Open Water Training - Water in mask/mask off drill

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RossT

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PADI Open Water Certification --

Ok, today was the first day in the pool for the class, for me ever. We started to do some practice, etc and i was doing great until the water in the mask thing! I freaked out, stood up, it was bad. Anyways, i finally got the hang of it when i could see -- but then with the mask all the way off, or even water over my eyes i freaked out again. Is this normal, how can I get around this? I was not properly blowing through my nose, i guess i just kept breathing through my mouth and paniced.

Any advice? Also i had a mishap with pushing the BCD inflator button at like 15 ft... went straight to the top. We are practicing in a 20 foot pool (shallow end for the mask stuff). Reading all the PADI book has me scared of DCS and stuff like that -- please reassure me nothing can happen in a 20 ft pool as long as i keep breathing??

Anyways, just nervous now -- thanks everyone.

-Ross
 
You'll get the hang of which button inflates and which deflates, its just takes a little practice. :)

As for mask clearing... There was a woman in my OW that we were convinced wasn't going to pass the class because she couldn't get the hang of mask clearing. The thing that finally worked to build her confidence was to take a small mirror down so she could get a feel for how much water was left to clear, not as a regular thing of course, but just to get comfortable with the drill. The other thing is that you don't need to look straight up to clear your mask, and with a little practice you can clear your mask with a surprisingly small amount of air, eventually a full exhale will probably be about three times too much.

Finally, no, the bends is mostly a depth and time thing, though fast ascents don't help matters. But you should be somewhat concerned about the potential for an embolism. If you are ascending then breathe out, slowly, not forcefully or all at once. If you run out of breath you can breathe in a little and then back out slowly.

Good luck! Oh, and it must be nice to have access to a 20' pool. :)
 
Stsomewhere made some good points.

The key thing you said was "keep breathing". If you hold your breath on ascent you can get in toruble in as little as 4 feet so injury is within the realm of posiblility. That's why you need training for this sport.

The flooded mask thing is a very common difficulty. There are instincts that say "keep my face dry so I can breathe". Learning to dive and the subsequent gear is an adaptation and it's your mental "software" as much as it is about the gear. If you have not been active in similar water sports like skindiving or lap swimming it's just a bigger step.

Start someplace comfortable, like your own clean bathtub. Fill it with some nice comfortable warm water. Put your mask and snorkel on. Get down on your belly, knees at the drain end. Now breathe, relax, spend some time face in the water, count your finger, twiddle your thumbs, whatever, get mellow. After a while let some water into your mask, then a little more. concentrate on breathing through your mouth, Keep your face looking forward for now. As the water reaches your eyes close them. Now finish flooding the mask. Open an eye for just a second.. OK? do it again. Keep them open for a while longer. They may feel weird or itchy at first, it's an adaptation. Your won't see clearly, this is normal. Your eyes need an air space, like in your mask to focus. Starting to feel good about this? OK? Put the mask up on your forehead and go back down with just the snorkel. Water cooling off? Add some hot. Breathe comfortably, feel the water on your face, touch your face, you're ok. Open your eyes again, look at your fingers, are they looking like prunes yet? Feeling relaxed? You did good. Now go have a nice nap because I bet your'e wicked relaxed!

It really is conditioning, it may take a few sessions to get OK with this but once you are the skills like clearing the mask, diving without a mask with a buddy leading you and diving in general will come very easy. Remember that your masked could get dislodged or kicked free at any time in any dive so this is something you want to deal with, not avoid.

Have fun,
We expect a ful report.

Pete
 
StSomewhere:
Finally, no, the bends is mostly a depth and time thing, though fast ascents don't help matters. But you should be somewhat concerned about the potential for an embolism. If you are ascending then breathe out, slowly, not forcefully or all at once. If you run out of breath you can breathe in a little and then back out slowly.

Good luck! Oh, and it must be nice to have access to a 20' pool. :)

Hi StSomewhere -- Could you explain more about what an embolism is? And you're saying I should worry about this now? Like seek medical attn immediately kind of worry, or just in general for the future? It has been 12 hours now since the end of my dive last night in the pool. I have not experienced any affects that I can pinpoint. **** nastiness coming ***** i had a bit of diahrrea this morning, but that might be due to the bad mexican food i had last night .... is that a symptom for anything?

I read the PADI book and couldn't find anything on embolisms, but that books leaves a bit to be desired.

Thank you for the mirror suggestion. I'll try it in the tub while i try Pete's suggestions as well :)

Thank you both for the responses. I will let you know how i do tonight, not much time to prepare because i have to work a bunch today.

~Ross
 
RossT:
Hi StSomewhere -- Could you explain more about what an embolism is? And you're saying I should worry about this now? Like seek medical attn immediately kind of worry, or just in general for the future? It has been 12 hours now since the end of my dive last night in the pool. I have not experienced any affects that I can pinpoint.

Ross, an embolism is commonly called AGE is scubaspeak.

Arterial gas embolism (AGE) is the most dangerous manifestation of DCS type II. AGE occurs after a rapid ascent, when a gas bubble forms in the arterial blood supply and travels to the brain, heart, or lungs. This is immediately life threatening and can occur even after ascent from relatively shallow depths. However, AGE can also occur from iatrogenic causes.

http://www.emedicine.com/emerg/topic53.htm

You'll learn about it in your OW class. No, you don't have it. The important thing to remember is just to put small puffs of air into your BC then wait for a few seconds before adding more air.

Have a good class tonight!
 
redhatmama:
Arterial gas embolism (AGE) is the most dangerous manifestation of DCS type II. AGE occurs after a rapid ascent, when a gas bubble forms in the arterial blood supply and travels to the brain, heart, or lungs. This is immediately life threatening and can occur even after ascent from relatively shallow depths. However, AGE can also occur from iatrogenic causes.

http://www.emedicine.com/emerg/topic53.htm

You'll learn about it in your OW class. No, you don't have it. The important thing to remember is just to put small puffs of air into your BC then wait for a few seconds before adding more air.

Have a good class tonight!

Hey redhatmama!! Thank you for the quick reply. Ah, yes that does sound pretty darn serious. So that would be like pulminary embolism if it was in the lungs, cardiac, etc. Ok, well, thank you for the link and information. I will hopefully do a lot better today. I think the more i talk about it the more confidence returns that i really do technically know what to do, just got a bit paniced 1st time in the water. Yeah, a little air in the BCD really goes a long way. pretty crazy.

How in general do you start the descent, do you let air out of the BCD then go horizontal and kind of gradually go down/forward or do you like to just let air out of BCD and let your body sink down? Is one better than the other? Probably a stupid question, but hey, i'm a newbie :)

Thank you in advance, i really appreciate all the advice.

-Ross
 
One of the easiest things you can do to get comfortable doing this skill is just breathing through your snorkel with no mask on. Put your snorkel in and put your face in the water and breath. Switch back and forth between exhaling through your mouth and your nose. After you can do that comfortably you should have little trouble with the mask clearing.

Joe
 
Do the worse thing first... then work backwards

I have all of my students kneel in the water on Scuba with NO MASK long before they ever have to do clearing. They get used to the feeling of being underwater and breathing without a mask. I even have them swim the length of the pool underwater with no mask. This is a little out of the ordinary for most instructors... but I have found that after this... mask clearing is a cinch. Not sure why... except that it removes the inhibitions and anxiety about pulling the mask off and having the cold water hit their face for the first time... I would suggest you try to get comfortable breathing without the mask... then simply stop and put it on while you're underwater... then clear it... let me know what happens : )
 
Thank you Joe and Ghostdiver - I will try them all! Heck, if one doesn't work i now have 3-4 ways to do it :) I don't know so much about swimming in the pool on scuba with no mask from end to end --- how do they know where to go? I mean generally straight, but cannot see underwater, so hard to navigate? anyways, its a good idea to start with the hard stuff. My instructor had us do the mask thing right after taking the 2nd stage in and out of the mouth. he said PADI says to do the mask on the 2nd day, but i agree that it doesn't make much sense to do that the 2nd day... seems like the hardest skill to me.

Thanks!
Ross
 
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