Mask skills

[bracko]

I tried flooding my mask entirely before taking it off, no go. I think it has something to do with the suction pushing water up my nose and i just cant figure out how to make it not do that!

when you flooded the mask did you peel away at the top, let the mask fill then while the gap was still at the top of the mask, take it off? this is important as I see students half fill their mask by peeling it back a little, thinking it's fully flooded, then rip the mask of but pressurising it first, hence forcing water up the nose.

else get a nose clip like synchronised swimmers.

 

[cmarkham5]

Yea i flood it completely from the top then try to remove after gaining control over my breathing. the whole dang thing boggles my mind. Why can i breathe without the mask at all but not yet be able to remove it? crazy. lots of good advice i will put them to the test in the pool next weekend. i cannot thank everyone enough for their advice and encouragement. i will let you know how it turns out.

 

[jw2013]

I'm currently training for my BSAC Ocean Diver (not yet qualified) and found mask skills awful at first. Mask clearing is much better now for me.

My trick is before I remove it, breath out just a little from your nose to increase the pressure in the mask and weaken the seal on your face. I then peel the top away and let water in. When I feel in inside my mask, I start breathing steady bit gently through my nose and pull the mask away quicker to flood it. Take it off or replace it and clear it.

The initial breath out helps it break away and stops the 'suction' of water up my hooter. Whilst my mask is off, I breath out my nose rather than my reg.

Sent from my XT1032 using Tapatalk

 

[steveb3000]

Hello Chris,

Agree 100% with lavachickie

Many have had similar problems, and gone on to overcome it. I know I did! Practice practice practice.

Stevo

 

[TMHeimer]

If you can breathe with the snorkel and without the mask, you have mastered the art of isolating your nose from your mouth for breathing.

So, if you are having problems taking your mask off underwater, one of a couple of things is true: If you are doing this while kneeling, and you have your head tilted back, water WILL run into your nose and down into your throat, because there is no way to prevent it. If your head is upright, try tucking your chin just a little when you take the mask off. Better yet, don't do it kneeling, but instead, do it in a prone or semi-prone position, where you cannot physically tilt your head up far enough to allow the water in.

The other possibility is that you are sufficiently unnerved by removing your mask that you have a momentary glitch in your nose-mouth breathing discrimination, and you are briefly trying to breathe in through your nose. This should go away with sufficient practice, since you KNOW how to do it already.

That's why I always recommend snorkelling before scuba. Lynn, you've enlightened me-- I did not know that water would go into the passages (to throat) if your head is tilted back (far enough). Guess that never happened to me. Thought if you close off the passage ("Glottis"?) it couldn't happen. I made a note to play with this my next dive.

As this thread goes on, I think it comes down to being "mental" and "experience". For example, cold water should not change anything--you know it's cold.

 

[Eric Sedletzky]

When I was DM'ing and helping with a lot of classes it was us underlings that were assigned the students that had trouble with this excercise.
We would go over to our corner of the pool and get started.
The problem with this skill is that it goes against every human instinct not to breath when your bare face is underwater. The nose is what triggers that response.

What I used to do was have them first take their mask completely off above water then dunk and sit there with a breath hold and just look around for a minute. I would do this a few times. What this did was got them to work their glotis and close their nose off which is a normal response. By looking around they would get used to blurry vision. And because it would help them relax, water on the face has a calming affect, especially around the eyes.
Next we would squat under water with mask on breathing out of reg (all this was done in the shallow end so they could stand up if they wanted).
I would have them partially flood the mask about a quarter way and breath, then about half way and breath, then a little more and breath, then the mask would soon be full and they would continue to breath. By this time they are already doing it because the mask is full but still on, so they are still calm because the mask is on not realizing it's the same thing. I would slowly have them begin to remove the mask while continously breathing and then they would realize they're doing it. If they locked up or choked then I would get them to pinch off their nose real quick while still breathing and slowly, very slowly release it.
By the time they did this about 10 times they had it down.

Then during the ocean dives in 47 to 50 degree water sometimes we would have to start all over again.
The mask-off-face was always the deal breaker for OW students out of any of the skills. Sometimes it was someone with no trouble in the pool but they couldn't handle it in the ocean.
Pulling a mask off in ice cold salt water and in nice warm pool water are two different things to a student.

I think anybody diving in the ocean, especially in California should be proficient enough that if in the event of an unexpected mask dislodging the diver should be able to handle it without a hitch. There can be some pretty aggresive Zalophus off our coast.

 

[Mantra]

A nose plug would make equalizing your mask pretty tricky when it starts to squeeze, wouldn't it? It seems like a bad idea to me, unless medically necessary for some reason, on that basis alone.

 

[TMHeimer]

Eric S., Thanks--I jotted stuff down about your procedure which may help me with future students. Too bad we have to worry about being in water shallow enough to stand in, cold water on the face (47-50 is cold? What about 33?) and problems breathing with bare face underwater as you say (wow, that's tough....). I know it's true. It's always hard to figure why "problems" I didn't have at age maybe 7 exist. Too bad some folks don't get "water" experience first. But that's the way it is and I appreciate any help.

 

[Edward3c]

When I was DM'ing and helping with a lot of classes it was us underlings that were assigned the students that had trouble with this excercise.
We would go over to our corner of the pool and get started.

I have a slightly different opinion. As the instructor I would deal with the students facing 'challenges', but would have an Assistant Dive Instructor with me so they could learn some of the tricks, rather than having to figure them out.

The problem with this skill is that it goes against every human instinct not to breath when your bare face is underwater. The nose is what triggers that response.

What I used to do was have them first take their mask completely off above water then dunk and sit there with a breath hold and just look around for a minute. I would do this a few times. What this did was got them to work their glotis and close their nose off which is a normal response. By looking around they would get used to blurry vision. And because it would help them relax, water on the face has a calming affect, especially around the eyes.
Next we would squat under water with mask on breathing out of reg (all this was done in the shallow end so they could stand up if they wanted).
I would have them partially flood the mask about a quarter way and breath, then about half way and breath, then a little more and breath, then the mask would soon be full and they would continue to breath. By this time they are already doing it because the mask is full but still on, so they are still calm because the mask is on not realizing it's the same thing. I would slowly have them begin to remove the mask while continously breathing and then they would realize they're doing it. If they locked up or choked then I would get them to pinch off their nose real quick while still breathing and slowly, very slowly release it.
By the time they did this about 10 times they had it down.

Then during the ocean dives in 47 to 50 degree water sometimes we would have to start all over again.
The mask-off-face was always the deal breaker for OW students out of any of the skills. Sometimes it was someone with no trouble in the pool but they couldn't handle it in the ocean.
Pulling a mask off in ice cold salt water and in nice warm pool water are two different things to a student.

I think anybody diving in the ocean, especially in California should be proficient enough that if in the event of an unexpected mask dislodging the diver should be able to handle it without a hitch. There can be some pretty aggresive Zalophus off our coast.

The Ocean diver syllabus has this skill spread over two lessons. Starting by standing in the shallows and progressing from above the water to just under the surface and gradually to about 2m depth. A student could easily do 12 mask clears, or more, before they get signed-off. But it so much depends on the student. I've had some who've picked it up first go and others where weeks have passed before the skill 'clicked'.

I've got one at the moment, different skill, that I'm taking back to the beginning to rebuild confidence.

Kind regards

 

[R-balljunkie]

whats funny about this skill test is that its something that you would RARELY encounter in real life diving, but theres a sliver of a chance it could happen. i often let water into my mask to do a quick rinse to clear out lingering fog, or some left over saliva. its done casually and almost without thought. whether you let in a 1/2 ounce or fill it up, the reaction is the same.

practice practice practice.