Sharing air to maximize bottom time.

[meltedtime]

We just returned from a trip to San Andres, Colombia. On the first dive out the DM shared his air with me when he saw what an air pig I was. I piggybacked with him for about 15 mins, extending my bottom time. On subsequent dives a different DM had me share with my wife, he was not much better for air consumption than me. My wife enjoyed telling people how I was literally sucking the life from her.

I did get better near the end of the week, had one dive @80mins. with 700 psi to spare, without piggybacking. Of course this was a shallow dive @ 30ft max.

Is this a normal practice between mismatched air consumers? Does your dive buddy/SO share their air with you?

 

[InkDiver]

Is this a normal practice between mismatched air consumers? Does your dive buddy/SO share their air with you?

I would say it is not normal practice. If you share air because you are low on air, and need to share to surface that is one thing. But to just share to extend bottom time....asking for trouble IMO.

If you have dissimilar air consumption with your buddy such that it greatly shortens one person's dives, consider getting a larger tank for the person who uses air faster.

 

[garyfotodiver]

We are recreationall divers. When one diver of a pair runs low on gas, the dive ends. Ascend, safety stop, out of the water.

There is always another dive... But you have to finish this dive safely before you can go on to the next.

 

[redacted]

I've seen it done before. My wife and I will do it if she gets a light fill. Done well before either diver approaches rock bottom, I see it as not just extending the dive a bit but also good practice. If sharing air is asking for trouble, perhaps golf would be more appropriate.

 

[meltedtime]

How much difference in tank size can we go? My wife is just over 100lbs, I'm around 240. When it's just the two of us, she can surface with 1500+, I'll be nearing the 500 mark. I am improving but I don't think I'll ever get near her low consumption.

 

[almitywife]

ive heard of dm's doing this for the tourist divers in populated vaccay diving spots, ie: gbr. im not calling you a vaccay diver!! just trying (and doing a bad job of it) to point out it might be something dm's do where they have a high volume of tourists. reason being is that they know you have travelled far for this dive and they are ensuring you get that dive (even if they put you and themselves at risk)

for peace of mind, next time you might want to think about either twins or a pony bottle... anything instead of sharing air with someone else for such a length of time

personally, i would have dived my plan and surfaced with my own air

 

[NorthWoodsDiver]

Are you a smoker or out of shape or have some other health problems because you should get at least 100 minutes on a al80 at 30'. If you have health concers maybe you should get checked out by a doctor to see if you are fit for diving or...

maybe its just an excitement issue and all you need to do is calm down and concentrate more on breathing technique until it comes more natural or...

maybe your wetsuit and bc and reg are not adjusted to your needs. If a wetsuit is to tight it will squeeze your chest and make breathing harder and same goes with jacketed bcds or if a regulator is not adjusted right or...

you might have to much lead and be constantly fighting the feeling of sinking or if you not weighted and trimmed properly you could be causing undue resistance under water.

after saying all that I dont share air, I dont ask for others and I dont offer mine but I carry a redundant air source and all my fellow divers do too. in the diving we do there is total redundancy so that may not apply to you but if you find yourself needing someone elses air than there is something wrong with what you are doing.

 

[InkDiver]

If sharing air is asking for trouble, perhaps golf would be more appropriate.

Sharing air when needed and appropriate is not asking for trouble, such as when it is needed to make a safe ascent to the surface. Practicing air drills is a good thing, and should be done regularly. However, sharing air ONLY to extend bottom time is definitely asking for trouble.

So the person with the high SAC shares off the other person and extends bottom time. A hose blows on the tank, still at the bottom, and the person with the high SAC has already sucked their tank almost dry BEFORE sharing air to extend bottom time. What do you do now??

I know of no agency recreational or technical that recommends if one person gets low on air go ahead and share to get more bottom time.

 

[JahJahwarrior]

Is it more ok if you share air at the beginning of the dive?

 

[meltedtime]

90' first dive. More of an excitement thing than anything else.

I did improve as the week progressed. Like I said, I did a 80 min dive @ 30 ft. The other dives were deeper. Still a relative newb and not very good at air consumption skills. I have a hard time exhaling slowly, it rushes out and I breath deep immediately. Starting to relax and improve, I'm sure it will come with time.

The wife barely breathes UW. We are not a great matched pair but neither one of us can really complain. It's great to be able to dive together.