Mask Flooding Panic

[Riff Raff]

Hello all! Finished day one of my open water checkout dives at the lake today and did well (for a newbie... ) at all skills but one. I seem to have a mild panic attack almost every time I try to demonstrate the mask clearing skill (or my apparent lack thereof).

Basically what happens is that immediately after I flood the mask, for whatever reason, I suddenly feel like I'm unable to breathe despite the regulator firmly clamped in my mouth. I begin to instinctually panic a bit. The very first time I tried it in the pool (shallow end) it resulted in me standing up out of the water to fix it. The first time I tried it in the lake today, the instructor had to hold me down for a couple seconds on the platform to keep me from bolting to the surface. Not good at all, and it's the only thing that's really worried me about diving thus far.

Now every single time this has happened I have in fact been able to eventually get the mask cleared and calm down. But there's almost always that initial panic (in varying degrees) even though I know full well I'll be able to breathe through the regulator. The water suddenly flooding my nose makes me not want to breathe through my mouth for some reason. I've had to use the purge button on the regulator a couple of times in this situation to basically force air down my throat to help me recover. Once I start breathing through my mouth successfully, the actual clearing of the mask is no real problem.

Now if I repeat the skill more than once on the same day, the second time is usually not as bad. In fact in the last pool session we did I had issues doing it in the shallow end, but then was perfectly comfortable doing it in the deep end a few minutes later. Think that was actually the only time I've been able to do it completely comfortably oddly enough. And each time I panic it does seem to be a bit less strong (probably because I'm practically expecting it at this point). So I do have hope for overcoming this, but am rather worried in the meantime. Is there anything specific I should do to help with this, other than practice practice practice?

 

[gzscuba]

Hi Shawn,

Besides practicing more, have you tried breathing out using your nose when the mask floods? This helps some people when they do the "breathe without mask" pool test. While you hopefully won't have to execute too many full mask clears after being certified, it is a really important skill.

Can you comfortably breathe through a snorkle with not mask? You could practice that, too.
Best of luck,

 

[armyscuba]

Keep Practicing...Practice with Your Reg out..blowing bubblesYou will never escape Mask clearing as a Scuba Diver...regardless of emergency situation. Many times You will have to flood Your mask to De-Fog or remove excess water. Some days..I put My mask on and Go..Never touch it again until I come out of the water. Other Days....touch it once underwater..and You end up playing with it throughout the dive. Definately master that task underwater..Good Luck

 

[jbd]

Riff Raff,
Do a search for mask clearing threads and look for the post tha Walter makes. His post is long and he has posted it many times so it should be easy to find. Follow his instructions and you will more than likely overcome your sense of panic. I use his method in my class---it works like a charm.

 

[gehadoski]

I think I have nothing new to add. More practice and more diving will give you more experience about diving and this will enhance your skills, not only in mask clearing but also in bouyancy and many many other stuff.
my advise is DIVE DIVE DIVE more you dive more you gain.

 

[2DiveCrew]

Here is the link to Walter's post.

http://www.scubaboard.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=171

 

[garyfotodiver]

I also like Walter's method. Not everyone who dives is first comfortable in the water. This method could help those trainees overcome their apprehension.

 

[Riff Raff]

Ah that's a great thread, thank you very much. Also found this one eventually: http://www.scubaboard.com/t44592.html. At any rate I successfully completed day two of the checkout dives today with no problems, since mask flooding wasn't involved anywhere. So I'm now a certified open water diver despite those speed bumps... :11: Hopefully that'll take some stress off the situation, since it'll now be a personal challenge for me to get over this rather than feeling the pressure of having to demonstrate it during classes. I saw someone else mention that they habitually do a mask flood and clear five times before their first dive each day, just to remind themselves that they can do it. Sounds like a strategy I may have to adopt for the future.

 

[00scuba]

that was my biggest challenge as well..and my buddy had me in the pool...doing it over and over until it was comfortable.

Having my mask flood on some deeper dives ....i appreciate his willingness to make the point its something I need to feel good about doing.

I still practice...just to make sure i am OK with it. I was going to in the quarry today...but it ws 58 degrees..i said...umm...i think i'll pass today

 

[miketsp]

I had a look at the thread mentioned above and can confirm the utility of the snorkel as a training device. I was out snorkelling with my wife when she decided she wanted to try scuba. So I told her that most people have problems with losing their mask and told her about the exercise I used 35 years ago when I was taught to scuba & snorkel in rough conditions.
I took the clip off the snorkel and told her to just pull the mask off while snorkelling normally and continue swimming face in the water. She did this a few times until she was happy and then I got her to start putting the mask back and clearing it in sequence, just holding it against her face.
When she actually got into the pool for the first lesson and the instructor only indicated that she should let some water into the mask and clear it, she just removed the mask and regulator, recovered the regulator, replaced the mask and cleared it quite naturally much to the surprise of the instructor.