How do I improve my air consumption?

[dsgobie]

taking a picture of you diving when you aren't looking, and seem to be as you usually would be.. A camera can help a lot with what you "think" is good trim. Also, do the others in your group seem to "fin" away from you? Does it seem like you have to work harder to keep with them? Have a second set of eyes have a look at you in the water, and then take their advice and stick a couple dozen more dives under your belt. You should see some improvment. And before you rush out to get a bigger tank, make sure you actually need it.

 

[DiverBuoy]

During the first 2 minutes of the dive - pay the closest attention to your breathing - during these couple of minutes there are a number of things occuring and your brain and body are focused on other things which cause anxiety and cause you to breath more rapidly. These are including but not limited to:

• adjusting to the temperature of the water.
• equalizing
• orienting
• settling into and adjusting now wet gear
• paying attention to water visibility and observing scenery
• general anxiety about your buddy and any needs
• communicating
• checking and watching gauge underwater

The key during these first 2 minutes when tasked with all these items is remembering the whole time to breath slowly and deeply, don't skip breath but pace yourself. My rhythm is 3 seconds in 8-10 seconds out. Exhale deeply (read: eliminate carbon dioxide). If you concentrate on doing your personal rhythm (whatever it is) during the first 2 minutes of the dive - especially when all this other stuff is going on you'll set the tone for the pace of your breathing throughout the dive. And will tend to place your focus on a key part of good air consumption - relaxation.

Also if you're not properly weighted here is a big air killer: an improperly weighted diver makes constant adjustments to their BC throughout the dive. Depending on the size and design this could burn 25psi to 50psi a pop. So ask yourself: do I have to make constant (or many) adjustments to the air in my BC? When your weighting is just right, only the smallest infrequent adjustments must be made, and usually only accompanied by generous depth changes.

 

[ripngrind]

If you do need to adjust trim by inflating your BC, dont Alyways use you Direct feed. Do it Manually (Orally). Instead of just breathing out through you Reg and Wasting 1L of air conserve it by blowing it into the BC.

 

[DiverBuoy]

Not to put you on the spot ripngrind but you should use the oral inflate method in cases of emergency. Such as a problem inflator. There is no need to add any risk to a dive (especially only for the sake of air conservation) by having the regulator out of your mouth unnecessarily. In this case the savings is too small for the risk:benefit ratio.

There are much more significant changes that can be made to a divers style, behavior, skill, weighting to conserve on air, before doing anything that involves risk.

 

[annie]

The single most helpful thing to me was watching my exhales. I try to exhale slowly but don't starve myself of air either. It forces me to keep a relaxed pace and makes me notice right away if I've increased the pace. Also (you probably know this already) buoyancy is crucial. I've seen divers who think they're neutral because they're not going up or down but they're actually finning slightly all the time without realising it to stay 'neutral' and using up air.

 

[Spectre]

DiverBuoy once bubbled...
Not to put you on the spot ripngrind but you should use the oral inflate method in cases of emergency. Such as a problem inflator. There is no need to add any risk to a dive (especially only for the sake of air conservation) by having the regulator out of your mouth

I disagree. Much like reg switching and OOA drills; Oral inflation of a BC is probably a good skill to practice. Making safety procedures familiar is always a good thing.

However on those lines... be aware of your BC control. If your dumping and inflating a lot in a dive; you have a lot of bouyancy skills practice to do.

 

[Diver0001]

ripngrind once bubbled...
If you do need to adjust trim by inflating your BC, dont Alyways use you Direct feed. Do it Manually (Orally). Instead of just breathing out through you Reg and Wasting 1L of air conserve it by blowing it into the BC.

This is a convolution if you ask me. If everthing is working then the amount of air going into his BCD during a dive should amount to no more than a couple of breaths worth.

Spectre suggested that practicing is a good idea. I'll go along with that but don't confuse practicing with treating the symptom instead of the disease.

Here are a few more suggestinos:
- Check your weight. Take your time and get it right.
- Make sure you're balanced so you can swim and hover horizontally.
- relax relax relax
- and relax. When you exhale try to release tension in your shoulders and back.
- swim slowly.
- Use an efficient fin stroke (I like the frog kick for everyday diving but YYMV).
- use an efficient fin.
- dive a lot
- work on your buoyancy control. Hover a metre offf the bottom during safety stops. If this is easy then hover motionless.
- avoid sawtooth profiles, which in addition to increasing your DCS risk also causes you to use more air for trim.
- fitness is important.
- streamline your gear.
- using a bigger tank is a knife that cuts both ways. You'll have a bigger air supply but a bigger tank is also heavier and drags more. I think it's worth trying but not in exclusion of the other things.
- and finally, on the subject of breathing I think the only thing you need to know about breathing is "deep and slow". Nothing else seems to matter.

R..

 

[Spectre]

Diver0001 once bubbled...
Spectre suggested that practicing is a good idea. I'll go along with that but don't confuse practicing with treating the symptom instead of the disease.

Thanks Diver0001. I didn't mean to imply that using air inflation to control your bouyancy was a good idea; just that saving oral inflation for emergencies isn't a good idea.

I had a problem with my BC inflator once; I ended up swimming my rig up and having someone inflate on the surface; as I was extremely uncomfortable with taking my reg out of my mouth during the ordeal. If I was more comfortable with it; I probably would have been able to handle the situation myself.

 

[jbd]

students orally inflate their BC's underwater. It may not be particularly useful in everyday diving but in the pool it can help them understand how little air it takes to make changes in bouyancy. Also, IMHO, it helps them get used to having the reg out of their mouth and nothing bad is happening--the point being that they are learning to deal with problems underwater instead of bolting for the surface at the first hint of trouble.

I also frequently have my students orally inflate their BC's fully when at the surface during pool sessions. Kind of addresses the point made by Spectre. I think it also helps reduce push button diving tendencies.

 

[bobafett21]

I know this wasn't my original post but, thanks DiverBuoy for the summary. I have seen many lengthy posts on the subject of breathing, trim, etc. and this one just seems to concentrate on the primary steps to more enjoyable diving.

Again, thanks for the post.