Is this the most difficult skill for new scuba divers?

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Scuba Diving Tips

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Scuba Diving skills are not that hard to learn. but some skills can be tricky. Many new scuba divers say that the most difficult skill is how to clear your scuba mask underwater. In this video I explain 5 tips to easily master the mask clearing skill during your Open Water Diver Course:

 
Controlled ascents is the most difficult for a new diver, IMO. Hell even for some experienced divers.

I don't do a lot of charters, but the ones I have done I have been a bit shocked to see everyone climbing the anchor line, despite skill level and no current.

Navigation is probably a tie with ascents. Without a guide many divers would simply be lost.

Getting neutral might be at the top, but a good instructor can usually train a new diver within the first couple dives to have a fair amount of control.

Mask clearing isn't a difficult skill. There's usually one out of a group that find it challenging and most of the time it's just in their head. How hard is it to put hand pressure on the top of the mask and exhale through the nose? Not hard at all. The new diver is more mentally concerned about the fact there's water in their mask versus the actual task of expelling it.
 
The problem with the mask flooded by water is caused by the neo-natal glottis reflex.
This is the reflex that any human has at birth, and is triggered by the contact of water to some neural receptors located around our nostrils. When they detect water, the reflex automatically closes the epiglottis valve, impeding to breath (but also to drown).
It is called "neo-natal" reflex because you can easily detect it in very young babies, but this reflex usually disappears spontaneously after a few months, and most people do not have it at the age they start diving.
However, approximately 1 every 10 adults still has this reflex: so in a class it is quite common to have one or two subjects which are in serious trouble as soon as their mask is flooded: they cannot breath anymore, as the glottis is closed. They cannot exhale from the nose, for evacuating the mask. And after a few seconds impeded to breath, they swim to the surface, suffering a serous risk of lung over-expansion, as they cannot exhale during the ascent.
It is not "all in their brains", as this reflex does not affect the brains, but their automatic reflex system, which is mostly out of voluntary control.
With a lot of patience and training, these subjects can become capable of counter-effecting the glottis closure by voluntary control, reopening it after the reflex is triggered: there is no way to avoid the reflex, indeed, but staying calm, usually after 10-30 s of apnoea, and exerting strong voluntary control, the glottis opens again, and the subject can breath, and exhale through the nose, evacuating the mask.
These subjects are indeed exposed to troubles in their diving career, as any event causing the mask flooding or being removed will impede them to breath for a while.
Nowadays, with a patient instructor who understands the problem, these people can still be certified and can afford some moderate diving experiences. In the past, when I was working as an instructor, we were told that those subjects were not allowed to become divers, and they were simply expelled from the course, as physically not fit.
So, for people not suffering of the neonatal reflex, evacuating the mask looks like a trivial task. For people suffering of this problem, the mask evacuation is an almost unsurmountable problem.
 
I believe this may illustrate a problem with instruction--actually several problems, including the poor instruction provided in this video.

In this video, he talks about the problem caused by divers tipping their heads back while clearing the mask. As a new instructor, I saw the same thing. The instructions for clearing the mask tell you to tip the head back, but students are usually not told why; in fact, I think it is likely that most instructors don't know why, which appears to be true in the case of this instructor. For most students, tipping the head back is counterproductive, as the instructor says in this video.

My instruction on mask clearing changed dramatically when I switched to neutral buoyancy instruction, and I realized that mask clearing instruction is not in synch with how scuba is typically taught.

There is a very good reason students are told to tip their heads back. When you are diving in horizontal trim, your face is primarily facing downward. If you try to clear the mask with your face in that position, gravity will cause water to pool in the mask, because it has nowhere to go. To get the water to leave the mask, the bottom mask skirt must be at the lowest point--the face needs to be perpendicular to the bottom to clear the mask effectively. If the face is perpendicular, water will simply fall out with the pressure of the gentle exhale. It is therefore necessary for a swimming diver to tip the head back for effective mask clearing.

But that is not how most students are taught to clear the mask. Most students are kneeling on the bottom of the pool, with their body and head vertical--as he is doing in this video. Because of that, the face is either already perpendicular or even already tipped back. Tipping the head back further makes clearing much harder. Students who successfully clear their masks while kneeling learn to do so by NOT tipping their heads back much. They therefore have not learned how to clear their masks while they are actually diving.

When students are taught while neutrally buoyant and horizontal, the students are in a natural swimming position. If your initial briefing tells them that they need to tip their heads back as they clear the mask so that the bottom of the mask is the lowest point, they understand it and do it easily.

It is obvious that this platinum course director does not know this. It indicates that he is still teaching his students to do their skills on their knees. That means he is still teaching new instructors to teach this way, too.
 
However, approximately 1 every 10 adults still has this reflex: so in a class it is quite common to have one or two subjects which are in serious trouble as soon as their mask is flooded: they cannot breath anymore, as the glottis is closed. They cannot exhale from the nose, for evacuating the mask.
[...]
So, for people not suffering of the neonatal reflex, evacuating the mask looks like a trivial task. For people suffering of this problem, the mask evacuation is an almost unsurmountable problem.
A golden piece of information.
 
I've always read the mask skills are hardest, so I must agree. But, I think that gets back to my old pet peeve about many OW students being severely lacking in past "water" activities.
Personally, I found the doff/don of the unit by far the hardest-- lots of steps to remember there.

I of course agree with what John says about the angle needed to clear one's mask. I learned to do this on my knees, like many of us. Then when swimming I just figured that I needed the same angle to get the water out. But, I'm a possible exception to the rule (see above paragraph).
 
From personal experience, it is not so much about clearing the mask, it is having a mask that does not fit your face or is not properly placed (because of hair, mustache, hood, too low, too high...). Then no matter how many times you clear it, you will still have water in it and after a while, you just wish you were at the surface. And I don't even speak about fog. No matter how many times you wash and clear your mask, fog keeps on coming back.
 
Initially getting into diving, like in a pool, clearing your mask seems to be one of the top items people struggle with, but it makes sense given the circumstances of being land based mammals.

After certification, I'd say the next challenges are bouyancy control, controlled ascents, and deploying a DSMB at depth, in that order.
 
Back when I got certified I had no trouble with mask flooding, removal and replace in the pool. What I was not prepared for was it triggering mammalian diving reflex when I did it in 45 degree water during OW. I still remember having to calm myself and allow my lungs to start working again before I could complete the drill.

I still hate doing it in cold water, but I make myself practice it from time to time.
 
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