SparticleBrane
Contributor
Watch it, you'll love it--I promise.CON8IV:
Mask Clearing Video for Noobs
- Thread starter shotthebreeze
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SparticleBrane:Watch it, you'll love it--I promise.
Hey SparticleBrane, you're correct. Now, people, what's so hard about doing a demonstration like that? You can clearly see what the guy is doing, and doing it very efficiently, I might add. Note the LACK of extra bubbles coming out the bottom of his mask after it is cleared, thus allowing him to do it multiple times on a single breath. Oh, and I totally dig the way he claps his hands at the end and gives the "OK" sign. He looks like an underwater Blackjack dealer in Vegas, lol. Very nice.
SparticleBrane
Contributor
The "clap and ok" is used at the end of all our skin-diving skills. The idea being that if you are so desperate for air that you can't remember to "clap and ok", you aren't comfortable in the water.
On some skills, the "clap and ok" is actually more important than finishing the skill itself. We would rather see someone calmly decide to stop an underwater swim halfway through (thinking that they can't make it) with a clap and ok, than see someone rush as fast as they possibly can to the other side, break the surface, take a huge gasp of air and about collapse.
It's easier to get someone who is calm and relaxed (but hasn't finished the skill) to complete the skill with good technique, than it is to get someone who rushed through it (and completed it) to slow down and use better technique.
I hope that makes sense.
On some skills, the "clap and ok" is actually more important than finishing the skill itself. We would rather see someone calmly decide to stop an underwater swim halfway through (thinking that they can't make it) with a clap and ok, than see someone rush as fast as they possibly can to the other side, break the surface, take a huge gasp of air and about collapse.
It's easier to get someone who is calm and relaxed (but hasn't finished the skill) to complete the skill with good technique, than it is to get someone who rushed through it (and completed it) to slow down and use better technique.
I hope that makes sense.
frankc420
Contributor
I hold my breathe when I clear my mask. Or exhale to clear it while looking up and grinning (which breaks the seal on the bottom of my mask).
SparticleBrane
Contributor
You exhale to clear you mask, yes?frankc420:
If you're exhaling, you're not holding your breath...
frankc420
Contributor
SparticleBrane:
True that..
You can't clear your mask without exhaling though, so you can't hold your breathe to clear your mask
Here let me put on my dunce cap!
MaconBubbles
Contributor
But he is holding his breath while he is flooding his mask. This is when I have a hard time not holding my breath. I mean...he obviously can't inhale during his excercise, but with a regulator and with a real mask-flooding situation (or even just practicing), I would find it much easier to just hold my breath. I know that's a no-no, so that's what I've been working on. He's not trying to demonstrate that it's ok to hold your breath, is he? Cause that would be great. I have been able to blow tiny bubbles throughout the whole mask removal/replacement and still have enough air to clear my mask, but inhaling is a bear for me. I'll just have to keep pinching my nose 'till I get it perfected, I guess.
frankc420
Contributor
To my knowledge the main reason you don't hold your breathe is because of lung over expansion. If you keep yourself from rising, I don't see how it could cause a problem.
If you do it continuously I could see an argument for more CO2 buildup (I think it's CO2).
If you do it continuously I could see an argument for more CO2 buildup (I think it's CO2).
SparticleBrane
Contributor
Holding your breath on scuba is a no-no, we all know that.
If I flooded my mask while diving, I would wait for an exhale cycle and then just clear it while exhaling. Simple as that.
As to your previous question, yes the bottom of the mask should be lifted slightly. It will make your mask clearing much easier. Tilt your head back slightly and exhale into the mask with the bottom lifted slightly off your face. This allows the air you exhale to be trapped at the top, and it forces the water out the bottom of your mask through displacement. Slowly bring it back closer to your face as it's being cleared, and make the seal as it's completely clear.
Stephi you need to spend lots of time underwater with your mask on the back of your head, snorkel in your mouth, eyes open breathing off your snorkel. This will help you learn how to breathe underwater with water around your face. While doing this, alternate exhaling between your mouth and your nose. After getting good at doing that, a mask clear will be quite easy.
frank, the other issue is habit. If you start holding your breath even when you think it's "ok", you'll hold it other times as well...
If I flooded my mask while diving, I would wait for an exhale cycle and then just clear it while exhaling. Simple as that.
As to your previous question, yes the bottom of the mask should be lifted slightly. It will make your mask clearing much easier. Tilt your head back slightly and exhale into the mask with the bottom lifted slightly off your face. This allows the air you exhale to be trapped at the top, and it forces the water out the bottom of your mask through displacement. Slowly bring it back closer to your face as it's being cleared, and make the seal as it's completely clear.
Stephi you need to spend lots of time underwater with your mask on the back of your head, snorkel in your mouth, eyes open breathing off your snorkel. This will help you learn how to breathe underwater with water around your face. While doing this, alternate exhaling between your mouth and your nose. After getting good at doing that, a mask clear will be quite easy.
frank, the other issue is habit. If you start holding your breath even when you think it's "ok", you'll hold it other times as well...
MaconBubbles
Contributor
SparticleBrane:
Yes...I finally found a pool that I can go to whenever I want. I did that yesterday just as you say...didn't have my mask at all. I made a lot of progress. I was able to do it with my eyes open for the first time. I can clear my mask fine now and take it off and on with my eyes open. I just need to keep practicing the breathing part. I hope I don't have some kind of nose deformity. It looks normal from the outside, I think. Like I said, after about five breaths or so, the water starts to trickle in through the nose. I just swallowed it. It was salt water. We all know what salt water does when you drink it. Not a fun night.
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