Mask removal and gas sharing practice

[danigediver]

Firstly hi all! I'm a long time lurker but first post.


My wife and I have been qualified now (AOW / Deep / Nitrox) for nearly 3 years and have around 150 dives each. We are both confident in the water, have pretty solid buoyancy / trim skills and are very conscientious with dive planning and gas monitoring. I think we are pretty safe divers but I'm increasingly aware that we really aren't prepared for emergencies as we haven't really practiced some basic skills since qualifying.


We will occasionally flood and clear our masks (eyes closed!) to fix fogging and have shared air just for the hell of it a couple of times but I can't be confident how either of us would really react if our mask was suddenly kicked off or in an emergency OOG situation. I think we could really benefit from some targeted, progressive practice in these areas and would appreciate comments on the following.


I'm proposing to practice these skills in perhaps 5-10m at the start of our dive when we haven't absorbed any nitrogen and where a CESA is feasible if anything went horribly wrong!


Mask removal:
Flood and clear mask while wearing it, with eyes closed.
Flood and clear mask while wearing it, with eyes open.
Remove, replace and clear mask with eyes closed.
Remove, replace and clear mask with eyes open.
Remove mask, swim a distance, replace and clear.
Practice controlled ascents with each of us in turn not wearing a mask.
Cope with sudden removal of mask by buddy when not expecting it? (harassment). Not sure about this one as it could have its dangers but as it actually reproduces the 'emergency' we are practising to cope with is clearly the ultimate practice.


Gas sharing:
Request and share gas while static.
Request and share gas while approached from left side while swimming.
Request and share gas while approached from right side while swimming.
Practice controlled ascents while sharing gas.
I don't propose any harassment with gas supply!!


Both:
Remove mask, request and share gas while static. Replace mask. Cease sharing.
Remove mask, request and share gas while swimming. Stop and replace mask. Cease sharing.
Remove mask, request and share gas while making controlled ascent to surface.


If we dedicate a couple of dives to just practising the above skills and then ensure we at least remove and replace masks each dive after I feel we could be fairly confident about coping with most emergency situations.


I'd really appreciate everyone's thoughts on these exercises and perhaps any other recommended exercises? Also, advice on how many practice ascents to the surface we could safely do from this depth on the one dive.

P.S. I'm planning on doing Rescue sometime this year also.

 

[rivers]

I've done the air share maskless ascent with a friend of mine. If you're comfortable without a mask on, it's not bad. But, you do need to remain in touch contact the entire ascent with the person who can see leading the ascent.
If I'm quarry bashing, I will always do some sort of skill at some point in the dive, not so much in the sea though (sea dives can be few and far between, quarry dives are most weeks).
But I would throw random out of air's at each other throughout the dive, plus practice things like dsmb deployment as well. Do you guys carry a back-up mask? if so, practice switching to your back-up mask and primary mask, etc.

 

[Searcaigh]

Question to OP, do you think you would keep your eyes closed if you lost your mask in a real emergency?

On a recent course I had a no air maskless swim for 15M to my buddy then a 75M maskless swim sharing air on long hose, it is amazing how quickly you adapt to water in your eyes and of course you need to have your eyes open to find your buddy.

 

[danigediver]

Seacaigh, as we both wear contact lenses, that was the reason (excuse?) for doing our original mask off exercises with eyes closed. Of course I recognise we need to be comfortable maskless with eyes opened. When we have swum in the ocean we either wear goggles or keep our eyes shut, hence the need for graduated, staged exercises to get us to the point where we are comfortable with eyes open.

 

[Colliam7]

If we dedicate a couple of dives to just practising the above skills and then ensure we at least remove and replace masks each dive after I feel we could be fairly confident about coping with most emergency situations.

I'd really appreciate everyone's thoughts on these exercises and perhaps any other recommended exercises? Also, advice on how many practice ascents to the surface we could safely do from this depth on the one dive.

KUDOS TO YOU AND YOUR WIFE planning to actively practice no mask skills! I believe that no mask breathing and u/w swimming are practiced too infrequently (if at all) after certification, except where required for a subsequent course (e.g. tec, Self-Reliant Diver, etc.). Those activities really do emphasize effective breathing control, and can only benefit a diver. As you might perceive, it is one of my 'hot buttons' as an Instructor and I have OW students begin breathing u/w with their mask off on the first night in the pool, snorkeling at the surface with their face in the water, then breathing from their regulator at the surface, without their mask, in both cases starting with static activity, then swimming.

As for additions, I would extend the no mask swimming exercise, not unlike what Searcaigh mentioned. The contacts issue will have to be addressed, as the benefit will be enhanced if you can conduct longer u/w swims (so you are practicing under conditions of some exertion), and with your eyes open to have some sense of where you are going - by any chance do the two of you also have masks with corrective inserts? Swimming for an extended period of time, over distance, would be useful. It is also useful to practice in cold water, if possible. That was one of the biggest hurdles I had to overcome in tec training, in fact. I could breath and swim u/w without a mask for a long time, in warm pool water. But, the first time I did an air share exercise in dark, COLD quarry water, it was a challenge. (I could say it was an eye opener, but that would probably be a bad pun.) Now, I will periodically drop to the 90ft platform (where the water temps are seldom above 45 degrees) in our local quarry, and take my mask off and breath for several minutes, just to keep in practice. After I get 'comfortable', I then swim around the platform for a few minutes. In reality, it is not ever comfortable for my eyes, but important for me to be sure I can do it if I have to.

 

[danigediver]

Thanks Colliam7, it's not that either of us lack confidence in the water, it's just that I fear it is a false confidence based on never having had to face an 'emergency' situation and we really should be preparing ourselves for the possibility (eventuality?!).

I've read a bit about opening eyes with contacts and a number of posts suggest the lenses are very unlikely to be lost. Neither of us have corrective masks and as we use disposable lenses anyway, we will just take some spares and give it a go. Although we are both pretty short-sighted, it's not as if we are blind without correction so if we lose lenses, we will just do a few practice shore dives without our lenses and although everything will be pretty blurry I'm sure it will be quite safe.

---------- Post added July 6th, 2014 at 12:42 AM ----------

Rivers, as we are just basic Rec divers, we don't carry spare masks. It's hard to see the necessity for standard open water dives and I think we are best just practicing being comfortable without masks. As long as we are confident in coping until we recover a mask or in the worst case complete a safe maskless ascent to surface with assistance from our buddy, I think that is sufficient. I'm more than happy to hear arguments for carrying a spare however!

---------- Post added July 6th, 2014 at 12:56 AM ----------

Colliam, as we are currently living in Malaysia and spending our time diving around Asia, finding cold water might be a bit of a problem ATM lol!

 

[Searcaigh]

Seacaigh, as we both wear contact lenses, that was the reason (excuse?) for doing our original mask off exercises with eyes closed. Of course I recognise we need to be comfortable maskless with eyes opened. When we have swum in the ocean we either wear goggles or keep our eyes shut, hence the need for graduated, staged exercises to get us to the point where we are comfortable with eyes open.

Contacts make this exercise challenging, however as Colliam mentions masks with prescription lenses should be looked at. Personally I am looking at fitting bifocal lenses to mine now as I find it difficult to read small font on my dive computer.

Spare mask is something I usually only carry on solo dives but having a decent side pocket that can accommodate a spare mask I prefer taking it with me than leaving in my dive bag on the boat. You can always have one spare mask between the two of you.

 

[beanojones]

Just a couple of thoughts:

It's one thing to say remove mask and request gas when you are dry, but that works a little different when you are wet, without a mask and out of air, and cannot see your buddy and/or they cannot see you (no mask, remember). A backup mask makes all such "how do I do that wihout a mask" problems disappear.

Always remember pinch your nose to solve water in the nose problems, mask on or off. First program that self rescue technique and then you guys can spend every dive randomly pulling each other's mask off all through out the dive.

 

[Edward3c]

To the O0.

I wish more people would think about the last time they practised rescue skills. Particularly instructors, whom might demonstrate each stage of a rescue, but not the whole thing.


As you normally dive with lenses in, than that's how you should practise, an incident isn't going to wait until your diving without lenses.

 

[ve]

danigediver, I have dived with contact lenses for 15 years and find it pretty easy to adjust to no mask with eyes open.
As another poster said, it does not take long to get used to opening your eyes underwater, and once you do there is no crisis, just the discomfort of saltwater in your eyes.

I actually think contact lenses lessen the impact, as they provide a protective barrier for your eyes.

I now only wear one contact lens (I recently went blind in the other eye, so no need) which gives me a point of comparison, and find the "lens protected" eye is more comfortable with the mask off
(like when chopping onions, the lens protected eye is ok, while the naked eye burns and streams tears).

I wear monthly disposables and when their time is up I keep them for "diving spares" - but I have never had a lens drop out while diving, or sea swimming, which I also do with eyes open.

I dived maskless (a little) in the red sea a few days ago, no problem, easily rectified on my own (broken strap clip) and continued dive.

Whilst getting used to being maskless, perhaps try covering one eye at a time, or "winking" one eye closed so that only one eye has to acclimatise to the saltwater at a time?
I tend to close my blind eye (I also see better with the blind eye closed, it disrupts my good eye when open) and the good eye is protected by the contact lens making the saltwater impact gentler.

The main mask/eye issue I see happen is sun protection or other stinging face products getting in the eye when a mask floods or is lost - a few weeks ago we almost had to abort a dive when a buddy did this.
To make it worse it was a prescription mask, so she did not have her contact lenses in to (1) protect her eyes from that stinging sun protection product and (2) allow her to see maskless in order to deal with the problem.
I don't think saltwater was much of the problem, it was the stinging eyes and lack of vision correction.

Your plans make a lot of sense - preparing for these "emergencies" in advance will make you comfortable and ready to cope fine should they happen for real.