Watertight snorkels ?

Hi all.

I've stumbled on the "snorkel issue", the thing is, i like to go deeper a'la freediving style, but the cheap snorkel i currently have tends to fill itself with water on every excuse it gets. What sort of snorkel should i grab to be able to dive with it without filling it with water, if it could handle loops and swirling around under water, would make it even better

I've seen lot's of "total dry" snorkels out there, that are probably based on a swimming closure device, but can those handle swings and turns under water ? Or will the "swimmer" just lose it's position and it still gets filled with water ?

Or are there different snorkels for this type of maneveurs that have a manual closing lid ?

All sorts of advice is welcome.

For freediving:

Get a snorkel with the best comfort factor, so you can relax, with as little pull or bite required.

Streamlined is good.

Make sure it has great gas exchange, most dry models do not.

Breathe up, then remove it from your mouth and dive.

Chad

With a little bit of practice, clearing water out of your snorkel will become second nature, so I would recommend picking a comfortable snorkel and practicing with it rather than trying to get one with a bunch of unneccesary bells and whistles on it.

At the risk of stating the obvious, to clear my snorkel I force a big breath of air (sort of like a cough) through my snorkel once it breaks the surface. If I haven't been down long, I sometimes exhale through my snorkel before breaking the surface instead, which makes it easier to clear, but may also increase your chances of shallow water blackout.

kulminaator:

Hi all.

I've stumbled on the "snorkel issue", the thing is, i like to go deeper a'la freediving style, but the cheap snorkel i currently have tends to fill itself with water on every excuse it gets. What sort of snorkel should i grab to be able to dive with it without filling it with water, if it could handle loops and swirling around under water, would make it even better

I've seen lot's of "total dry" snorkels out there, that are probably based on a swimming closure device, but can those handle swings and turns under water ? Or will the "swimmer" just lose it's position and it still gets filled with water ?

Or are there different snorkels for this type of maneveurs that have a manual closing lid ?

All sorts of advice is welcome.

Click to expand...

I used a dry snork and it worked as advertised, but I didn't like it. Instead of water you end up sucking a closed pipe when it shuts - I prefer the water, at least you know you got all the air out of it.

I like a basic snork with a small purge at the bottom and maybe a splash guard but even that's not necessary. If I was buying a new one now, I'd get one of those roll up or similar ones so that I could put it in my thigh pocket if I ever thought I might need it.

A simple J is best. Snorkels should fill with water when you go under.

I like my Genesis Mojhave dry snorkel for surface swimming. When you start diving down though the trapped air volume does some weird puckering under pressure and you need to equalize the thing. If I were out on the water with the intent of mainly piking down I'd be tempted to grab one of my open top models.

Really you have a number of features rolled into these things...

A purge valve down near the mouthpiece that saves you from ejecting all of the water the whole length. Frankly you should have no need for this feature if you are out on the water. They can sometimes admit water especially in turbid conditions. Surface face forward soe the snorkel is horizontal and it blows out vey easy.

Top side bafflles deflect splash and wash overs. they alone can make a bif difference in heavy seas.

The dry valve closes as you sumberge. most will be fooled if you do any gymnastics on the way down so you'd better know how to clear it the old fashioned way, not by taking it out of your mouth.

Anything will work, all have quirks, advantages and not.

Pete

The one i have used until now has a simple splashguard and a purge valve, but the splashguard doesn't really seem to work that well. I think i will just have to try some of the different ones out and see which one fits me the most.

I'd just like to keep that salty water out of my mouth as much as possible, i don't panic when i get water into the mouth, but the salty taste isn't really my cup of tea. Maybe i will just settle with one that has a better design by the purge so that the water amount reaching my mouth will decrease.

If i find anything that works surprisingly well, i'll keep you posted

So, i headed for the local snorkel shop, bought a different type of snorkel.

No "ultra dry" thing, just slightly better engineered splashguard and purge valve. The difference is amazing It just works. I think people should pay attention to construction of the purge valve. There's a huge difference between these two that i own.

Currently i can dive around 5-6 meters without any water coming into my mouth and when surfacing a simple little blow will just empty the snorkel within a moment. That was not the case with the previous one.

For others having problem with equipment: just keep on looking and trying, feeling comfortable in water makes a big difference to the experience

As spectrum said, dry snorkels tend to get tight when you dive with them. Yes, the water can't get in, but it tries to pull the air out of you the furthure you go down. Personally, I would rather blow the water out when I got to the top, than have my lips pulled inside the snorkel

note this is the Snorkeling / Freediving forum so some of the "snorkel & scuba" thoughts might not apply.