Yelled at for MOF

[Russjstewart]

Going further off topic,
Brendon,
simultyping I like the word, never heard it before. Can I steal it off you

 

[RainPilot]

By all means, I just used it one day but I'm sure someone else coined it.

Edit: of course they did Urban Dictionary: #chatastrophe

 

[RayfromTX]

It's been a while since I studied all that in the DM course, but I recall that the 3000 psi in the tank gets reduced to about 150 by the first stage. So when it travels through the hoses and to the SPG it is only at 150. So you press the 2nd stage purge button to let the 150 escape for a second or two instead of going directly into the SPG (the air will possibly go to the place of least resistance?). Anyway, I was taught this by an MI who is now a CD. So I figured it had some basis in fact.

Hi Tom
To illustrate why this isn't correct, turn on your tank valve and read your pressure gauge. Purge your regulator wide open and watch your pressure gauge. You will not see any drop in pressure. The gauge sees full pressure, always. You can save that air now and use it under water.

I am more likely to slide my mask to the back or down on my neck if I'm wearing a hood. If my hair is out, my mask is likely on my forehead when not in use. Comfort counts. I have a backup mask for other reasons. If I ever lose a mask on the surface, I'm good. MOF is a sign of nothing.

This isn't a dual thread but the title should have been, "things my OW instructor taught me that seem silly". Can we add the one about turning the valve handle back a 1/4 turn after opening it? All these things have caveats that are bigger than they are.

 

[FinnMom]

While agreeing that saying MOF == diver is in distress is BS dogma. I can see real value in learning not to put your mask on your forhead, just as a good habit. On the rare occasion that you ride a RIB or hang out on the surface and get slapped by an unexpectedly large wave, you can loose the mask. It almost never happens, but if you make a habit of not having it on the forehead it won't happen even that 1 in a 1000. I like tucking my mask in a drysuit pocket, or inside my fin. In both locations it stays quite well and without risk to me or the mask. Already having both a hood with a skirt and a drysuit with a thick neck skirt, I hate having my mask around my neck, but I wear it there when I have to.

I have twice darn near lost my mask by having it on my forehead on the boat long after getting out of the water. I pulled off my hood and the mask went flying. So far it has landed in the boat. I'll try not to test my luck further.

 

[stuartv]

I have never lost or broken a mask... Except the one that I put in my drysuit thigh pocket, which got the strap flange cracked somehow while it was in my pocket.

 

[Chavodel8en]

I often have long surface swims on my back. I wont MOF for fear of losing it. Plus, its a bit of an annoyance there anyway.

Mask around my neck is also an annoyance.

I used to put the mask on my arm as I swam, but I recently lost a mask without noticing.

So my new method will be to put my mask on a carabiner when not in use.



Maybe someone will yell at me for using a suicide clip?

 

[boulderjohn]

I have never lost or broken a mask... Except the one that I put in my drysuit thigh pocket, which got the strap flange cracked somehow while it was in my pocket.

I sat on one once--that is the only one I have ever "lost." It was a good mask--very expensive--and it was the second day I had used it. On of the masks I still use is about 20 years old. About 10 years ago I was doing some work on the surface, not wearing the mask, and somehow smashed it to the point of breaking the strap connection. I replaced it with a paper clip. I am still using it that way.

 

[boulderjohn]

I do the mask on the forehead backwards trick for brief instances. With the strap high on the forehead and the mask down by the neck, it is pretty secure, but I am still careful and only do it in certain instances. Most commonly is when technical diving in an area where I am suiting up on shore and walking to the entrance area carrying fins (etc.). Once I reach that spot, everything goes on quickly. Once I am in the water, the mask is in its rightful place on my face, and it does not come off again until I am securely on the shore or on the boat.

 

[Dan]

I often have long surface swims on my back. I wont MOF for fear of losing it. Plus, its a bit of an annoyance there anyway.

Mask around my neck is also an annoyance.

I used to put the mask on my arm as I swam, but I recently lost a mask without noticing.

So my new method will be to put my mask on a carabiner when not in use.



Maybe someone will yell at me for using a suicide clip?

Putting MOC (Mask On Caribiner) clipping on chest D ring, instead of putting MOF or MON (Mask Over Neck), seems like a good idea. I'll get a small one for it on my next trip.

 

[tarponchik]

Re mask around the neck concept, I've heard a story of a diver who suffered a broken neck when a large wave hit the boat he was standing on with his mask under his chin and his head hit the upper deck. I wonder, if this was a true story or an urban legend.