Worried about mask rescue and recovery

[Walter]

First, there's no reason to do it. I've been teaching for quite a few years and I've never had a student who couldn't master no mask breathing using the methods I described.

Second, it teaches bad habits. Why teach someone to pinch their nose, then teach them not to pinch their nose?

 

[dbulmer]

Walter,
First of all we are not speaking as equals - you know far more about diving/teching than I'll ever know ... but!

I posted a message a few weeks ago about having a mask removal phobia. I searched the net and found your advice by far the best and I am actively trying out your ideas in the safety of my bathtub!

That said, pinching the nose can be useful practically - you have your mask and snorkel at the bottom of the tub. You dip your face in the water and pick up the snorkel and exhale - if you do it wrong a bubble bounces off the bottom of the bath and up towards and in your nose - your mask is still at the bottom of the tub. Now I could raise my head or try to cope with the discomfort - guess what I do ? Yep if that's bad I pinch my nose with one hand and concentrate on breathing then I let go of my hand and put the mask on. A clear silicon strap in clear bathwater is a little problematic but I am getting used to having to keep my head under and dealing with the situation.

Ripping off the mask in a bathtub is also a great exercise - again if water gets up the nose that pinch is enough to calm me down while I regain composure. Now I do not do this through choice - if all goes well my breathing is fine and I don't need to but if I do get water up my nose I find this useful to do.

Now a few questions to you sir.

With mask removal, is there any way you can avoid exhaust bubbles going up the nose? I find I have to turn my head upwards and slightly to the left.

When a mask rips off, how can you recover if you do accidently snort water up the nose - you have no prior warning of it about to happen so when it does happen - what next?

If you find your self inverted ie horizontal, face up without a mask what can you do?

If these are stupid questions please forgive me in advance it's by admitting one's ignorance that you can learn.

 

[norcaldiver]

Walter once bubbled...
Pinching your nose is a crutch and not a good idea. There's no reason to ever pinch your nose to master no mask breathing.

But it works in a pinch...pun intended.

 

[Walter]

First, don't practice in a bath tub. You cannot practice these skills in a tub, unless your tub is several magnitudes larger than mine. You can probably do it in a jacuzzi, but nothing smaller. Practice in a pool.

When on SCUBA, bubbles will bounce off your nose, unless you are using a double hose. Exhale partially through your nose on every exhalation, that keeps bubbles from pushing water in your nose. When inhaling, think about drinking through a straw.

 

[dbulmer]

Walter,
I hear you loud and clear. The bathtub practice is to get used to breathing without a mask - I shall be graduating to pool shortly but at this time of year in the Uk it can be difficult finding a pool which a) has no kids in it b) isn't full c) allows you to use snorkel and mask and d) all of the above.

 

[Dirk Pitt]

Don't worry...

This happend alot on my OW course, resulting in quite a few people bolting for the surface if the mask failed to clear on first try or water went up nose.

All advice mentioned so far is excellent, personally I found 2 things really helped me:

1. RELAX, with the mask off take you're time to get used to the sensation and breath normally. Put the mask back on BUT before you try to clear RELAX and take 2, 3 or more steady breaths.

2. With your mask off breath in through your reg but breath out through your nose, I don't know if this works for any one else but it cured all problems I was having.....

Exhalling through the Reg does result in turbulence around the nose, which I personally found uncomforatble, some people hold their nose but this is impractical as you will need both hands to replace your mask and so will have to let go eventually.

Anyway hope this helps, everyone has problems at the start.

Dirk

 

[Miss Gigl]

I recently had this very same problem and the good news is that if I can overcome it, anyone can! I totally HATE the feeling of water in my nose, and I was snorting water pretty much everytime I tried to do mask removal.

You have lots of good advice here already. Let me just say that I spent a few hours in the pool just walking around and swimming with just my snorkel until I got used to the feeling of water around my nose. It took awhile and I'm sure I will never *like* it, but now I can tolerate it without the urge to snort water.

One other tip I picked up is to tilt your head sideways a little, it may prevent bubbles from tickling your nose.

Good luck!