Forgive Me.....I Forgot!!
- Thread starter QuoVadis
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Mad_diver
Contributor
Hi All.
I don't post much. Usually just like to read about everyone's experiences. (Since I live in Ohio --- With out a Dry suit.) --
I'm currently doing my Advanced OW course and in the Rescue Diver portion PADI teaches that one of the signals of a "Panic'd Diver" is a mask on the forehead. This is because when a diver panics at the surface they will do many things. Like blow their Reg /snorkle out of their mouth, Gasp for air, lose rational thought, and push their mask up.. Maybe from the feeling of clausterphobia....
Either way, it IS taught as a sign of panic at the surface...
Just thought you might like to know.
I don't post much. Usually just like to read about everyone's experiences. (Since I live in Ohio --- With out a Dry suit.) --
I'm currently doing my Advanced OW course and in the Rescue Diver portion PADI teaches that one of the signals of a "Panic'd Diver" is a mask on the forehead. This is because when a diver panics at the surface they will do many things. Like blow their Reg /snorkle out of their mouth, Gasp for air, lose rational thought, and push their mask up.. Maybe from the feeling of clausterphobia....
Either way, it IS taught as a sign of panic at the surface...
Just thought you might like to know.
divewench
Registered
When I took my NAUI OW it was taught as a sign of distress (and reinforced by the beer tax). I thought then, and still think that such a designation is counterintuitive. Assigning a distress signal to an action that appears to be inherently natural for a person to do as a matter of convience, and must be eleminated through punishment makes as much sense to me as swimming upstream if there is an alternative route with the current. I think there are far more obvious and accurate signals indicating a diver in distress.
Do I put my mask on my forehead?.... no, I do not. At this time I am still too much of a inexperienced diver and insecure person to make a decision based on what I think makes sense, and am instead driven by what I fear others will think.
Do I put my mask on my forehead?.... no, I do not. At this time I am still too much of a inexperienced diver and insecure person to make a decision based on what I think makes sense, and am instead driven by what I fear others will think.
raposarose
Guest
My dive buddy just paid about $70 to replace her mask and snorkel after making the same mistake -- mask on the forehead.
We swam out and as we were swimming I noticed some stingrays gliding across the ground beneath us. I suggested that she look so she could check them out. When she went to pull her mask down, from her forehead, it was gone. She had been swimming out on her back and a wave must have knocked it off. As someone else here said, it is hard to feel it when it slips off.
Then she remembered our dive instructor saying to wear it on her head for that very reason.
Incidentally, our dive instructor also suggested that we calk out carrying our fins with our hands through the straps. Once she was carrying it differently...guess who didn't notice she had lost a fin strap.
When I was a kid I lost a snorkel to a wave once. Looking back, I recall my dive instructor last summer suggesting that we get a cheap rubber snorkel keeper because some of the built in snorkel keepers are not secure.
It seems like my dive instructor knew a little bit from experience.
Of course it is possible to do things differently and not have problems...I just look at all this as practical tips that have proven to be useful and valid.
We swam out and as we were swimming I noticed some stingrays gliding across the ground beneath us. I suggested that she look so she could check them out. When she went to pull her mask down, from her forehead, it was gone. She had been swimming out on her back and a wave must have knocked it off. As someone else here said, it is hard to feel it when it slips off.
Then she remembered our dive instructor saying to wear it on her head for that very reason.
Incidentally, our dive instructor also suggested that we calk out carrying our fins with our hands through the straps. Once she was carrying it differently...guess who didn't notice she had lost a fin strap.
When I was a kid I lost a snorkel to a wave once. Looking back, I recall my dive instructor last summer suggesting that we get a cheap rubber snorkel keeper because some of the built in snorkel keepers are not secure.
It seems like my dive instructor knew a little bit from experience.
Of course it is possible to do things differently and not have problems...I just look at all this as practical tips that have proven to be useful and valid.
I have never heard about this prohibition of the mask above the forehead! (I am not very experienced, but I have tried more than one place).
That you have to be twice more cautious if you put it there is obvious, but personnally just to put the mask around the neck is very likely to make me panick if I am still in the water (I cannot bear contact on the front of my neck, just the wet-suit collar is almost too much for me).
That you have to be twice more cautious if you put it there is obvious, but personnally just to put the mask around the neck is very likely to make me panick if I am still in the water (I cannot bear contact on the front of my neck, just the wet-suit collar is almost too much for me).
scubasean
Contributor
Bretagne:
I've been told that the mask on forehead is one sign of possible distress, but I've only seen students do it....LOL
I turn my mask around so its facing backwards....works great.
I believe the distress signal aspect of mask on the forehead stems back to Navy Seals wanting to attract Search and Recovery airplane/helicopters with the tilted glass in the sun, like a mirror. So the inverse was, don't show the tilted glass if not in distress or engaging in a rescue.
Check me on this any of you older Navy divers.
I imagine I learned this in my first NAUI scuba diving course back in 1976. We also had to do stuff like jump in to the bottom of the deep end of the pool with all our gear, put it on with the one breath, then do a circuit of the pool, take it all off again, and swim underwater 25 yds. I also did this without seeing anything due to my high myopia....the good old days.
Tried it recently, it wasn't easy to get it right, because you have to equalize on the way down while holding all your stuff. And this time I have to SHUT my eyes to not lose my contacts: so black out and bail out at the same time.
Check me on this any of you older Navy divers.
I imagine I learned this in my first NAUI scuba diving course back in 1976. We also had to do stuff like jump in to the bottom of the deep end of the pool with all our gear, put it on with the one breath, then do a circuit of the pool, take it all off again, and swim underwater 25 yds. I also did this without seeing anything due to my high myopia....the good old days.
Tried it recently, it wasn't easy to get it right, because you have to equalize on the way down while holding all your stuff. And this time I have to SHUT my eyes to not lose my contacts: so black out and bail out at the same time.
got4boyz
Contributor
QuoVadis:
You're welcome!
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