using up air too fast

[scubatoys]

A lot of good comments here... but let me see if I can expand on what seems to help the most. A lot of the posters commented on trim... but new divers, depending on their course, don't understand positioning and trim and attitude in the water.

In a nut shell, you've spent you're whole life upright: | to dive you should be horizontal: _ but new divers normally end up at an angle: /

Other people mentioned weighting. I've seen so many new divers that over weight because they are plowing through the water at an angle. Your feet should be equal or higher than your head. You should be able to stop kicking, and not sink. Many noobs are constantly kicking to maintain a head up attitude with too much weight on, and if they stop kicking, they fall.

Test your angle in the water by touching your chin to your chest and looking under you. You should see the water column behind you. If you only see the bottom, your head is too high, and feet too low. And kick a few kicks then stop. Do you just hang, or fall?

Working on that will help you get the weighting and trim everyone is talking about here.

 

[lamont]

i've lost 12 lbs since jan 1 and it seems to help with the SAC rate...

 

[Gary D.]

Try the XALER method. It works to improve air consumption 99% of the time.

Gary D.

 

[mxracer19]

whats the XALER method?

 

[Tom725]

All good suggestions. Experience will help the most which will lead to better trim and weighting. Experience also helps you relax. New divers tend to breath on the top end of their lungs - never quite exhale enough - so they need more weight to compensate for the added lift from the air in your lungs.

Staying above your dive buddy will also help a lot.

 

[Deano2]

Patience, breath and practice. Anytime you dive a new site you will use more air,. However, being more familiar with your equipment and weighted properly will help. I bought I dry suit a year ago and with that a weight & trim system. I used that last year in warm water and I must say my bouyancy was much better. If you want to dive better: practice, practice, practice and buy this piece of equipment it's brillant !

 

[MoonWrasse]

i just returned from a liveaboard dive trip to Cod hole and Osprey reef on the GBR
I had only previously done my open water qualification dives. on the trip I found that i tended to use up my air very quickly. my longest dive was 29 minutes. as a result no one wanted me as a dive partner and i ended up doing most of the dives with an instructor (when one was available.) I did however do the shark feed and cod feed dives. I am 46 years old and most of the other 15 divers were in their early 20s and I found it difficult to keep up with them. does anyone have any tips on how i could use my air more efficiently?

As I recall, I was also blowing thru my air quickly on the dives immediately following my OW certification. Probably not uncommon, as you are a bit anxious about remembering all the stuff you need to know (before you internalize it).
Also for me, I was just doing what they told me to do, breathe continiously and deeply. This had the unfortunate side effect of rabbiting as well

I think dives 5-15 are the most frustrating, most informative.


Tips:
1. Watch your trim, including dangling SPG, etc.
2. Increase your arobic capacity while out of the water (i.e. run, swim).
3. Relax before hitting the water.
4. Take the AOW class, it will help you some.
5. When swimming under water, swim 1-2 meters above the others to conserve air.
6. Especially on liveaboard trips, don't drink booze the night before and get rested!

Keep with it

 

[jbd]

whats the XALER method?

It is truly the magic key to diving.

Take all the great info provided by the other respondents to this thread and tie it together with XALER and you will be a diving guru.

 

[Gary D.]

It is truly the magic key to diving.

Take all the great info provided by the other respondents to this thread and tie it together with XALER and you will be a diving guru.

 

[Rick Inman]

whats the XALER method?

You won't get any help on this from those two guys, Yrag and DBJ!