hand signal to say "equalize your mask!" ?

[Aqualovr]

After getting his attention, I would take my index fingers and point to each side of my nose, and then pointing down/away from my nose to simulate, "Exhale through your nose," and then give the "modified OK sign," to complete the sentence:

"Exhale through your nose, BoHo!"

Tried that too...didn't work, he just responded " OK "

 

[Aqualovr]

You could get him to remove it and clear it, but how you do that is another story.

Or you could just point to your nose and show him bubbles coming out of your mask and them point to him to imitate you. This might actually be easier than kicking the mask off of his face.

If I'd asked him to remove it, or even clear it, I risked him maybe not being able to perform it...next comes the newbie panicked on me scenario... and then the "well, it's your fault for asking him to remove his mask" I guess it's really true that "no good deed goes unpunished"

 

[Zippsy]

I can't add to what everyone else has said to answer the question but, errr, ummm, completely off topic.... why not stop at 60 feet with two brand new divers?

 

[Walter]

Reach over and lift the edge of the mask. Water will rush in and equalize the pressure. If he wants to clear it, he will.

 

[Jason Ooi]

Just make sure the unequalized pressure doesn't rip the eyeballs out of his skull, that one's tough to explain on shore..

 

[SparticleBrane]

...how recently was this friend of yours certified OW before you were taking him on this 80ft dive?

 

[Gombessa]

I don't think a hand signal would have made a difference there. Didn't you say he didn't what mask equalization was?

I asked him "why didn't you equalize your mask" ?" he said...I'm not sure what that means...then he said "it wasn't leaking" so...

Seems like anything you could have done would have seemed unintelligible.

That said, the two signals I've seen my instructor use:
1) a. Point to mask. b. Push hands together palm facing each other to illustrate "squeeze"

2) a. watch me. b. Place hand on top of mask. c. blow gently through nose to clear. d. now you.

 

[Scuba-Jay]

I would have thought taking your index and middle finger, tapping on your mask (i.e making the "look at me" sign), then proceeding to clear your mask, and then pointing at him to do the same might have worked, although if as you say he didn't even understand the concept then he probably hadn't received adequate training in the first place and might not have understood why to do it in the first place. Hard to Evelin a concept under water!!

 

[genxweb]

I can't add to what everyone else has said to answer the question but, errr, ummm, completely off topic.... why not stop at 60 feet with two brand new divers?

Along the line of off topic why as a DM or DM-C would you brought to newly certified open water students to 80 feet especially for the last dive of the day. Remembering that you should get shallower as the dives progress through the day and that they have had not had the proper training or experience level (for those that don’t think a cert is needed) to properly handle situations at that depth.

Also if he was not understanding what you where trying to get him to do and that it could of caused a bigger issue you should of thumb the dive, made the proper safety stop and explained to him on sure in a reassuring tone the importance of equalizing and how to do it so he learns and is not turned off of diving.

 

[O2BBubbleFree]

as brought to my attention by an esteemed college

Ivy league?