Lost my new mask and didn't get to use it once

[Colliam7]

Who has ever for real seen a panicked diver put their mask on their forehead? Not read about it, but seem it.

I have. Saw it happen, again, just last month, with an OW student during Confined Water Dive One. I won't even say she 'put it' on her forehead. Rather, she pushed it up off her face.

The whole concept seems ludicrous to me, if they are panicking surely they'd rip it off completely.

Not at all.

In fairness, I don't know that the diver last month was truly panicked. She was DEFINITELY very anxious / stressed. Part of the same continuum, though. Pushing the mask up on the forehead may not be the one, and only one, universal reaction. But, it is certainly one reaction to stress / fear / panic.

 

[Mike]

You better have a prescription mask that could not possibly fit your wife... if you went diving and she sat on the boat.

:d

LOL.

Her little head and my big head don't work out for her mask to fit me or my mask to fit her without leaking like a sieve. I did make the offer and also made the offer to stay on the boat with her...

 

[maniago]

I kinda like that.

I would expect nothing less Pappy! haha

 

[AlexRD]

Just from what I understand, you have to think to put your mask around your neck/on the back of your head, whereas on your forehead or off is just a natural movement. When panicked, people will go for the natural movements, which include throwing the mask on their forehead/into the water.

That alone won't mean the diver is panicked, but like was said before MIGHT be a sign

 

[grantwiscour]

I had just purchased new Atomic frameless. On its first dive I had put it over the tank valve on the way back. I thought I was being smart so it wouldn't get crushed on the boat. When we started packing up I must have put some tension on the strap cause next thing I knew it shot off the tank like a slingshot. I tried desparately to grab it it sank too quickly. All I could think as it slipped below the surface was oh s*#t there goes a $100 just like that.

Ugh! I had one dive on an Atomic Frameless hundred dollar mask and while standing on the stairs at the Comal River with my video camera in one hand and my mask in the other...waiting an ungodly 20-30 minutes as my wife was adjusting gear, I guess I forgot it was in my hand and I let go. When were finally ready for the night dive; i wasn't. No Mask. I was to the Jeep with back up in hand quicker than the whole donning and adjusting mess but you can't point that out to the wife.

Now I use @ $35 frameless from divers-supply that seems to be a pretty close second to the Atomic.

Re: mask on head...
Our Guanaja trip had several references to Hitler AOW video. One of the locals who helped on the boat went diving with us and while waiting for the ladder he had his mask resting on his forehead...I couldn't resist ask him in a German accent if he was in distress. He replied no and smiled. We couldn't help but go into the whole Hitler routine. "I was not in Distress!!!"

 

[ScubaBros]

Losing your mask from it being on a forehead is exactly why at our shop we have the "six pack rule." If a student places a mask on a forehead instead of around the neck they have two options. They can bring the shop a six pack of coors light in bottles, or the rest of the class will do laps while they watch and think about what they did wrong. After 3 offenses we just throw the mask across the pool and make them go get it with their buddy.

On our shop dive trips, no one has ever lost a mask! So the system works.

 

[tracydr]

I did have it on backwards so it wasn't showing distress at least.

Always out it around your neck. My ex-husband, who was a pretty poor diver for other reasons, lost his when we went to the Edmunds Water Park in Seattle. We drove 90 minutes each way, dealt with crazy parking,geared up and had swam quite a ways out against a current. Ready to submerge and the mask, that he had left on his head, was gone.
Needless to say, he was pretty ticked and so was I. I had wanted to dive the park for months and we never did get a chance to return.
One of these days, I'm going to WA and I will enjoy that dive, with my new dive buddy/husband.

---------- Post added September 7th, 2013 at 07:55 PM ----------

Who has ever for real seen a panicked diver put their mask on their forehead? Not read about it, but seem it. The whole concept seems ludicrous to me, if they are panicking surely they'd rip it off completely


Replied using Tapatalk. Please forgive my typing.

But still a great habit to drill new divers on. Otherwise, they'll lose their new mask.

---------- Post added September 7th, 2013 at 08:21 PM ----------

LOL.

Her little head and my big head don't work out for her mask to fit me or my mask to fit her without leaking like a sieve. I did make the offer and also made the offer to stay on the boat with her...

This is one reason that I always have a backup mask in my pocket. I'd be very upset to miss two dives because my mask got lost.
The second reason that I have a backup mask is because I have had it kicked or knocked off while diving. I've never lost it but can see how easy it could be.

 

[gcarter]

I really don't understand all of this.

In my OW, I was taught that when in the water my mask is on my face so that it won't be knocked off by a wave, so that if I slip and go under it is one less thing to worry about. Nothing about panic.

When I reach shore / climb aboard the boat, I push it up. Around my neck is uncomfortable, and I have no desire to "get used to it".

The whole MOF thing is a crock IMO. Instructors who are teaching this should be instead telling their students to just keep their masks on in the water.

 

[Peter69_56]

I really don't understand all of this.

In my OW, I was taught that when in the water my mask is on my face so that it won't be knocked off by a wave, so that if I slip and go under it is one less thing to worry about. Nothing about panic.

When I reach shore / climb aboard the boat, I push it up. Around my neck is uncomfortable, and I have no desire to "get used to it".

The whole MOF thing is a crock IMO. Instructors who are teaching this should be instead telling their students to just keep their masks on in the water.

The tendency is for new students to push the mask off their face and up onto their head. A natural reaction for many reasons. I think the point many instructors make is, if you are going to take it off your face (maybe due to fogging etc) then don't push it up onto your head, but keep it around your neck.

I do however like the idea of just keeping it on where possible and generally do that along with reg in until on the boat so if you fall back off etc you are more able to deal with it.

 

[gcarter]

The tendency is for new students to push the mask off their face and up onto their head. A natural reaction for many reasons. I think the point many instructors make is, if you are going to take it off your face (maybe due to fogging etc) then don't push it up onto your head, but keep it around your neck.

I do however like the idea of just keeping it on where possible and generally do that along with reg in until on the boat so if you fall back off etc you are more able to deal with it.

I would suggest that when an instructor tells a student it a panic signal, the instructor is giving the student bad information. My instrctor gave me factual information.

Taking out your reg is a panic signal too - except for all those times when it isn't.

I am not a fan of spreading FUD, particularly when it results from an instructor not understanding the importance of context - and making it an INTEGRAL part of the explanation - or from being too lazy to take the time to explain it properly, or from being too condescending to believe that their students are capable of understanding, or worst of all, from simply regurgitating what they were told to teach without ever having understood it themselves at all.

The only credible posts in this thread that advocate MOF as a panic signal, IMO, are the ones that also acknowledge that it is a panic signal when taken in the context of a number of other indicators while also acknowledging that in most cases it is indicitive of nothing other than the fact that the diver is more comfortable with the mask on their forehead than around their neck.