Air hog etiquette.

[drrich2]

If a guide wants to share some of his gas with you to extend your dive, and you're okay with it, fine.

As for calling the dive a bit early, if you are basically back at the boat (e.g.: milling around under it, can see the ladder) and want to head back up alone, if conditions are benign, I'm fine with the diver going alone. His buddy can either head up and exit at the same time, or mill around under the boat and head in when he's ready. Assuming all involved are adults responsible for themselves (not in a student role), viz. is fine, etc...

Richard.

 

[ScottFL78]

Not sure where you are talking about but in Jupiter, FL we need all of our air. If we have to share then we are surfacing. We average 65' deep and now I always make the full 50 minutes on a steel 100, and after safety stop I still have about 1100 left. I usually dive without a friend so the Dive Master is my buddy, and when I was new I would run low on air around 30-40 minutes. If that happened I would just shoot my SMB and surface on my own. Dive Masters don't give air unless someone is OOA which is an emergency. They need all of their air to guide the 50 minute dive and be back on the boat with no less than 700psi.

 

[gcarter]

Expecting and planning that a DM will have air to share with an air hog is foolish. (Note: I am (was) an air hog)

DMs often dive the same size tanks as everyone else. There is nothing magical in DM training that allows them to have more air available to share than anyone else. They need what they have for emergencies, just like everyone else.

The correct answer is to end the dive when low on air. Either the buddy pair goes up or the individual diver, but there is no reason for the full group to end their dive early.

 

[lowlysubaruguy]

Im an air hog Ok how did I help make that not affect my diving

Like mentioned experience will improve this

Bigger tank will help

Make everyone your diving with aware of this before the dive, partner with someone willing to surface with you without killing everyones dive or work out a parameter before you dive. Ive seen some real air hogs kill dives for groups where people got mad didnt make it better for anyone. One the teenager got so stressed out after everyone reacted wrong he got sick and threw up didnt make the second dive. I would have been his buddy had I known. This was handled wrong on the boat before and after the dive. Two groups of about 6 to 8 people went out on this boat with divemasters. The kid was fidgeting before the dive the parents knew he was an air hog to. The DM set up the rules that we all followed and all surfaced at the same time. 20 minutes in the kids out of air, when we all hit the boat some wanted to continue the dive which the DM probably should have done a head count and gotten back in the water and completed the dive. Didnt happen now we have a group of pissed off people and this poor kid who felt so bad he threw up. I bet he was done diving for good I know he didnt make the second dive. He was a teenager.

Best advice from an air hog. Prior to this I dont think I ever got 45 minutes out of a tank not once. Its a yoga technique google it hopefully youll find the actual article. The fictional goal is to breathe out twice as long as you breathe in. I doubt I ever hit 140% but its a very good technique. I practice it year round reduces stress. If I have a planned dive I start practicing it all day long get to where your not even thinking about it and it just happens naturally youll consume half the air you currently do.

I dive with some skilled divers thousands of dives and im fortunate they were all very much ok with getting me to where I am now. Where am I now im about 125 to 150 dives in. Im rarely the first person to run out of air. I am working at it where there not, but Im able to spear fish lobster dive wrestle with some anchor and still have close to what my buddies have when the dive done. While experience is part of this the moment I began this exercise I used a lot less air. I will tell you this I like having the same air in my tank as one of my skilled buddies after a dive. So while im still an air hog im always working on improving it.

And my best advice it to go on a dive trip where you can dive from shore make your first dives from shore and in shallow water with minimal swimming required work on all your skills in less than 30 feet of water. Go with someone who is ok with it. Fact is you could dive many dives each day if you felt inclined in water less than 30 feet. Bonaire would be a great place but there’s others like it. Have a great vacation work on your skills and soon it will be nothing more than a memory.

 

[boulderjohn]

Expecting and planning that a DM will have air to share with an air hog is foolish. (Note: I am (was) an air hog)

It is very rare, but some operators do have that protocol. The rules for that are very specific, however--you don't just go up to the DM and signal low on air.

In the one case where I encountered it, these were the procedures:

1. The first person to reach 1,000 PSI remaining signals the DM, and they share air.
2. The DM uses a long (7 foot) hose to accommodate an air sharing procedure that has both swimming freely.
3. When a second person reaches 1,000 PSI, the DM takes back the alternate and the first diver at 1,000 returns to breathing his or her own tank.

Note that at no time prior to the group ascent does anyone have less than 1,000 PSI, so no one is ever truly low on air. Every diver always has enough air to do an ascent and even share air with someone else should the need arise. The air sharing actually happens nearer the middle of the dive then at the end. Once 2 people are below 1,000 PSI, the DM is in a position to assist anyone in the group if a need arises.

If instead a diver were to share air with the DM after becoming seriously low on air, then the DM cannot share air with anyone else, and the DM might not have enough air to complete the dive with the two of them. That is decidedly a bad idea.

 

[gcarter]

It is very rare, but some operators do have that protocol. The rules for that are very specific, however--you don't just go up to the DM and signal low on air.

In the one case where I encountered it, these were the procedures:

1. The first person to reach 1,000 PSI remaining signals the DM, and they share air.
2. The DM uses a long (7 foot) hose to accommodate an air sharing procedure that has both swimming freeling.
3. When a second person reaches 1,000 PSI, the DM takes back the alternate and the first diver at 1,000 returns to breathing his or her own tank.

Note that at no time prior to the group ascent does anyone have less than 1,000 PSI, so no one is ever truly low on air. Every diver always has enough air to do an ascent and even share air with someone else should the need arise. The air sharing actually happens nearer the middle of the dive then at the end. Once 2 people are below 1,000 PSI, the DM is in a position to assist anyone in the group if a need arises.

If instead a diver were to share air with the DM after becoming seriously low on air, then the DM cannot share air with anyone else, and the DM might not have enough air to complete the dive with the two of them. That is decidedly a bad idea.

I know it is not an uncommon practice, whether officially as above or unofficially. Either way, for it to work safely the DM either needs to have very low personal consumption, a larger tank, or both.

I would not personally ever plan a dive outing with the expectation of that.

 

[boulderjohn]

I know it is not an uncommon practice, whether officially as above or unofficially. Either way, for it to work safely the DM either needs to have very low personal consumption, a larger tank, or both.

I would not personally ever plan a dive outing with the expectation of that.

Some DMs have unreal air consumption, but for this to work, it does not have to be spectacular.

The one time I was involved with it, I was leading a dive trip. After a day or so of this working the normal way, we amended it. The first person to reach 1,000 would share air with the DM; the second person to reach 1,000 would share air with me. When the 3rd person reached 1,000, we would begin the ascent. Except for a couple petite women, we were using HP 120s. The petite women were using HP 100s. We had some very long dives using that procedure.

My air consumption is pretty decent, but no more than that. I regularly dive with people who do better than I do. Yet, I was able to make this process work without difficulty.

 

[IncreaseMyT]

I like diving with big steel tanks, 133 is my favorite. The other day one of our buddies whipped out a 149 and we were all jealous

 

[scubadada]

Other than Cozumel, I don't know where all this air sharing ******** is common. If you always limit your group, get a bigger cylinder. I'm all for dive groups with similar diving ability.

 

[gcarter]

I like diving with big steel tanks, 133 is my favorite. The other day one of our buddies whipped out a 149 and we were all jealous

I love my HP117s, have a HP130 for the longer drifts, and have used a HP150. I find the larger ones don't trim as well for me, the HP117s trim really nice. The HP150 is huge.