AGA mask questions and training

[Bowtie22]

My team has just gone to the Interspiro full face mask (AGA). None of us have had any formal training on the AGA in fact only 2 of us have used it for a few dives. I personally enjoyed using the mask and I think that I will defiantly get some use out of it. However, after I found that I now have more questions then answers about them. So here they are.

1- Flooding the mask- what is the proper procedure if the mask was to have a problem and flood or let’s just say the whole mask comes off. How are you supposed to clear the mask? How to breathe while dealing with this issue?

2- equalizing- I have moved the nose block from the top of the adjustment to the bottom and I still have issues equalizing my ears. Maybe it is just me having a big nose or something but I really have issues getting it blocked off to equalize. Is there another type of nose block that is easier to use?

3- Setting up the equipment- I am probably one of the most experienced divers on my team so these are my thoughts; please tell me if I am wrong. I have told my boss that with these AGA's we need to mandate that anytime it is used that we dive with a pony bottle in case of an AGA failure.

4- We currently have wired coms. The areas that we dive are usually entanglement nightmares. There is always debris, fishing line, lures, rocks, old pylons, you name it. So I am trying to get wireless coms to eliminate the entanglement problems.

So these are my issues.... Can anyone help???

 

[bridgediver]

Hi Bowtie

You'll love the FFM for this work!

1. Having a standard octo on a necklace will be a good back-up for mask failure (preferably coming off another air source like a pony as you mentioned). Any mask malfunction and it can be removed and switch to the back-up octo - round this out with a standard half mask in a pocket that you can also don.
A good drill is to practice removing and replacing the FFM (many times in the pool first) at various diver positions. The easiest is head forward as it clears the easiest this way - head up is the hardest!
The key is to keep the octo in your mouth as long as possible. Have a good system for managing the head straps and get them in place properly with the mask over the head before spitting out the octo. Then, use the purge button to clear it. Finish arranging the straps one handed; the other hand maintains the mask/face seal until after the straps are tightened properly.
Once thats mastered, try doing it during exertion ie kicking against the wall of the pool
Your mask skills will be awesome!

2. You can try gluing little neoprene pads on the nose peice but apart from earlier equalization attempts just keep at it. It is more difficult to equalize these masks.
* also - use small cable ties to keep the nose peice in. They fall out real easy

3. Bang on. Pony bottles should be used by any solo diver IMO. Thats essentially what we're doing here

4. I'll ask you to look outside the box here. We often are all in an entanglement rich environment. Its true that a tether often gets snagged on things but heres how we handle it
i) If the diver keeps the line tight as he's suppose to the tender with experience will detect a snag before the diver realizes it and can often clear it by a temporary change in the angle of the line
ii) The diver is still at risk of entrappment even without the tether. By not having a tether on him we run the risk of not knowing where he is and may not find him if he gets in trouble. If the tether is attached it may lead through a pile of crap but we still can access the diver

It the lesser of 2 evils. An entangled diver that we can get to (via the tether) vs. an entangled diver that we may not be able to get to because we have no physical to him. So really, if the environment is entanglement rich its even MORE of a reason to be tethered

Although not the reason, the hardwire is a more reliable comm system as well.

hope this helps

ask away if you have more

mark

 

[Bowtie22]

I really liked the part about using small cable ties to secure the nose block. I found this out just yesterday I was descending and right around 35 - 40ft I could not block my left nostril because the nose block had shifted off of the little metal piece in the bottom. That little tip will go a long way, thanks.

I will have to experiment with the nose block and some neoprene and see what I can come up with.

I understand your logic behind the tether. I just have a tendency to be very independent and I can usually manage my issues without others intervening. I would have to agree with you on this issue and I think it is probably a great idea now.

Now with that said I have heard that you should not secure the tether to you in case you have to bail out so you don't have to unhook yourself from the line. Obviously to me the best way if you were not concerned with a bail out type situation a carabineer to the tether would be the most secure. Since I had no other train of thought at the time we were testing out the comes I made a simple overhand loop knot in the tether and carried it in one hand during the dive. What would you suggest is the best way?

 

[dittrimd]

Ditto about the AGA. It has changed my diving experience forever.

Get service tech training on the masks which will help with cleaning and keep them operating reliably

You can never practice enough with these masks. It has been 8 years for me and almost every dive I finish with a doff/don/clear drill.

Pony with reg and backup mask for sure but not in a necklace. Donning and Doffing a BCD with a necklace and FFM is a challenge. Especially since your octo probably is on the right and the AGA is on the left. I know we do not do it very much but when you take PSD training they have you do it. I clip my octo to my right shoulder D ring. I am able to reach down and put it in my mouth without my hands with only a slightly more difficult than the necklace.

Nose block and clearing with the AGA is probably the most difficult thing to get proficient at. I used to mash the mask against my face with all the force I could muster thinking my problem was not being able to resist my blowing out. Turns the opposite was true. Too much pressure was causing a misalignment and allow air to escape. When I started putting less pressure and keeping a better position on the nose block equalizing became a snap.

Hardwire comms with good rope management without quesiton. The hardwire comms are less likely to be affected by environmental changes and are a true open mic two way link without PTT. This way if I go unresponsive but breathing they can still hear me breathing on the surface. You can set the wireless to vox but it drains the batteries. And batteries is another reason for wired, less of them.

Our team is all on line search patterns only and we have plenty of man made water features where the stumps were left behind. Bridge is right about the tender detecting an angle change and an experienced diver can detect a smaller arc pretty well too.

Floating bouys are a very effective way to keep the rope out of snag hazards. Some times in things like thick weeds you just have to stop and clear the weeds then continue on again.

The tether should be connected to you by more than you hands and the AGA mask comms connection. We use a butterfly knot (this knot is easier on the comm ropen and is easy to undo unlike a fishermans knot) to creat a loop in the line and use a locking carabiner to a D ring on our safety harness. Some use a sailing type quick release except for ice diving when it is always locking carabiner. We never clip off to our BCD.

If you had to in a true emergency pull the knive and cut the rope. Again if you become unresponsive you could let go of the rope. The rope ensures they can find you which is your best chance for survival.

That is another great feature of the FFM dry drowning vs. wet. Improves survival rate tremendously.

Good luck and keep us posted on how it goes!

Mark D.

 

[tc]

Snap shackles work well as a quick release for a tether line-

 

[Bowtie22]

Thanks for the info.... We have a training day on Tuesday so I am going to put everyone through some torture tests with clearing these masks (including myself). I think everyone has reensured me about our hardwire coms also.

I am trying to get us geared up to be a "real" PSD team. It is not an easy task getting everything in order and getting us equiped but we slowly getting there. Our dive team was originaly designed to address homeland security threats in my region but we have been attempting to do just about anything that requires diving. With that last sentence alone I keep pushing our team to get more training and PSD courses so we can become more effective. Then the equipment has to evolve as well.... I seem to be one of the only few on the team that is serious enough about this to seek out the proper training and equipment for us to perform our missions. That is another topic by itself.

 

[Bowtie22]

Oh.......... One more question about our coms..... Should we keep the ropes in a bag, or some sort of reel?

 

[dittrimd]

Our team uses bags which has worked well for us. We have 150' lengths of comm rope nothing longer. It may get a bit hard to manage beyone that. Big thing with any rope is to clean and dry it real well. Sand, dirt, plant life not thoroughly cleaned from a rope will shorten its life. Also pack it properly so as to prevent nasty tangles as you pay it out. Nothing worse than having a diver on the line and having to hold them up while you detangle a rats nest.

For comm ropes keep the connectors as clean as possible. #2 reason on our team for our Hi use connectors failing was dirt. #1 was water freezing in the connector on cold weather dives.

We do have some of our long 500' lengths of rope on reels which works well in some applications.

Good luck!!

Mark D.

 

[mr.rongilbert]

Good advice by all!
- Ditto on the zip ties for the nose block - I do not know of any other option - adding some neoprene sounds like a good idea.
- Ditto on the bailout - we use open circut and hoseline with bailouts on both.
- We use the OTS buddyphone wireless coms and I am a huge fan. No wires to fool with and very good range as well as diver to diver.
- Practice flooding the mask!! We dont do it on every dive but it is a drill for every training evolution.

Dive safe!

 

[bridgediver]

Ah! The old hand loop... This was actually the way most teams used to dive but the majority have evolved away from that for various reasons. Its allot easier to demo these points but I'll do my best to explain

Mark has addressed some in regards to safety issues (good explantations too, Mark!):
- if the diver drops the loop the tender will automatically try to keep the line tensioned and with pull the line away from the diver so the line is now gone (a slack line is never good or efficient) and we've lost direct contact
- if the diver has a failure (free flow, loose fin, dislodged mask, ditch weights etc) he only has one hand to deal with it because the other is occupied with the loop. It may not even be possible to solve some of these problems with a single hand and would be difficult at best. The tendancy is to drop the loop when the diver needs this connection the most (when he's in trouble).

A common retort to "dropping the loop" is that the diver wraps the line around his arm or feeds his arm through the loop but this may add to the problem in that the arm may be held back by the line/tender - essentially we're pre-entangling our diver and limiting his mobility

The rest are more or less for search effectiveness.
- The arm/hand must hold the rope at the same angle throughout the dive to maintain an accurate pattern. there was always some variance of arm movement (bent, slightly bent etc).
- A great deal of fatigue is involved if the arm is under tension for the duration (20mins?). This is why many divers will flex and move their arms about but it disrupts the accuracy of the pattern just as above
- The diver only has 1 arm to search and so he's really only searching half as much. he can't effectively hold a pattern with a tight line and search if the hand is holding the line
- More difficult to keep the line tensioned. Most divers had the tendency to keep their arm (and line) at a 90 angle to their body whereas if the diver had the angle at 45 their finning will keep proper tension with little effort. The problem is the arm ends up behind/to the feet of the diver in the direction the line goes
- direction changes. The diver switched hands with the loop at each direction change and this was prone to the line being dropped as the hands sometimes fumbled. Pattern and line orientation also could be lost.

Just as I outlined before we should always keep our diver in direct contact via the tether because the only way we are certain to help/recover him is if we can find him and get to him. To have a diver floating free and alone is never a good idea. The only time the tether should be severed is if the back up diver has reached him and has provided an alternate positive connection to him (hence they are both contacted to the shore).
Some may disagree (I don't wish to debate this again) but many teams use locking biners to secure the tethers for this reason. If the back-up diver can't get the diver free (he may spend hours doing this) only then can the primary diver's line be cut and both divers use the back-up tether to return. You'll have to decide for yourself what makes the most sense
Proper air supplies, back-up response procedures and contingency equipment all needs to be taken into consideration. If air is not a problem and a competent backup plan can be deployed theres no reason for the diver to disconnect himself.

One of the biggest names in PSD always says:
"Entanglements in themselves are not life threatening; they are an inconvienance"


Comrope - yes. Bagged is best. In fact, if you use a packback it makes your tender more mobile. headsets, MK7's, batts and all other tender specific gear can all be stored in seperate pockets

hope that all makes sense to you

mark