Has anyone tried to streamline their gear to improve efficiency?

[CaptainHornblower]

A couple of weeks ago a friend and I changed the propellers on a friends boat while it was in the water. Since it was shallow enough that I could almost stand on the bottom (turns out, not quite) I thought I'd be better off without fins. It all worked out fine, but I was really surprised that I could barely make any headway when I tried to swim with full gear on but no fins. I bet I couldn't swim more than a tenth of a mph using both legs and arms.

The experience highlighted to me just how "un-steamlined" I had to be with all the gear on. Thus my question: has anyone ever come up with anything to improve efficiency with scuba gear on?

 

[Nemrod]

I have been working to present myself to the water in minimal gear configurations since I began diving and I am still at it:

N

 

[g1138]

Show-off .

Minimalist is pretty much as good as it gets. Feels like skindiving/freediving with gills.
But it has it's drawbacks and limitations.

BC's & Wings actually have quite a lot of drag, especially when they're sporting air. Denier material has a lot of surface area that "grips" as you're pushing through water. Ironically enough, adding retention bungee to your wing creates even more surface area and drag.

You can change the console, the hose lengths etc etc, but you're not really gaining much. Your main source of drag is the BC. So with a BC still being sported, if you want to gain speed and thrust, you change your fins or your DPV.

 

[Doc]

If you broke it down to a hydrodynamic study (put yourself in a tank in the Science lab at the University), I don't think the differences would be all that great in what you could accomplish. In example, with/without fins, as you rated it, the difference between 1/10 mph and 2.5 mph is the equation. Mathematically a huge number, but in practical application, not much of an improvement.

The early protagonists of DIR looked at me once in my cotton overall dive skin and didn't even bother to laugh. I had the same or better air left in my tanks upon return.

I've been in stupid crazy currents, 4mph range, and in my standard high-drag configuration, I don't "kite" through the water much more or less than anyone else.

I would also postulate that my [-]six pack[/-] beer keg abs, much like the bulbous prow on supertankers, is actually a (very minor) advantage in fluid dynamics.

Streamlining is possibly a good pursuit, maybe it increases your max speed and decreases exertion by this _ much?

What I am getting at is that it is mathematically insignificant unless you are in a "scuba race" or doing a charity benefit by swimming u/w across the English Channel. For most dive plans, the difference would be nothing more than an interesting dalliance.

 

[mathauck0814]

Nope. And there aren't entire diving philosophies with reams of pages written on the topic (to say nothing of the concepts' absence from the terabytes of storage hosting this website) </sarcasm>

 

[Agility]

many divers try to keep gear from dangling around to reduce drag. A smaller wing that lies snuggly up to the tank will produce less drag than a larger one flapping in the current. Sidemount divers try to tuck the tanks as closely to their body as possible, so yes many divers are concerned about streamlining.

 

[BDSC]

Doc is right on the money. The topic of being more streamlined makes for good internet chatter. You see folks on SB quite a lot talking about how having one less hose makes them more streamlined or how one style of BC is more streamlined than another etc etc. And then when you make that change you're gonna see a real difference in the amount of air you are using because you have become more efficient in the water and use less energy. Again, good internet diving stories.

Think about a typical dive in the Caribbean or pretty much anywhere really. What's the hurry? You usually dive in, slowly swim around looking at the reef, wreck, fishes, or whatever, and then return. Folks will tell you all the time to slow down, look around, and enjoy the dive.

It's great that divers have things tucked in and clipped off so they don't damage the reef. That I see as a real benefit if you associate that with being streamlined. Not sure that you could ever measure anything else. I look at it like using nitrox. Some folks say they feel nothing different after using nitrox as compared to air. Others say they feel less tired and have more energy. So if you feel that by changing this or that you are more streamlined and now more efficient in the water and can tell a real difference in your diving and air consumption, then so be it. It's all about the "feeling".

 

[Phil_C]

I guess I tend to think of streamlining more in terms of preventing things dangling and dragging over coral causing damage, or for penetration dives where you do not want anything sticking out that will snag.

Otherwise I think BDSC is right - for me a dive is not the Olympics, diving is about chilling out and not rushing. If the current is so strong that you cannot comfortably fin against it, or hold your position without resorting to hooks, then it should be a drift dive so just plan it as a drift and just enjoy it as such.

If the current is very strong I either dive it as a drift, wait for slack tide or don't dive. So yes, keep things tidy and neat, don't let gear dangle or drag on things, but otherwise I wouldn't bother chasing the minute gains to be made from being as aerodynamic as possible. - P

 

[Tigerman]

Well, I know where to start...
And its not by cutting my hair, I've done that after the pic was taken

I could try to get that hose less "out there", but really - I think I have made choices as to my diving that has a bigger impact

 

[highdesert]

Resistance in a fluid, either air or water, is an exponential function. At the speed of a diver who is poking around looking for critters, or watching the fishies, streamlining produces a negligible return. If you need to fin against a current, or for some reason get from A to B in a hurry, then tucking your danglies in may produce a gain in energy saved.