fmerkel
Contributor
I think I could be way more effective, but that's bragging.
I'm a respiratory therapist, with clearing issues from OW1, primarily sinuses in my case, but the upper respiratory system is all related. Dr. Ed Kay is a personal friend and a prior member of our local dive club. I've made a serious study of this problem, real serious.
The Chairman has some of the great hints I would use. Look up, chin out, bad ear up, clear at the surface and every 2 feet.
Most new divers look down to see where they are dropping in to. It's new and a bit scary down there. That tucks the chin. Just try to clear with your head looking down and chin tucked in > very difficult to impossible. Most new divers are so focused (task loaded) on the dive they forget to pay attention to the signals and get behind the pressure curve, which is very easy to do in the shallows and with poorly developed buoyancy skills. That first 0-6 feet is absolutely critical. I think students should spend some time in the shallow end of the pool progressing to the deep end paying attention to that very carefully.
Clearing is a very serious and absolutely critical dive skill. IMO it deserves attention at the level of DCS and AGE. If you are really unlucky or screw up you might one of those serious consequences. Yeah, I know, they are really bad. But if you don't pay attention with the pressure on your ears for very short time you will end up with barotrauma, and that happens a lot.
Analogy: When you go camping it's not unreasonable to worry about bears. But the functional reality is the mosquito are going to drive you crazy....guaranteed.
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