Mask on forehead = diver in distress?

[Thalassamania]

As a "diving rule"... yep... yer' right. It doesn't, however, lessen any validity that MOF *may* be an indicator and one should take a second look.

Yes, but after the hundredth time of checking for no reason, one stops to take it seriously, you know the boy who cried wolf thing.

"... we can *no longer* say that" is a problem phrase for me... It implies that we were once able to... I would argue that we have NEVER been able say that.

Let me limit it then to what I can be absolutely sure of: There was a time (up to say the mid 1970s) that on the California coast from Moro Bay north to the Oregon border, that if you saw a diver in the water with their mask on their forehead they were either in trouble or were a tourist (which meant they were likely in trouble anyway<G>).

Please don&#8217;t think of MOF as a SIGNAL. It never was used as a SIGNAL, as in, &#8220;I think I&#8217;m in trouble &#8230; hmmm &#8230; maybe I better go MOF so that I can get help!&#8221; Rather it was recognized as an indicator, an instinctive action of a diver who was in, or who might soon be in, trouble.

Divers who are in trouble and are &#8220;in control&#8221; have many ways to signal that they were (and continue to be) taught, the entire point was that if MOF was unacceptable behavior in a diver who was &#8220;under control,&#8221; then &#8230; since it is an instinctive move, it was useful as an indicator.

It has become a bone of contention because of the aggressive and deprecating way in which it was a taught, &#8220;real diver&#8217;s don&#8217;t do that,&#8221; or &#8220;you don&#8217;t look like a diver with your mask on your forehead,&#8221; etc., etc., etc. So many real divers, good divers, competent divers, accomplished divers, who were not part of the compact, took umbrage and invented DIR just to show us left-coasters how it feels (See I can treat it with some levity &#8230; now where is Waldo anyway?). My real concern with levity, as respects this issue, is just that the conversation (at least as I&#8217;ve observed it) seems to have lost content, even from folks who I respect and usually pay close attention to (sort of like they've all got their computer masks on their foreheads).

 

[Scubamouse911]

I was taught that in our cold waters with the high tides & currents we have that divers are not to put their masks on their foreheads because the waves have been known to quickly take it off the diver's head and with 6' - 10' (20' on a good day) visibility....it makes retreiving the mask very difficult....if not impossible....

 

[lamont]

I was taught that in our cold waters with the high tides & currents we have that divers are not to put their masks on their foreheads because the waves have been known to quickly take it off the diver's head and with 6' - 10' (20' on a good day) visibility....it makes retreiving the mask very difficult....if not impossible....

That is a personal choice, and not really a safety issue, particularly not if you carry a backup mask, and you keep your mask on your face if you are in rough seas.

In puget sound we've got ripping currents and crappy viz, but I do MOF all the time if the surface conditions allow it...

 

[JamesD]

What a fun load of posts.

My quick two cents (as a PADI certified Diver)

During my PADI (yes, I said the evil word) training, our instructor mentioned that MOF CAN (please note CAN) be taken as a sign of distress.

My instructor also said (after we got certified) that we are now certified divers, and it's upto US to dive HOW we want, WHERE we want, with WHO we want.

There are no "Scuba Police" no-one is going to come and check your C-Card to make sure you have done AOW if you want to go below what, 60' I think is the "technical" OW limit, if you are shore diving no-one is going to make sure that you came back to shore with at least 500 PSI left in the tank, or that you spent 3 minutes at 15', or that you started at the deepest point of your dive and then went shallower (which is another PADI recommended thing).

I don't generally do MOF because I've seen a few divers lose there mask, and while I do have a spare I generally don't take it with me so don't really want to lose my mask. It doesn't interfere with other equipment when it's around my neck, so I'm okay with it there. When I'm cavern diving with a bungied regulator around my neck I don't take my mask off. However all these are MY choices, the only real thing about MOF is make sure that if a boat tells you they view that as a sign of distress, don't be surprised if you get rescued when you come up from the dive and do MOF.

 

[Diesel298]

i didnjt read one single post here..
i just say mask on forehead and was like what the...
this topic will just never stop showing up here huh hahahahah
its kinda funny

 

[Walter]

That is a personal choice, and not really a safety issue, particularly not if you carry a backup mask, and you keep your mask on your face if you are in rough seas.

In puget sound we've got ripping currents and crappy viz, but I do MOF all the time if the surface conditions allow it...

Actually, rough seas will rip a mask off your face as well. I know, it happened to me. In rough seas, my mask goes on as I begin my descent.

 

[HowardE]

If people are going to be serious here... I'll throw in my real 2¢... in the PADI book, it says nothing about MOF... what it DOES say is that a diver in distress MAY reject his/her gear so really... a distressed diver isn't going to surface, and then get technical about where to position his/her mask on their forehead so that it appears correctly in the MOFer position, so someone would know they were distressed. More likely, a distressed diver would fling their mask off entirely and thrash frantically in the water.

 

[Nemrod]

Mislav wrote:

"@Nemrod: LOL! Got you there, haven't I? "

Mislav, your killing me--lol!! Now we are in big trouble, not only do we go MOF but they are trying to tell us it is MOFH, where does it end? We just cannot get it right.

It is all a nice fuss to start the off season. Sitting here by the fire, dreaming off friends in far away places like Croatia who have taken up the MOF(H) cause. Thank you for your support!

Some did not learn to dive from an alphabet agency, we watched Sea Hunt. We studied it and disected it with the same fervor that Trekies do the Star Treks. The scuba "lessons" that my moma gave me for a birthday present along with the gear where just an opportunity to place into action that which had already been learned from Uncle Mike. MOFH, for your honor, Mike Nelson, because you were there for us long before the alphabet agencies. Thank you.

Ronald Reagan, Johnny Cash, Sky King, Captain Kirk and Mike Nelson, I bet they all would have been MOF(H)ers. N

 

[Walter]

Mike Nelson was.

 

[fasorud]

Hey Dich, you may wish to double check the spelling of your screen name.

Ok this is definitely one of the funniest posts I have read here so far....good one

Back to the subject though, another reason why a panicked diver will place the mask on their forehead is because it makes them clauesterphobic. Having the mask on makes them still believe they are underwater.