Hi Ben,
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When you say you're diving under FRC with little breathing reflex, when did you get contractions on inhale before starting FRC, and when do you get them now on inhale? Likewise, when do you get contractions on FRC?
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I haven't really kept track of this, but on an average day, I would expect to get proper contractions at around 1'35-2'00", depending on the dive. If I'm diving without a suit in cold water, I would expect them to be even later than that. I'm not overventilating - my breathing is either sub-neutral (if I am buoyant enough on the surface with extra floating like a float or noodle) or "inhale-hold for 10 seconds-exhale" (if I'm neutral, otherwise I sink with each exhale).
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How full are your lungs when you dive? I guess when I was trialling it we would take a big inhale then let roughly half out, perhaps a little less. It was comfortable up to a point, then when the contractions started they were quite vicious.
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I exhale passively, and then take a sip of air for the mouthfill.
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Also, is it wise to be doing safety diving on FRC? I recall Seb saying on our course last year that if you were under a situation where you had to perform a rescue dive you would need to do it under an inhale for a variety of reasons - you are lifting a dead weight and putting yourself under an enormous strain over a short period of time and for that type of effort inhale is much more appropriate.
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Good point. However, I was spotting to a maximum of 15m and I was one of two safety divers. The dive time was no more than one minute. For me the ease of getting down and apparent reduced risk of lung problems is worth the extra effort of bringing someone up. If I needed to spot deeper at 20-25m, I would likely use almost full lungs.
I agree that FRC does take some getting used to. It's been about a year since I've been diving that way exclusively and only in the last three months has it really clicked for me for regular repetitive recreational diving.
Pete
