anyone wear hood over dive mask strap?

[vinegarbiscuit]

Like other posters have said...even the slightest bit of contact between the mask's seal and the hood will result in anything from mild leaks to virtual flooding every minute or so. Try wearing your mask with your hood on dry land, and look in the mirror - a trim job may be necessary, which will end all your flooding woes. I think it took me about 10-minutes to work up the nerve to attack my hood with scissors...I think I have an inkling of how people feel when it's time to punch a hold in their drysuits to install pee-valves!

Myself, I prefer wearing my hood over my mask strap, ever since I heard a story about a female diver on Andrea Doria who encountered a panicked diver in the throes of an uncontrollable descent. The falling diver knocked the lady's mask off...the fact that her strap was covered by her hood prevented her from losing the mask completely and essentially making a blind ascent in over 200-feet of cold, unpredictable water. All she had to do was recover the mask from around her mouth/throat and clear it. (The poor panicked diver she encountered died.) Now, I doubt I'll ever have the skill or stones to dive the Doria, but I feel there was a lesson to be learned there...ever since reading about that incident, I've been an 'inside strap wearer'.

 

[tacky]

I'd think that if you dived in really cold waters putting your mask under the hood would be a problem if you suddenly needed to change the mask, as removing the mask could add to an already potentially high stress level.

 

[knowone]

Sally Wahrmann. Diver.
John Ormsby. Diver that couldn't be told.

Look her up.

 

[vinegarbiscuit]

Sally Wahrmann. Diver.
John Ormsby. Diver that couldn't be told.

Look her up.

You're very kind, but I already knew the parties' names. NYC is my home-base, so I've naturally heard as well as read lots of stories about the halcyon days of Northeast wreck diving. (Everest at the Bottom of the Sea - Esquire). I was simply rehashing the story for illustrative purposes, and didn't feel it was crucial to include names.

 

[knowone]

Thanks for the link. I don't know how to do that.

We are not the only people in the room.


If folks wish to learn about uncontrolled descents and the great possibility of being unable to arrest one even at shallower depths, and then the resulting lack of psi entangled or not if you do, then that stuff is a must read.

 

[DMDavid]

I'd think that if you dived in really cold waters putting your mask under the hood would be a problem if you suddenly needed to change the mask, as removing the mask could add to an already potentially high stress level.

Please elaborate a little further with your explanation (I'm a warm water diver).
Why would cold water diving require you to change masks?

 

[tstormdiver]

Please elaborate a little further with your explanation (I'm a warm water diver).
Why would cold water diving require you to change masks?

There could be a few reasons. The most common being strap failure. There could be perhaps the chance that the diver may not see an object & run face first into it breaking the mask. Yes, I had this happen to a freind, he turned around & wham! hit his face on a pillar, knocking a lens out of the mask. The problem stems from that when cold water hits the face (stress 1), the shock can screw with one's breathing pattern- it is a part of the mamillian diving reflex (stress 2). Also, to remove the mask, the hood must either be pushed back off the head or removed (stress 3). Add to this, possible depth & narcosis,..... Voila! mega stress on a diver who may not be prepared to deal with it.

 

[tacky]

Tstormdiver, my point exactly.

Just try removing your mask and put it back on again in 8 celsius. Imagine how much worse it would be if you needed to take off your hood first.

Another reason to change masks could be that it's fogging.

 

[Tanked]

I wear the hood over my mask strap. I feel like the mask is more secure on my noggin

 

[tacky]

Tanker: just bring a backup mask. And practice switching masks (something to do at the security stop).