Mask strap placement

[DivetheRock]

Definitely not a new topic ...

If people take a snorkel but don't wear it, it may go into a pocket, or some people stick it under a knife strap on their leg.

Yeah...See, Damselfish, here I was talking about me...my learning progression.

 

[DivetheRock]

I would donn my backup mask which I keep in a bellows pocket on my left thigh, on both my wetsuit and drysuit. I would then clear the mask, and then immediately turn the dive since I no longer have a backup mask.

I'm actually pursuing purchasing a new mask and using my current one as a back-up for that very reason. Only thing is, I've now realized that I'm carrying so much gear, pretty soon I'll need to take someone along with me just to help lug it all.

 

[WarrenZ]

I like to put it on over my hood just be careful that you get a good seal.

 

[SrScubalot]

I'm actually pursuing purchasing a new mask and using my current one as a back-up for that very reason.

Your backup mask should be of a compact, low volume design. So as to fit easily into a bellows pocket, or I have seen guys wear their backup mask around their neck turned backwards. I prefer stowing it in a pocket.

 

[DivetheRock]

I don't have any pockets other than those in my bc, and they're not the roomiest. I was trying to figure out another place to store it. Also, I guess they don't have to be super expensive or snazzy...just good enough to do the trick (of back-up, that is).

 

[TSandM]

DTR, I very strongly suggest that you practice a LOT with a flooded mask and with mask removal and replacement if you are diving in an area with very cold water, and having that water on your face makes you anxious.

I posted a while back about "rattles". This was something Mike Ferrara said that really struck me. It's not good to have something you KNOW will rattle you underwater if it happens. The ocean has a way of finding those weak spots in your armor. You should be able to cope with any fairly normal kind of problem (eg. lost mask, freeflowing regulator) without losing your composure, because it isn't problems underwater that cause accidents for the most part, it's the maladaptive response of the diver who has them.

I spoke to a diver on our Indonesia trip about this, because she told me she was pretty sure she couldn't redon and clear a mask while hovering. We had been diving walls that went down to 600 feet before there was a bottom, and I asked her, "What would you do if you lost your mask on one of these dives?" And she said, "Oh, I'm very careful when I see another diver getting close to me, and I put my arm up in front of my face." Well, it isn't the diver you SEE who is going to kick your mask off. It's the one who comes over the top of you, that you never saw until the kick came. (I haven't lost my mask this way, but I've come close!)

To answer another question, if you lose your only mask at depth, you're going to have significant difficulty reading gauges and controlling your ascent. It is not terribly difficult, however, to perform a blind ascent using signals from your buddy, if you practice it just a little bit to get your hand signals straight. You may also be able to see well enough to key on your buddy and use his position as your reference.

I carry a spare mask in my dry suit pocket, because I don't much like not being able to see. But I know from experience that I can end a dive safely without a mask.

 

[DivetheRock]

Good points in there for sure. It's not so much that I'd panic or be nervous only because of the mask loss though. It's the actual physiological impact cold water on my face has on me. Even if I were to wash my face at home in my own bathroom sink with cold water it still does this to me. As I said earlier, it gives me the feeling that my breath is being taken away (even if my breath was being held).
Imagine being in 5C water, and someone/something tearing off your wetsuit. It's not necessarily the loss of the wetsuit that would stir you, but the rush of the cold water hitting your body (i.e. shock). Geeze...makes me wince even thinking about all this.
I believe that two things I must learn are to don/doff my mask in water, at depth, and cold water. Secondly, I really should try to condition my body to deal with cold water.

 

[ClayJar]

Imagine being in 5C water, and someone/something tearing off your wetsuit. It's not necessarily the loss of the wetsuit that would stir you, but the rush of the cold water hitting your body (i.e. shock). Geeze...makes me wince even thinking about all this.

Several years back, I took the liberty of taking a swim in a 5°C/40°F pool. As "getting used to" the water at that temperature is not possible (well, they call it "hypothermia"), I made the only entry possible: I took a flying leap off the diving board.

Plunging into water like that, I found that for a split second it was the most excruciating coldness I've ever felt. It's as if you are being stabbed, burned, and frozen, all at the same time. After that initial impact, however, the sensation almost immediately abated, leaving me in an almost serene and somewhat euphoric state. Swimming to the other end of the pool, on the other hand, brought stabbing cold pain with each movement (as moving your skin through the water greatly increases the heat transfer).

I imagine the sensations would be similar with a sudden mask flood (or loss) in very cold water. If you can handle the initial assault on your senses, you can replace and clear the mask during the "cold high" that follows, as long as you keep your head. If I find myself in any shallow, frigid water at the end of a winter dive, I'll have to test the concept.

Incidentally, when I drove to Prudhoe Bay, Alaska, it goes without saying that I swam in the Arctic Ocean. The ice had been up to the beach a week earlier, they told me, but it had pulled away a hundred yards or so. I waded out about 20 yards before the plaintive cries to go no further got the better of me (they didn't want to have to go in after me, hehe). With a theatrical bow, I stood tall, thrust my arms out wide, and let myself fall backwards into the all-but-frozen water. As I submerged, I noted that it didn't seem anywhere near as cold as the pool had, but when I started wading back to shore, I also noted that the rather stong (not to mention bone-dry and quite cold) wind was not something with which I'd contended in the backyard.

 

[CompuDude]

I don't have any pockets other than those in my bc, and they're not the roomiest. I was trying to figure out another place to store it. Also, I guess they don't have to be super expensive or snazzy...just good enough to do the trick (of back-up, that is).

X shorts are an easy option that is popular. The Dive-Rite thigh pocket is another popular option. I prefer to have pockets attached, be it a wet or dry suit.

I keep my Oceanic pocket snorkel in a small pouch on my belt. In good conditions I'll leave it behind and use the pocket for something else instead.

I have yet to lose a mask with the strap on the outside of my hood when I have it firmly on my face during entry. One way to help is to use a good neoprene strap instead of silicon, which has a failure rate I'm not comfortable with and which is a little too stretchy, making it easier than it should be to knock the mask off. I think the people who are proponents of wearing the mask inside the hood must be using plain silicon straps, which probably seal better... but if they upgraded their straps they might not NEED to wear it inside the hood.