1st Day Of Class

[dc4bs]

DUH!

Somehow I succeded in responding to this thread - in a completely unrelated thread...

That's what I get for having too many windows open.

Here goes try #2:
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It may sound silly, but practice breathing with water on your face can help with the no-mask exercise...

Stand in the shower facing the showerhead. Don't set the temp to high... Open your mouth as wide as you can while still touching the roof of the mouth with the tip of the tongue. This prevents splashing water from going down the throat just like while snorkeling or SCUBA with a partialy flooded reg.

Step into the spray so it's in your face. Look down a little bit as needed and breath like your scuba diving. Let any splasing water just fall back out of your mouth. Take slow, full breaths through the mouth only. Breath out through the nose a little if water starts to come in.

Practice holding the nose closed at the back of the throat. If your not sure how to intentionaly move those muscles, try closing your throat to stop breathing in/out for a moment while keeping your mouth open. Then let your throat back open just a little bit and you should now only be breathing in/out through the mouth. Relax the throat and the nose passage opens again.

It may take a few tries to figure it all out and get the feel of it. Eventualy you should be able to open the nose and close it at will (without really even thinking about it).

While practicing in the shower, all you need to do is take 1 step back and your in clear air if you don't feel comfortable at any time. This may be easier than trying to master the skill while fully under water in a pool.

When you/your wife are OK with this exercise, breating underwater with the mask off is EXACTLY the same thing except the mouth is on the regulator instead of wide open.

This also works WONDERFULLY with very hot water to reduce congestion when you have a cold in the sinuses... If I stay under really hot water for too long I tend to get a bit dizzy though so be carefull. I assume it's similar to having a high feaver so I get out as soon as I feen anything out of the ordinary.

Let me know if this works. I've never tried to describe it to someone who wasn't right in front of me before. It's odd not being able to demonstrate what I'm talking about.

Good luck with the class.

 

[Chillywill]

Alright Waterdogs! sounds like you both are doing great! Keep up the good work.:grad: Also the problem your wife incountered with wanting to breath through her nose while her mask is off is actually pretty common. Time and practice,practice, practice should take care of that. Next time you go to the pool grab a snorkel and have her kneel in the water without a mask so that the water covers her mouth and nose, now have her practice breathing through the snorkel in this position. This will help her get out of that habit of wanting to breath through her nose. and if she does inhale some water all she has to do is simply sit up to get out of the water.

Good Luck and keep us posted

Chillywill:cold:

'I'm Chilly Will the Diver. I shake until I'm blue.
My head is hot and my feet are cold. Ah Eee Achoo!
Now what about the divers along the Cozumel Isle?
I'll bet they're always warm as toast. They always seem to smile.
I'm always Chilly Will. I'm frozen through and through.
My nose is red and my toes are cold. Ah Eee Achoo!'

 

[detroit diver]

WD,

First of all-nice job on the first day. Those little problems will go away with practice. Which segways me into your question-how much pool time is enough pool time?

My short answer is-get as much pool time as you can. I was forunate in that my instructor met me at the pool for weeks after we were done w/ class. The LDS paid for the pool time whether it was used or not, so I used it!! Not all instructors have the time or inclination to do so, and I was very lucky. The comfort level when I did my OW was quite high, and I attribute it to the time in the pool.

 

[Ber Rabbit]

Glad your first class went so well. Like everyone has said, it only gets better. A good instructor will give you exercises that challenge you a little more every time so if you feel you're not making progress go back to a previous exercise and see just how easy it has become!

At the university we have 20 hours of pool time. If your instructor budgets her time wisely (and I bet she does) the two of you will be EXTREMELY comfortable with your skills by the end of your class.

I had trouble with the nose breathing thing too. I ran myself a bath (no bubbles ) and took my snorkel in with me. I lay on my stomach with my eyes open and just practiced breathing through the snorkel. It's harder to do with your eyes open than it is with them closed so you can start with them closed and slowly open them as you get comfortable. No time for a bath, you can run a sink full of water and stick your face in, same result but a little harder on your back!

Good luck! Sounds like you're doing great!
Ber

 

[waterdogs]

Just to keep posted, after battling with some type of "ear problem", ENT Doc couldnt' figure it out, we completed our 3rd class last night.

No problems with the ear, but it still feels like it's difficult to hear things, like it's still blocked. But Doc say's everything looks good.

Class report:

After a few weeks out of the water we had to get readjusted which didn't take long, but we could tell it's been 4 weeks. All went well with the following skills:

Don/On/Off underwater
Shared air ascent
OOA ascent
Finning
Hovering

Future Mrs. Waterdogs continues to impress me, she's doing wonderful, except she had trouble with mask removal in last class so instructor had her try again, and she still had some trouble (wanting to breath through her nose). While I did finnning with the other instructor, she worked on "removal" for awhile. She did get better but it's something she will work on again in our next class.

All and all, things went pretty well.

Question. We did just purchase our regs, Apex tx50's, tx40 octos and used them for our class. Adjustments: Valve - + should remain in the + position correct? with the adjustment knob turned down a little to prevent freeflow? When we began, I purged the reg and began freeflowing, the instructor told me to turn the -/+ control halfway. Is that right? She didn't know much about the Apex line but it seemed as though it restricted the ease of breathing. Wouldn't the adjustment knob turned in assist in "freeflowing"?

Next class scheduled for April 1st week, then OWC on the 12th.

waterdogs.

 

[MikeFerrara]

waterdogs,
Was the reg in your mouth when it free flowed? The +/- you refer to is a surface/dive type switch. In one position (the - I think) it partially blocks the flow of air. This keeps the reg from free flowing by interupting or preventing the venturi effect. In the pos position once air starts to flow there is enough presure drop in the second stage to hold the valve open on its own. So.. if there is no restriction to flow (reg not in your mouth and in the pos position) and you hit the purge the flow will continue on its own. I put mine in the neg position when at the surface and the pos position at depth.

If the reg free flowed while in your mouth or while in the neg position there is a problem. Probably just adjustment but I couldn't say for sure without seeing the reg. Hope this helped.

Mike

 

[landlocked]

I've had the same problem and it is getting much better. The first time I took my mask off, I got a nose full. Being somewhat lazy, I decided (rather quickly) that the top of the pool was too far. Settled for just holding my nose and coughing through the regulator a couple of times. Worked great. Still hold my nose on occasion when I need to clear my mask for some reason.

 

[waterdogs]

Mike, regulator free flowed while out of my mouth when purged, i wanted to adjust the nob while in the +positive postion, but my instructor wanted me to keep it in a negative position due to not having much air for skills.

I believed the correct position was +positive with adjustments made to the control nob, correct?

Again, it free flowed only in positive position while out of my mouth and purging.

waterdogs.

 

[ckharlan66]

Waterdogs,

adjust your reg until if fills right while breathing out if it. If it freeflows while out of the mouth point the mouthpiece down and it should stop. If that doesn't work put your thumb over the mouth hole (technical term) and that should get it . Lets face it after the classes the reg won't be out of your mouth underwater much anyway. If it keeps freeflowing too easy then tune it down a little until you are comfortable with it.

Chad

 

[MikeFerrara]

waterdogs,
That is normal for that reg. As I said before, putting it in the neg position at the surface when it's not in your mouth will prevent the free flow. If you forget to switch it at the surface (and I often do) blocking the mouthpiece with your hand will stop the free flow. Also, when not is use placeing the reg in the water with the mouth piece pointing down until the second stage fills with water will help avoid free flows. This is true to some extent for all regs. In a pool, because it is shallow, leaving it in the neg position would be ok and would give you one less thing to worry about. Though, when you get deeper you will want it in the pos position for ease of breathing.

Mike