Equipment Near Drowning off Ft Lauderdale, full face snorkel mask

[lowwall]

And now looking back at her actions and reactions, good chance she was experiencing hypercapnia and/or hypoxaemia.

That would be my second concern (after making sure there wasn't water in the mask), so I would have tried pretty hard to get the mask off of her. But I was also a lifeguard and I know it's not easy to get cooperation when you have someone on the edge of panic.

 

[jadairiii]

But I was also a lifeguard and I know it's not easy to get cooperation when you have someone on the edge of panic.

Correct. I could tell, being 100 yards off shore, this could turn ugly, and she was responding so, get her to the beach. If I had had a cutting tool, that would have been off in 2 seconds, no argument!

 

[johndiver999]

Correct. I could tell, being 100 yards off shore, this could turn ugly, and she was responding so, get her to the beach. If I had had a cutting tool, that would have been off in 2 seconds, no argument!

Great job on the rescue. If she declined to voluntarily remove the mask, I would not take it off her unless I had no option.

I tried one of those mask to see how they feel. It was amazingly horrible and I was super claustrophobic. Learning to use a normal mask and snorkel sure seems easier to me.

 

[Subfiend]

In early 2018, HEAD/MARES tested the safety of a variety of full face snorkel masks (“FFSMs”), and these tests concluded that very few FFSMs on the market were safe. The company made the results of this testing available to both the Hawaii authorities investigating the matter and to the public. Since then, HEAD/MARES has performed further testing on FFSMs in cooperation with a German diving magazine and an independent lab in the United States, Divelab, Inc. Divelab’s independent testing on its own equipment verified the test results obtained by HEAD/MARES. HEAD/MARES provided this information to the Hawaii authorities and it offered to assist them with further testing and study of the issues surrounding these masks.

The attached statement was provided to Hawaii authorities conducting a study to determine the cause of snorkeling deaths in the state (the highest in the U.S.) and to the media.

 

[John the Pom]

I'm going to copy the parts of the following posts related to FFMs for those who didn't last to page 7 of this thread: ROPE - I have not heard of this snorkeling problem

by @Dr Simon Mitchell
...Full face snorkel masks have been raised in this thread several times. You may be interested in a study we recently published exploring their propensity for generating hypoxia or hypercapnia in comparison to a normal snorkel. See attached or https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10735670/pdf/DHM-53-313.pdf ...

[snip]

... IMO, these full face masks are dangerous and defective when used for their intended purpose.

The paper from Diving and Hyperbaric Medicine is a really important link - I'm going to share it as widely as I can. IMO it is a potential life-saver.

J

 

[John C. Ratliff]

I feel like these masks give people a false sense of safety - after all, your entire face is completely protected from the water. And the one way valves protect against water entry. Great, I'm completely protected. So people uncomfortable with water prefer these over traditional snorkels,

I've heard people discuss traditional snorkels and masks as something they need to learn to use, whereas they think FFSMs are easy to use -- you just put them on and breath normally - no problem.

And all of the problems with FFSMs mentioned in this thread are not immediately evident.

And, that’s the problem. You cannot “breath normally” in a full-face snorkel mask; you must breath deeply. You need to get outside air into the mask, and to “breath normally” simply won’t do that.

SeaRat

 

[Ubu]

You wont see this in the paper. I went out Monday morning, early, for a 2 mile ocean swim. the ocean was flat calm. At the very end of my swim I came across a woman in distress, on the verge of downing, with a mask on. A full face snorkel mask (the one pictured from Walmart, she told me she bought it there). These masks have been involved in other drownings. They can fill with water, are hard to remove, possibly have CO2 retention issues, and can create a panic situation in untrained swimmers.

My rescue was just that, young woman had drifted quite a way from shore, beyond the vessel exclusion buoys, about 150 yards from shore (give or take) she was wearing the mask/snorkel, full suit rash guard and a life vest like one would see on skiers or small boats (not a dive vest), no fins. She was exhibiting the "standard" exhaustion/drowning attributes, oddly calm and quiet. I approached her, told her she shouldnt be outside the buoys and knew instantly she was in distress. I tried to get her to take the mask off but I could tell that was causing more stress, worse, that mask was not easy to get off quickly. So I told her I would swim her in, and continued to talk with her to make sure that she could breath, during that period she relayed to me that she did get water in the mask and had issues getting it clear, but I could tell it was clear and I continued to speak with her to verify no water was in the mask. She was borderline incoherent when I first got to her, but as we got closer to shore, and she was not expanding any energy swimming, she was more coherent. I got her to the beach, got the mask off, she couldnt stand up, as I was assessing my next option, an off duty life guard came swimming up (who was also just doing a morning swim). He then took over, he went to the nearest tower while I helped her to the get there, she could not walk on her own. He got her on oxygen and had a bystander call 911. All's well that ends well. This 26 year old woman was very lucky this weekend.

Since was was just doing a ocean swim I had no cutting device, had I, I would have immediately cut the straps. But as stated, as I attempted to get the mask off I could see it was causing more distress than just leaving it be.

And I relay this story to warn others, its not about me, I've had lifeguard training, first aid training, its not my first water rescue, and it was nothing to swim her in. I'm just glad I was there.

If you have one of these masks throw it in the trash. If you are at a resort, DO NOT USE IT. Be safe out there.

I’m not sure if this is discussed elsewhere, but recently A COUPLE and an unborn child died snorkeling off Makena on Maui using those masks. It’s so sad, young, healthy people celebrating the pregnancy.

 

[Ubu]

The paper from Diving and Hyperbaric Medicine is a really important link - I'm going to share it as widely as I can. IMO it is a potential life-saver.

J

Absolutely, I just posted about a young couple snorkeling off Makena on Maui who recently died wearing these masks.