This is something that I hear a lot. I'd like to give an alternate perspective, as an air hog. When people talk about their worst instabuddy dives, many of them involve their buddy going through a tank in an insanely short time, forcing them to cut short their expensive dive. This makes those of us with high SAC rates really focus on our SAC rates as a measure of our worth as a diver. As much as people say that it is what it is, my SAC determines the group's dive time. I did two dives today with a guy who was on his 11th dive, swam with his hands, ridiculously fast, yet used significantly less air than I did. When the standard answer to "how to lower SAC" is "get comfortable in the water", a lot of people start thinking that a high SAC indicates a bad diver.
There's a lot of times when getting a bigger tank is not feasible, not cost effective or means that your buddy wants a bigger tank too (leaving you in a similar position)
Yes I know what you are talking about! Nobody wants to feel like they are shortening everybody's dive!
I have seen people go on about SAC rates like they are an indicator of the diver's skills and comfort in the water! IMHO that is rubbish! It may improve slightly with comfort level, trim and so on but some people just have a higher SAC rate...period!
My SAC rate was low from the beginning no credit to me.. just was. I was uncomfortable in the water, trim wasn't great and all the problems normal in new divers. I dived with people who were very competent divers who had much worse SAC rates and were certainly more fit than I! Not fair but it is what it is. You can do little things to help a little but some people just use more air!
I know bigger tanks are expensive and so on but I would rather suggest bigger tanks than go on about, comfort in the water, trim, and all the nit picky things we do during the dive... I am sure there will be a lot of people happy to point those things out! We normally use smaller tanks so our dive time fits with our dive buddies. Diving is not and should not be a competitive sport! Anybody who gets into My tank has to be as big as or bigger than yours isn't someone I want to have in my list of buddies:shocked2:
I'd rather have a buddy who is an air hog than one with a bad attitude, interferes with the creatures, ignores safe buddy procedures or is selfish and inconsiderate! BTW... how is your navigation? mine sucks I'll take a good navigator over a low SAC rate any day