacificgal
Rest in Peace...
Dan is not a fat old man. C'mon now.
Anti-Hero
Contributor
OP
egs
Registered
Wow...
Thanks, everyone, for all the advice. I don't feel so awkward about asking the question now.
Lynne, very interesting post, and the detail that you offer is what I was looking for.
All, it looks like weight control, buoyancy control, and SAC are interrelated and that my progression away from noob will occur as I work on all three.
Cheers.
Thanks, everyone, for all the advice. I don't feel so awkward about asking the question now.
Lynne, very interesting post, and the detail that you offer is what I was looking for.
All, it looks like weight control, buoyancy control, and SAC are interrelated and that my progression away from noob will occur as I work on all three.
Cheers.
Someone has to give Dan a bad time....
mikeguerrero
Guest
Eric,
Let me add in something that is often overlooked by new divers. There is a level of apprehension and anxiety that most new divers get when they strap up all their gear and start the walk to the ocean.
I know what I use to feel as a new diver, was an incredible amount of excitement just on approaching the dive site.
Psychology can effect your dive and understanding your levels of anxiety and stress will drastically help your breathing rate.
As I would strap on all my gear, I felt a rush of anxiety engulf my body as I started to try to analyze everything, and I mean everything. Is my gear on correctly, is my gas turned on? What's in the water, those waves look big, that guy looks more prepared than me, the thoughts go on.
All this would psych me out, and I would enter the water already feeling my heart pumping.
Then there is your surface swim and depending on your dive plan, might be a long kick. What I lacked to do was rest, 2-3 minutes before dropping once we would get to our drop site.
My buddy would say, ready? I would say yeah, lets do it, huffing and puffing still.. End result was me entering the water already sucking down my tank, feeling my heart thump and thump.
I noticed a huge change as a beginner diver, when I literally waited and enjoyed my surface break, once my heart rate dropped, I knew I was ready to descend.
Try it, take a minute to enjoy the surface, you'll sometimes see a sea otter, crane and lots of on lookers admiring the divers from the wall.
You are on your greatest adventure, don't go through it so quickly, take the time to smell the salt on the surface.
Psychology can help your sac/rate when you understand your fears and apprehensions, it did for me, and everything scares me in the ocean, just ask all my diving friends, but I just can't keep away from the ocean.
MG
Let me add in something that is often overlooked by new divers. There is a level of apprehension and anxiety that most new divers get when they strap up all their gear and start the walk to the ocean.
I know what I use to feel as a new diver, was an incredible amount of excitement just on approaching the dive site.
Psychology can effect your dive and understanding your levels of anxiety and stress will drastically help your breathing rate.
As I would strap on all my gear, I felt a rush of anxiety engulf my body as I started to try to analyze everything, and I mean everything. Is my gear on correctly, is my gas turned on? What's in the water, those waves look big, that guy looks more prepared than me, the thoughts go on.
All this would psych me out, and I would enter the water already feeling my heart pumping.
Then there is your surface swim and depending on your dive plan, might be a long kick. What I lacked to do was rest, 2-3 minutes before dropping once we would get to our drop site.
My buddy would say, ready? I would say yeah, lets do it, huffing and puffing still.. End result was me entering the water already sucking down my tank, feeling my heart thump and thump.
I noticed a huge change as a beginner diver, when I literally waited and enjoyed my surface break, once my heart rate dropped, I knew I was ready to descend.
Try it, take a minute to enjoy the surface, you'll sometimes see a sea otter, crane and lots of on lookers admiring the divers from the wall.
You are on your greatest adventure, don't go through it so quickly, take the time to smell the salt on the surface.
Psychology can help your sac/rate when you understand your fears and apprehensions, it did for me, and everything scares me in the ocean, just ask all my diving friends, but I just can't keep away from the ocean.
MG
Guy Alcala
Contributor
And trim, as Lynne mentioned. Moving your weights around to get horizontal in the water will have a big effect (helps to have a BC with trim pockets), but first you need to get rid of your excess lead so your buoyancy doesn't change as much with slight changes in depth. Because you have to have more air in your BC to compensate for the excess lead, slight depth changes cause bigger volume changes in your BC (especially since you're diving fairly shallow), forcing you to constantly vent and add gas to your BC.
If you're going to be in Monterey this weekend let me know, and we can try to arrange to meet at BW. I'll be happy to take you out and look at your trim, weight, buoyancy, gear configuration (Noobs often have lots of gear drag) etc. The main thing you notice with experienced divers is that they look totally relaxed and unhurried, just ambling along. You can always tell the noobs by the amount of flailing and all the silt being kicked up, but we all know that we once looked exactly the same.
Guy
Hi Eric,
Looks like you are already getting fantastic advice from some of my favorite local SB divers! I assure you that these are excellent resources if you are looking for the fast track to learn more about SCUBA!!
Don (ae3753) is the mentor and instructor who helped me convert from a Warm Water vacation diver to an independent local diver in a suprisingly short time. IMO his advice & instruction are golden ;-)!
I'll piggy back on what others have said about reduced air consumption/sac rate in relation to relaxation. Who are you diving with? Where are you diving? Do you have a regular buddy? Do you feel safe & comfortable with them in the water?
Please don't feel silly for asking questions. We all were new divers at one point & we love to offer the advice that's helped us ;-).
Hang in there, keep diving -- it gets WAY more fun!!
Kathy
Looks like you are already getting fantastic advice from some of my favorite local SB divers! I assure you that these are excellent resources if you are looking for the fast track to learn more about SCUBA!!
Don (ae3753) is the mentor and instructor who helped me convert from a Warm Water vacation diver to an independent local diver in a suprisingly short time. IMO his advice & instruction are golden ;-)!
I'll piggy back on what others have said about reduced air consumption/sac rate in relation to relaxation. Who are you diving with? Where are you diving? Do you have a regular buddy? Do you feel safe & comfortable with them in the water?
Please don't feel silly for asking questions. We all were new divers at one point & we love to offer the advice that's helped us ;-).
Hang in there, keep diving -- it gets WAY more fun!!
Kathy
OP
egs
Registered
Hi - and thanks for the encouragements. I do my diving with just a few friends at this point. Not wanting to inflict a gas-guzzling, arm-flailing, buddy on divers a whole lot better than I, I dive with another a few people that are more skilled than I but still relatively new. Most of my dives are with the same two buddies. And it's all been at BW. A couple of trips to the Metridiums (cool) but mostly out along the breakwater to see the critters and work on technique.
And yeah, I feel comfy with them.
I'd be down there this weekend if I could, but Saturday is the Three Bridge Fiasco race on SF Bay and I'll be up there on a Moore 24, so I'm going to hope for good sailing weather on SF Bay and great diving conditions in Monterey Bay.
Cheers.
And yeah, I feel comfy with them.
I'd be down there this weekend if I could, but Saturday is the Three Bridge Fiasco race on SF Bay and I'll be up there on a Moore 24, so I'm going to hope for good sailing weather on SF Bay and great diving conditions in Monterey Bay.
Cheers.
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