Mask on Forehead reliable distress signal?

[texdiveguy]

90% of the time when in the water my mask is on my face....it is Rx lens.....I do lift it at time on in water breaks or surface swims to blow snought out of my nose. In calm water during in water surface time I do place my mask on my forehead....no big deal. Now in rough waters I will not do this. But if a diver wants to place his mask on his forehead under normal conditions I see no problems with it! I could go on and on about all the reasons for or against this...but the fact of the matter is do what is best for you...not because someone else said you had to do it a particular way or your wrong.

 

[Twistedarts]

I'm with nem on this one, if you can't be in the water without it, you should not be in the water.

 

[sweatfrog]

Personally I love to see masks on foreheads - just means more mask business for our Dive Center.

Finally, a reason for the MOF.

 

[Lonefox]

I used to like my mask on my forehead, but now I think it's a bad idea, not anything to do with panicked divers, but because while swimming about on the surface I didn't notice when it fell off. The result, a lost dive and a £45 replacement mask.
Now I hang it round my neck.

It is a sign of a distressed diver to be, distressed when he realises that it's not on his head anymore!!

 

[MXGratefulDiver]

I learned how to dive 9 years before you were born and became an Instructor 8 years after you were born. Is 17 years diving in the military, commercially and recreationally enough time to object to this thought process?

That brings me up to 1979, do you want me to keep going? I don't normally toot my own horn, but what you are saying is ridiculous. Putting your MOF is a bad habit and students should be broken of that habit before it becomes ingrained. How it is done is not as important as getting the students to remember that it was harped on.

Hmmmm ... which brings us back to ...

It's a myth from the old days of Scuba. Some have moved on and some still hold to it as Gospel.

As an instructor, I'll spend very little time on the issue. If I see a student with their mask pushed up on their forehead I'll briefly explain that since we wear hoods to dive in local waters, there's a good possibility for the mask to get washed off their head without their notice. I leave it at that ... I figure once they've heard that much they can make their own decisions. Worst case it's gonna cost them the dive and the price of a new mask. OW instructors have way more important things to talk about in the limited amount of time the class provides ... and OW students have way more important things to focus on.

... Bob (Grateful Diver)

 

[24940]

I bring up MOF on the first night of class. I explain how I wear it (MSOF) and why. I explain that some feel it is a sign of distress and add that I have seen at least four people lose their masks while MOF. I then explain the "real" reason to avoid MOF is that it is the international signal for "I am a dork". Most people don't really want to go out of their way to look like a dork, so when I see someone MOF, it's a cue for me to look a little closer at that person.

I don't lecture on it, I don't care. While the mask I've seen lost were indeed MOF, it doesn't mean much considering the millions of dives executed without loss of mask. Besides, I really don't care what they do with their gear, as long as they're safe.

well, generally when i see an instructor lecturing their students about not putting their mask on their forehead, i tend to watch the students more closely because that is indicative of a lack of focus on the part of the instructor on the truly important facets of diving. there's too many instructors out there that are uncomfortable in their supposed leadership roles and who overcompensate by laying down rules like this that don't matter to hide the fact that they've become instructors way too quickly without learning how to dive first.

(anyone out there who is an instructor think there's a problem with how i'm arguing this point?)

 

[ahava]

One thing that is almost always the case, if a diver is panicked at the surface the mask will not be on his face where it belongs.

 

[sweatfrog]

Worst case it's gonna cost them the dive and the price of a new mask. OW instructors have way more important things to talk about in the limited amount of time the class provides ... and OW students have way more important things to focus on.... Bob (Grateful Diver)

Divers can do whatever they want regarding this issue, after the class (and nobody will get on their case). But when they are learning to dive looking for a mask takes up valuable time and stresses out a student when the mask is lost forever. This is a visual sport and if a students mind is on that mask they lost, it can be reflected in their next dive.

When they spend good money to take the class, add gas and lodging and they can't finish because they lost their prescription mask, then their priorities change dramatically. The student is leaving the next day for vacation and can't finish that last dive. All because s/he lost a mask. It seems to me that it's all important.

 

[MXGratefulDiver]

Divers can do whatever they want regarding this issue, after the class (and nobody will get on their case). But when they are learning to dive looking for a mask takes up valuable time and stresses out a student when the mask is lost forever. This is a visual sport and if a students mind is on that mask they lost, it can be reflected in their next dive.

When they spend good money to take the class, add gas and lodging and they can't finish because they lost their prescription mask, then their priorities change dramatically. The student is leaving the next day for vacation and can't finish that last dive. All because s/he lost a mask. It seems to me that it's all important.

OK ... it hasn't happened yet to a student of mine, but if it did I'd pull a spare mask out of my SaD kit, hand it to 'em, and proceed with the class. I might even passingly mention that I have a box of masks at home that I've found over the years at various dive sites.

But in the overall scheme of things, it's unimportant. Too many instructors waste time on unimportant things. And telling a student that it's a sign of distress puts a strain on an instructor's credibility. Students may not know anything about diving ... but they're generally not stupid people. They can see through stuff like that. And if you're concerned about distractions, consider what effect losing your credibility might have on your students.

I don't sweat the small stuff ... that's time better spent on more relevent things, like diving planning, buoyancy control, or other matters that will actually impact the dive student's skills and knowledge. That's what they're paying us for ... not trivial stuff like what to do with their mask when they're not wearing it.

... Bob (Grateful Diver)

 

[tom_n_tacoma]

Interesting topic. I just finished an OW course where I was a co-instructor. The other instructor placed mask on head backwards, because that's how some people like to where it, and quickly lost it. I went down and found it, gave it back, along with a jab about how much one of those things costs! I've seen another instructor do the same thing, only after the dive in water too deep to go back down into to find it. In my ever so humble opinion, I don't care how you where it, as long as I don't have to pay for it