Snorkeling death

[doctormike]

My non diving wife with mild thalassophobia (she can snorkel, but won't dive) was considering getting one of those new full facemask snorkels for our upcoming trip to Turks and Caicos. I just saw this.

How One Woman's Snorkeling Death Might Help Save Lives

Anyone have any opinions or insights?

 

[soggybadger]

Thought they looked like a pos. Didn't realise that people are using them but I know nothing about snorkeling.

 

[cmburch]

I would never use one.

A normal snorkel mouthpiece and tube.

Full face snorkel piece that goes around mouth/nose (similar to oxygen mask) and tube. Not much volume difference.

Why would CO2 build up? I guess if taking shallow breaths not clearing tube.

Why would top tube shutoff malfunction?

Normal mask has nose inside. This mask has nose in inner mask. So I would think less chance of fogging.

I am only looking at the picture so could be totally incorrect on all points.

 

[doctormike]

Either of you care to elaborate? Not trolling, I have no financial interest in the product, but what is your concern about the design?

Clearly this is aimed at people who are less comfortable breathing through a mouthpiece than we all are. There have been snorkeling deaths with traditional equipment, as well as choking episodes, panic, etc...

I can see issues with CO2 related to dead space ventilation, but the devil is in the details and the design. Apparently there is an original and a knockoff - maybe there is the difference with regard to that particular issue.

But I don't see any reason to reject something out of hand that none of us have tried...

 

[cmburch]

If my wife died, I would send in the mask for testing. Failure analysis could tell if there was a malfunction of any valves and if there is CO2 build up. It must be listed somewhere if there is a problem with CO2 build up.

Did she drown or suffocate?

 

[soggybadger]

I just didn't take them seriously. Thought they were a gimmick.

 

[doctormike]

If my wife died, I would send in the mask for testing. Failure analysis could tell if there was a malfunction of any valves and if there is CO2 build up. It must be listed somewhere if there is a problem with CO2 build up.

Did she drown or suffocate?

That's one of the points in the article - the mask itself was lost. So not clear exactly what happened - design issue, failure of that particular unit, or something medical and unrelated.

Not sure how complex these things are, but it looks like the original has one pathway for inhalation and one for exhalation (unlike a standard snorkel). That might be a design issue, especially with the knockoffs which might not have the same gas routing. I can see that with a larger potential dead space, if you just put a standard snorkel on a FFM, you would be more likely to build up CO2.

 

[soggybadger]

You see so much useless/dangerous plastic crap come out of China that it's hard to take this sort of thing seriously. Look at how many toys manufactured in China get banned due to being dangerous pos. EBay is flooded with these. Just saying.

 

[Jayfarmlaw]

I used two (regular and large) of these on a surface interval in Roatan just to try them out. A couple on our dive boat had them. I don't like snorkeling in general but I was actually surprised how well they worked and fit. I have a head that is very difficult to fit for a mask as in 98% of masks won't fit well. I did not use them long enough to have any issues, less than a few minutes each, but was of the opinion that someone had actually built a better mousetrap after all these years. Underwater, their snorkel sealed off completely and you absolutely could not get a breath. As soon as you surfaced, the mechanism cleared and all was good. No clearing involved whatsoever.

Also, I had no trouble taking it off. It was like removing a gas mask, grab at the bottom and lift up. That being said, I was not panicked, struggling for bouayancy, or had a mouthful of saltwater either (likely all three in the accident involved)

Sounds like some meaningful procedureal changs are occurring, but at a high price.

If I'm in the water, I would rather be under water, but based on my experience, I would not be opposed to buying my wife one for surface interval snorkeling. The CO2 buildup is certainly something to consider though.

Jay

 

[cmburch]

With different port for inhalation and exhaust then there may be less chance of CO2 build up. Think of a respirator that just covers the nose and mouth. Air comes in from the filter cartridge/s and exhausts out the exhaust valve/s. I do sometimes sweat like crazy using them in a hot environment. I think my sister bought one of these. I will ask her.