Air consumption and (separately) suction-y fins

[rjpv]

Hi guys,

I'm about 10 dives beyond my OW certification now and wanted to run a couple questions by you.

Air consumption: I'm a large guy so I know that I will always use plenty of air; right now an AL80 filled to 3000psi will last me about 40 minutes at 60ft or up. I've been working on my consumption, taking slow and deep breaths (each exhale lasts me 3-5 seconds). I also discovered that if I am less quick to fine tune my buoyancy (add some air, dump some air, add some air, dump some air...) that I get back almost 200psi over a dive.

That said, is there anything else I can do to minimize my air consumption? I know larger tanks and higher pressures are available, and I might make the upgrade, but I want to get my fundamentals in order before trying to buy my way out of my problem.

Second question: suction-y fins. I use some ankle-strap fins that I love because they fit my feet quite nicely. Perhaps too nicely - even with the strap unhooked, yanking the fins off my booties takes quite a bit of effort. It feels like a vacuum has formed, and it is not fun to be flopping around at the back of the boat trying to get your fins off (or rolling around in the waves). Any suggestions for easier removal?

 

[Hoyden]

Two suggestions to ease your fin removal - spray the inside of your fins with Armor All and put a couple of holes in the bottom of your foot pockets as close to the toe area as you can. I used a heated bolt to melt two holes in both of my Jet fins (please do this outside) and it made them so much easier to remove and allows them to drain even if not held upside down.

 

[Melicertes]

Better air consumption, hmmm - relaxing is one key to the solution. You're already on the right track with trying to slow down your breathing and keeping good slow deep breaths going in a rhythm, remember *never* hold your breath. Also paying attention to not overtune buoyancy in a yo-yo, inflate, deflate, inflate, deflate fashion is a good step closer to getting it down. So you're IMO well on your way to getting it down already and with practice it will only get better.

With more dives you'll also notice that your consumption will improve because as you get more comfortable with the new diving experience your body adjusts and calms down more and more until eventually diving becomes an accustomed practice. Diving is always a new experience for the body at first and never truly becomes native to it - we were just not designed for living naturally under the waves, although the mammalian diving reflex is something that raises some interesting questions I won't get into here now.
The body reacts to stressful situations by instinctively increasing breathing rate to ensure a stable oxygen supply to the brain, increasing the adrenaline to put the vital organs in overdrive to deal with whatever perceived threat the brain has detected etc. As you get more and more used to diving by doing it more and more, your brain slowly learns that diving is not such a threat as it first thought so the stress responses are not evoked as often anymore, and all this, amongst other things, affects your air consumption rate - more relaxed and confortable = better air consumption.

Fitness also plays a big role - working on a cardio workout program that is right for you at the gym will help you improve air consumption also. If you smoke you *may* find that your air consumption also improves if you stop. Also make sure that you wear the proper exposure protection for your diving environment; if you're cold you'll breathe more.

Practically, to improveyour consumption, dive more, live a healthier lifestyle, and relax. Those are what I'd consider the 3 best things I could advise. You sound like you're already well on your way with this so just keep swimming, just keep swimming... )

 

[Cap335]

Hi guys,

I'm about 10 dives beyond my OW certification now and wanted to run a couple questions by you.

Air consumption: I'm a large guy so I know that I will always use plenty of air; right now an AL80 filled to 3000psi will last me about 40 minutes at 60ft or up. I've been working on my consumption, taking slow and deep breaths (each exhale lasts me 3-5 seconds). I also discovered that if I am less quick to fine tune my buoyancy (add some air, dump some air, add some air, dump some air...) that I get back almost 200psi over a dive.

That said, is there anything else I can do to minimize my air consumption? I know larger tanks and higher pressures are available, and I might make the upgrade, but I want to get my fundamentals in order before trying to buy my way out of my problem.
?

The best solution to decrease air consumption is to get lots of dive time in.

Randy

 

[scubamickey]

I literally went from a SAC rate of .6-.7 to a rate of .35 - .45 overnight by learning to frog kick and staying horizontal with my knees bent. Within 2 days of learning the frog kick my SAC rate dropped dramatically and has stayed that way.
Learning to relax your body and not tense up helps too.

 

[Melicertes]

I literally went from a SAC rate of .6-.7 to a rate of .35 - .45 overnight by learning to frog kick and staying horizontal with my knees bent. Within 2 days of learning the frog kick my SAC rate dropped dramatically and has stayed that way.
Learning to relax your body and not tense up helps too.

I wonder if this is evolution's rationale behind making the frog kick they way it does... Hmmm...good point scubamickey:eyemouth:

 

[TheFoggyMask]

"The best thing you can do for air consumption is to get in excellent physical condition," said TheFoggyMask, scratching his mound of a belly and downing a mountain dew. Also in regards to your fins, a smaller bootie may help you fit into the fins a bit better, along with drain holes in the bottom if you're using jetfins like the cool kids.

 

[meesier42]

Force fins have a completely open foot pocket and will be very easy to remove, not to mention that they have tested many times to use less air also lower you SAC.

http:\\www.forcefins.com

 

[Red Sea Shadow]

Regarding air consumption, take a look at http://www.red-sea-shadow.com/downloads/AirConsumption.pdf

 

[ReefHound]

Re: air consumption, while some people make a key change and get dramatic overnight improvements, for most I know it's simply a process that takes time (aka dive experience). I've improved my air consumption dy diving a lot in the last year, even though before I *knew* all the techniques for better air consmption and thought I was completely relaxed.

Re: suction boots, if they are not tight to where your feet are hurting or cramping, why worry about it? If a fin strap breaks underwater you might be able to keep your fin on. As for getting them off on the boat or tag line, you'll eventually learn the best place to grab them and which way to flex and pull them to minimize your struggles.