davidpfitz
Registered
Are you crazy! Mask on the forehead is just asking for trouble ... (a) someone things you're distressed, but more importantly (b) you're looking for a wave to come and whisk it away clean off.
Mask on Forehead reliable distress signal?
- Thread starter ozziworld
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Are you crazy! Mask on the forehead is just asking for trouble ... (a) someone things you're distressed, but more importantly (b) you're looking for a wave to come and whisk it away clean off.
Zieg
Contributor
Hmmm, I've been looking for that wave for over 40 years, still haven't found it. Oh well, guess I'll just keep looking.
It's not so much a conscious "signal" as a sign based on basic human behavior. Watch enough open water classes and you don't need anyone to explain the concept of equipment rejection. Stress manifests itself as a compulsion to clear the face once on the surface, and the quickest, easiest, and most unconscious way to do that is shove the mask up. The more calm and comfortable someone is, the more likely they are to leave the mask on their face.
Over time, as enough this became common knowledge, people were told to ape this behavior to signal distress. It made some sense - someone with experience to help was likely to pick up on it, but it's misleading, because the behavior is most meaningful when it's not conscious. A mask on the head is not nearly as useful in knowing if there's a problem as having witnesses HOW it got there - was it a calm, conscious action after getting situated on the surface, or a reflexive rejection immediately upon surfacing?
davidpfitz
Registered
Zieg:
Damn, and a couple of years ago I found the one that took my mask when it was on my face, not on my forehead. It was in the surf zone, not while diving from a boat.
I don't believe it was ever taught as a single sign of distress by any responsible agency--at least I have never seen any evidence that it was.
I believe this is an example of something I once called a "reduction funnel" in education theory. An original concept is conceived and explained in detail to someone who picks up a percentage of it. That person then explains a percentage of the percentage he or she understood to someone who in turns understands a percentage. This continues until the original explanation has been reduced to a slogan that inaccurately represents a fragment of the original thought. The bad thing about slogans is tht they tend to become a substitute for thought.
All the official instruction I have seen, some of which has been quoted in this thread, describes a variety of possible signs of distress in a diver, one of which is equipment rejection. A distressed diver may possibly shove a mask off the face, in which case it will be part of a set of signs of distress.
That concept gets reduced to a slogan: "MOF is a sign of distress."
Equipment rejection as a part of a set of other signs is a lot different from calmly placing a mask on the forehead at the beginning or end of the dive.
MOF is not a *sign of distress*... but is a clear indicator that there is... or soon will be, a problem. It goes like this:
Diver 'A' comes to the surface and in their best "Mike Nelson" manner puts their mask on their forehead to relax a bit. Diver 'B'... (hereinafter known as "The Zealot") looks over at them and makes a snarky comment along the lines of "Excuse me... are you in DISTRESS??" (Please note... "The Zealot" apparently is unable to make a determination of the Diver "A's" safety situation by any other evaluative process other than observing that Diver "A" has their mask on their forehead or by asking a direct question.)
At this point, Diver "A" generally says something equally snarky like, "What????"
"The Zealot" then generally repeats their enquiry while cleverly pointing to their own foreheads in order to give Diver "A" a clue as to why the heck they're actually pursuing this rather ordered line of enquiry.
Diver "A" then generally says something cleaver like, "Does it LOOK like I'm in friggin' distress?"
... at this point one of two things occur... either an open water fist fight breaks out (which, while being a really GOOD indicator of distress, is incredibly entertaining)... or Diver "A" figures "The Zealot" is a zealot and proceeds to ignore them to the greatest extent possible... thereby decreasing group awareness on the dive an possibly raising the overall stress and risk level to the group in general...
Voila'... see, its' easy to understand.
... but on a more serious side... rock on Boulderjohn... I'm with ya' all the way... now if we can just get everybody else to stop applying for the role of 'the zealot'...
... oh... and one last point... In My Opinion... whether one goes MOF or not is NOT a high risk factor aspect of diving. Losing a mask is not the end of the world (although it might be the end of your dive)... If more divers were as obcessive about other safety issues, buddy checks and good practices as they are about whether one should or shouldn't wear the mask on the forehead we'd probably all be a lot safer...
... my two psi
Diver 'A' comes to the surface and in their best "Mike Nelson" manner puts their mask on their forehead to relax a bit. Diver 'B'... (hereinafter known as "The Zealot") looks over at them and makes a snarky comment along the lines of "Excuse me... are you in DISTRESS??" (Please note... "The Zealot" apparently is unable to make a determination of the Diver "A's" safety situation by any other evaluative process other than observing that Diver "A" has their mask on their forehead or by asking a direct question.)
At this point, Diver "A" generally says something equally snarky like, "What????"
"The Zealot" then generally repeats their enquiry while cleverly pointing to their own foreheads in order to give Diver "A" a clue as to why the heck they're actually pursuing this rather ordered line of enquiry.
Diver "A" then generally says something cleaver like, "Does it LOOK like I'm in friggin' distress?"
... at this point one of two things occur... either an open water fist fight breaks out (which, while being a really GOOD indicator of distress, is incredibly entertaining)... or Diver "A" figures "The Zealot" is a zealot and proceeds to ignore them to the greatest extent possible... thereby decreasing group awareness on the dive an possibly raising the overall stress and risk level to the group in general...
Voila'... see, its' easy to understand.
... but on a more serious side... rock on Boulderjohn... I'm with ya' all the way... now if we can just get everybody else to stop applying for the role of 'the zealot'...
... oh... and one last point... In My Opinion... whether one goes MOF or not is NOT a high risk factor aspect of diving. Losing a mask is not the end of the world (although it might be the end of your dive)... If more divers were as obcessive about other safety issues, buddy checks and good practices as they are about whether one should or shouldn't wear the mask on the forehead we'd probably all be a lot safer...
... my two psi
Ana
.
Wow... I didn't realize you were on that dive with Walter and I, about 7 years ago.
It went pretty much as you described it.
I was totally horizontal on the surface, fins crossed protruding way above the surface, arms crossed resting on stomach and yes... MOF . Walter, another diver and I were commenting about the great dive we just had, while waiting for the boat that was picking up another group, way out there.
Between us and the boat there was 2 or 3 divers waiting for the same boat. Said "Zealot" (one of those 2 or 3 people waiting)gave me the text book firm voice "ARE YOU IN DISTRESS", and sure enough my responses were exactly what you described.
"The Zealot" then went on to say that they were on the surface before us, and how dare I pretend to be in distress to be picked up first, when they should board the boat before us. I should've drown his behind, or at least get a few fists in his mouth. I don't remember the exact choice of words I used to end the conversation.
Your post was quite a flash back to that dive for me.... thanks for the memories.
thats funny
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