Better Air Consumption
Many divers have a contest for who can stay down the longest
or come up with most air. One diver I know hung around in 20 feet
of water the entire dive just to win! That's OK I suppose as long
as they enjoyed the dive and saw a fish or two. Other divers simply
want to improve their air consumption and have a longer dive.
There are so many ways to improve air consumption and one
of the first is to listen to those who have experience and good
suggestions. I can not count how many times I have tried to help
other divers who simply said " I have been diving for 20
years and nothing helps. I use a lot of air". On the other
hand I have had divers say " I have been diving for 20 years
and thank you for your suggestions. I can not believe how much
I have improved."
The first question in my mind is how many dives is 20 years.
Is that one week a year for 20 years which is a total of 20 weeks
of diving. And how many dives during that week? Someone who has
only been diving for 6 months could have infinitely more experience
than some who say they have been diving since 1981.
Back to suggestions. Read my articles on weights and BCD wars.
Getting oneself correctly weighted and balanced can improve air
consumption dramatically. Nothing uses air as much as carrying
to much weight around and swimming in an inefficient (unbalanced)
manner. Another suggestion is simply don't go as deep. The shallower
you are the less air is used. Many divers enter the water already
tired from struggling to put on the equipment or hurrying to keep
up with others. SLOW DOWN. There is no need for you to keep up
with the person who gets suited up the quickest. Actually if it
is a group the faster ones should slow down a bit to accommodate
the others.
The same thing goes when underwater. Watching an efficient
diver, you see a nice easy breathing pattern. Watching a diver
who is kicking inefficiently or jetting all over the reef, you
see huge volumes of air being used. If you see a lobster there
is no need to yell, swim frantically to you buddies to tell them
and then swim frantically trying to find the lobster again. If
no one is near enough to show them, simply tell them about it
after the dive. I have watched divers get so excited about trying
to tell everyone that they float to the surface because of all
the air going in and out of their lungs.
I have seen small people go through a large tank in 30 minutes.
Large people go through a small tank in 60 minutes. So size is
not an excuse. If you have noticed, I have used the word efficient
many times in these few paragraphs and efficiency is a big key
in using less air. How you achieve that is up to you. If you read,
practice, watch and listen you are on your way.
These are just a few of the ways to help. Watch other divers
and see how efficient or inefficient they are. Then apply the
efficient methods to yourself.