You might want to look at another mouthpiece. It has wings on the sides to keep your regulator in your mouth without having to bite down on it. I know someone who uses one and loves it. I think the website is manta-bites.com but if you put in a search for manta scuba mouthpiece, you will find it.
Advice on drill, first pool dive..
- Thread starter Dennismc
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Tony66
Registered
As a very new diver, I may be able to relate a bit better than the more experienced folks. So maybe this will help.
A lot of the "problems" I experienced during training were in my head. What I've learned that the skills become much easier when you deliberatly slow everything down. What one of our instructors said stuck with me. She basically said, "you aren't paying me by the hour, We have all day, all weekend, all month if that is what it takes. Enjoy every moment, you're paying for it" Neededless to say, She wasn't amused when I did the CESA skill like I had all the time in the world. (she was with 6 students, add a 7th CESA with my do over and she was having ear problems)
A lot of the "problems" I experienced during training were in my head. What I've learned that the skills become much easier when you deliberatly slow everything down. What one of our instructors said stuck with me. She basically said, "you aren't paying me by the hour, We have all day, all weekend, all month if that is what it takes. Enjoy every moment, you're paying for it" Neededless to say, She wasn't amused when I did the CESA skill like I had all the time in the world. (she was with 6 students, add a 7th CESA with my do over and she was having ear problems)
Are your back teeth intact or are you missing all your teeth?
There's a mouthpiece called a "Jax" that can be custom molded to your mouth in the same way you use a mouthpiece for contact sports. It's longer than a normal mouthpiece so it might reach back far enough for you to hold it better. It will also mold to your gums which should help you keep a better grip on it.
Ordinarily with the problem you were having I would suggest pushing the tongue up against the back of the front teeth to ensure that all of the air is going out of your nose. In your case try experimenting with pushing your tongue up against the roof of your mouth to get the same effect.
It's highly unusual for students to be asked to remove the mask entirely during the first lesson. That raises a red-flag for me. Maybe part of what you need is just more time.
I haven't seen this skill in the OW course for 25 years. It's not a required skill and even back in the day it was something you did toward the END of the course. Another red-flag.
At this point I'm starting to get some question marks about how you're being taught.
How many pool sessions did you have and/or how many hours did you actually spend in the pool? Did you do other skills besides mask clearing?
R..
---------- Post added March 21st, 2013 at 07:06 PM ----------
This is an excellent point and worth repeating. Trouble with mask clearing often stems from the mental picture the student has of what they're doing. You're not *forcing* the water out of your mask. All you're doing is gently filling up the mask with air. It's easier for some people if they're told to exhale longer and slowly and keep a mental picture of gently blowing their nose. Don't worry about the water. The water will simply disappear if the air gets in the mask.
R..
as far as clearing your mask, I agree with TSandM, don't try Blowing the water out. Hold your head up slightly and breathe out slowly making sure to seal the top of your mask.
For the equipment retrieval...? The first thing I did was place the reg in my mouth, then cleared my mask, then donned my gear. However I am negatively bouyant so getting to the bottom has never been a problem for me. By all means slow down and move purposefully, DON'T panic. Panic is your worst enemy, and multiples more so under water.
Practice as much as possible, hopefully your shop will let you use the pool to do so.
Absolutely loved the redirecting of air exercise TSandM so thoroughly described for you.
For the equipment retrieval...? The first thing I did was place the reg in my mouth, then cleared my mask, then donned my gear. However I am negatively bouyant so getting to the bottom has never been a problem for me. By all means slow down and move purposefully, DON'T panic. Panic is your worst enemy, and multiples more so under water.
Practice as much as possible, hopefully your shop will let you use the pool to do so.
Absolutely loved the redirecting of air exercise TSandM so thoroughly described for you.
brrrandi
Registered
Well, mask clearing issues are one of the most common problems that new open water students have, so you are not alone! The good news is that you can do a lot of practice to fix this in your kitchen sink or bathtub.
The first step in mastery of mask problems is to learn to control whether your breathing goes through your mouth or your nose. If you are sucking water in from a flooded mask, you are allowing yourself to breathe through your nose when you shouldn't; this is actually pretty easy to fix. Try this exercise: While you are sitting and reading this, put your hand over your mouth. Inflate your mouth so your cheeks puff up. Now, without removing your hand, let the air out through your nose. Then refill your cheeks, and let the air out through your nose. Repeat this until you have identified the change you make in the back of your throat to reroute the air -- this is airway control. Understanding this will make sure you never try to inhale or exhale air where you don't want it to go.
Now, fill your sink with water, and take your snorkel in your mouth. Put your face in the water, and breathe through the snorkel without any mask at all. If you draw air in through your nose and choke, stand up and practice the nose/mouth rerouting exercise again, and then retry. Eventually, you should be able to breathe through the snorkel with your bare face in the water without any difficulty.
Now add the mask. Put your face in the sink, and fill the mask with water. Breathe through the snorkel with a flooded mask. Then lift your face OUT of the water (keep your head over the sink, or this will get messy). Put a finger on each of the upper, outer corners of the mask, and very gently exhale through your nose. Do NOT blow or snort; just exhale as though you were breathing normally. The water in the mask will run out of the bottom, and I can guarantee you that, if you exhale slowly and gently, the mask will be empty before your lungs are
Once this exercise goes well in the sink, try it in the bathtub, lying on your stomach (if your tub will allow that). Don't lift the head entirely out of the water, just go from looking straight down to looking straight ahead. By now, this should be easy.
If you tilt your head back so that the plane of your face goes behind the vertical, water will passively run down the base of your nasopharynx and into your throat. This is a big mistake students make when they are doing their skills in a seated or kneeling position, where their face is already vertical. The instruction to tilt the head back is for a diver who is horizontal in the water, and looking down; that person needs to tilt the head back to get the bottom of the mask to be the lowest point. That is NOT necessary when in an upright position.
Try this, and come back and tell us how it went!
Wishing I had had TSandM as my instructor.
261311
Contributor
Thanks everyone for all the advice and input.
After reading them and talking with my instructor last night, realized a lot. On the diving back down to retrieve my gear, I was actually holding my breath, duh, more buoyant, and thus harder to swim down. This wasnt an actual part of the pool course, it was at the end, after we were done, and he stated it wasnt part of the training, just a little extra fun skill attempt.
For the mask clearing, also realized that I wasn't exhaling, i was more like blowing my nose, now know that I do not need to do that, just have to gently exhale. Picked up a new mask yesterday, and will be doing the drills in the shower with it to get used to it.
That was the first pool dive and spent close to 3 hours in the water, doing everything from weight checks, to buoyancy drills on the bottom, emergency accents, OOA drill with buddy. clearing mask, reg retrieval.
After reading them and talking with my instructor last night, realized a lot. On the diving back down to retrieve my gear, I was actually holding my breath, duh, more buoyant, and thus harder to swim down. This wasnt an actual part of the pool course, it was at the end, after we were done, and he stated it wasnt part of the training, just a little extra fun skill attempt.
For the mask clearing, also realized that I wasn't exhaling, i was more like blowing my nose, now know that I do not need to do that, just have to gently exhale. Picked up a new mask yesterday, and will be doing the drills in the shower with it to get used to it.
That was the first pool dive and spent close to 3 hours in the water, doing everything from weight checks, to buoyancy drills on the bottom, emergency accents, OOA drill with buddy. clearing mask, reg retrieval.
This is a great video on clearing a mask! I tried this way and wow it is easy!
easy scuba training - mask clearing - YouTube
[video=youtube_share;kM1XxiIl1Ns]http://youtu.be/kM1XxiIl1Ns[/video]
The biggest mistake I see done all the time is divers pulling the bottom of the mask away from their face. This is WRONG! Best way? Keep your thumbs off the bottom of the mask, ONLY touch the top. The video in the PADI Open Water course is actually a very poor demo, it looks like he is pulling the mask away at the bottom but he is not. Doing that only allows the water to come in faster than you are blowing it out.
I teach my students to only touch the top part of the frame. They also get a lot of practice clearing the mask in the pool. They probably clear it about 30 or 40 times. By the time they get to the ocean they have no problems whatsoever.
easy scuba training - mask clearing - YouTube
[video=youtube_share;kM1XxiIl1Ns]http://youtu.be/kM1XxiIl1Ns[/video]
The biggest mistake I see done all the time is divers pulling the bottom of the mask away from their face. This is WRONG! Best way? Keep your thumbs off the bottom of the mask, ONLY touch the top. The video in the PADI Open Water course is actually a very poor demo, it looks like he is pulling the mask away at the bottom but he is not. Doing that only allows the water to come in faster than you are blowing it out.
I teach my students to only touch the top part of the frame. They also get a lot of practice clearing the mask in the pool. They probably clear it about 30 or 40 times. By the time they get to the ocean they have no problems whatsoever.
Dennis indicates that he is SDI. I am not familiar with SDI procedures, but since it is a member of the RSTC, I will assume it they are similar to others, like PADI and SSI. All agree to the same standards for OW certification. I will continue with my knowledge of PADI as a basis, and will stand corrected if I am wrong.
Mask removal and replacement for PADI is done fairly early, in Confined Water (pool) Dive #2. This commonly happens on the first day of training.
The skill about diving down to get your gear is, as your instructor admitted,not part of the course. In fact, the instructor is assuming a liability risk that may not be covered by insurance if something should happen during the exercise.
As for the difficulty in clearing the mask, make sure you are using your nose for all exhalation during the process. The most common problem I see with students is that when trying to clear the mask, they exhale most of their air through the mouth, which does no good whatsoever.
Mask removal and replacement for PADI is done fairly early, in Confined Water (pool) Dive #2. This commonly happens on the first day of training.
The skill about diving down to get your gear is, as your instructor admitted,not part of the course. In fact, the instructor is assuming a liability risk that may not be covered by insurance if something should happen during the exercise.
As for the difficulty in clearing the mask, make sure you are using your nose for all exhalation during the process. The most common problem I see with students is that when trying to clear the mask, they exhale most of their air through the mouth, which does no good whatsoever.
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