Mask Clearing tip

[jtpwils]

I'm new and was practicing clearing my mask in the local pool before my OW class.

During my earlier discover scuba class it went easily - but I only did it once. Doing it over and over in the pool again I had some good and some not-as-good experiences. I'm posting a couple tips that I found for both helping in mask clearing and in not freaking when it doesn't go great.

The teaching method I remember reading here and was told in a discover scuba class is this: look up, press the top of the mask and breath out from your nose. It may just be me but I found that it helped me to change the order a bit and do this: press the top of the mask, breath out my nose, and look up. It's a small change but I found that the order makes all the difference in the world to me.

Looking up without breathing out of my nose allows a bubble of air to come out of my nostrils and be replaced by water. I think this is what causes the commonly reported feeling of "water went up my nose and I felt like I was drowning". I believe that water going in and moving the nose hairs is just like the internal ear hairs, but instead of telling me how I'm moving, they're telling me not to keep breathing in and aspirate the water. This happens even if the water wouldn't be enough to actually choke me. To get past the "fright" feeling I found that taking a second to swallow, even if I'm not actually swallowing water helped a lot. I think it just lets my mind realize that I've got proper control over my epiglotis.

I practiced mask clearing using both sequences many times. Doing it so water went up my nose a bit helped me to recognize the feeling and realize that it was just the water going up a little bit and initiating the reaction noted above. That familiarity and the simple quick swallow gave me the confidence to be able to clear my mask easily even if I didn't get the timing just right.

Now I just need to practice it more so that I'm not using such a full breath to do it.

 

[Peter Guy]

I've just got to ask -- were you shown/taught how to clear your mask while on your knees? If so, then the "look up" part may well have caused you to bend over backwards which would put your nose as the exit point for any water -- which is why it went down your nose when you blew out.

In my experience, limited though it may be, the best attitude for clearing your mask is being more-or-less horizontal -- just like you are supposed to be when diving. Guess what, if you look up then, your bottom mask skirt is the lowest point and the water just flows out.

But heck, what do I know!

 

[jtpwils]

In the DSD course I was on my knees and there I had no problem at all. When I was practicing it myself I was standing bent legged in a pool and holding myself under using a hand on the edge. There was no point where water went out my nose, or even far enough up my nose that it made it into my mouth - like milk in the cafeteria LOL.

 

[BLUESEASONBALI]

jtp,

Here at blue season bali we have many many many open water courses and DSD's in which this particular skill is key and repeated many times until our students have mastered it! In my experience as being an instructor it is without doubt the one skill that most students have problems with, purely because of the uncomfortable feeling that water around that nose causes!

 

[DevonDiver]

Practice clearing your mask by snorting the water out of it through your nose. Once you master that, you will never have a problem using the conventional 'blowing' method again.

It's all about comfort zones.....


(JOKE JOKE JOKE)

 

[RJP]

I think a great many people have trouble with this because they ASSUME they are trying to blow the water out of their mask. The instructor never tells them to do this, but neither does the instructor tell them what they ARE trying to do. They simply tell them "blow air out your nose to clear the mask."



Accordingly the student takes too large a breath, pulls the mask away from their face, and blows too hard. The result is water up the nose and all of the air being blown out the bottom of the mask.

I've found that when I tell students that they are going to "slowly fill the mask with air" in order to clear it they better understand the mechanics of the skill. They don't take too large a breath, they don't pull the mask away from their face, and they don't blow the air out the bottom of the mask. I've literally never had a student who didn't nail the skill after I've explained it to them this way.

 

[Garrobo]

Get a mask with a purge button and your problems are over.

 

[RJP]

Get a mask with a purge button and your problems are over.

I've seen them with purge VALVES, but never with a purge BUTTON!

 

[boulderjohn]

The teaching method I remember reading here and was told in a discover scuba class is this: look up, press the top of the mask and breath out from your nose. It may just be me but I found that it helped me to change the order a bit and do this: press the top of the mask, breath out my nose, and look up. It's a small change but I found that the order makes all the difference in the world to me.

Maybe you misremembered or misread. The sequence you prefer is what everyone I know teaches.

As Peter suggests, practicing while on the knees is potentially a part of the problem. That is not (or should not) be how you will do it on an actual dive. If you are on your knees, the looking up part is really not all that necessary. If you are in a normal horizontal diving posture, it is necessary.

 

[dhammer]

I've seen them with purge VALVES, but never with a purge BUTTON!

I LOVE masks with purge valves, except for one thing:
The valve at the end of the nose piece makes it more difficult to grip my nose to equalize my ears.