I have read so many threads on this board about students having trouble with the mask flood/clear and remove/replace that I just had to write and say thank-you to all the posters for making me realize how important this skill is and helping me master it.:kiss2:
I had huge difficulty with this when I did my OW and barely managed to pass it after numerous classes and even a 1:1 class with a private instructor. When I first tried it I would panic/choke/practically drown and then surface, coughing and spluttering. I thought I was the stupidest student ever and was in tears over it and thinking of quitting.
After the 1:1 class with a VERY patient instructor who had some tips and tricks, I managed to do it well enough to pass my OW, but I was still nervous about it.
Then AFTER I had already passed my OW, I started reading ScubaBoard and all the many posts from other students who had trouble with this skill. I felt better knowing I was not alone. There are tons of suggestions in these threads that I wish I had read sooner; they would have helped me.
However, I also read some other posts that drove the point home to me about how important this skill is - it's not just something to "pass" or do "good enough" to get your OW. I read posts about people who had their mask kicked off by someone's fin at 80 feet, or straps breaking, or even a lens popping out at depth.:shocked2: That scared me into wanting better mastery of this skill than I felt I had.
I did a pool dive last night for my Nitrox cert but used most of the dive to review my mask skills. I tried to duplicate many of the situations I had read about on SB, and I realized the posters were right. When your mask comes off, you cannot see a thing! It is like diving in pea soup. There is no way you are going to be able to find your mask once it has floated more then a foot or so away from you. One of two things is going to happen - either your buddy will grab it and hand it to you (which emphasizes the importance of staying within arm's length of and keeping a close eye on your buddy), or you will have to surface without it. In the latter case, you are surfacing blind - I tried last night but could not read my gauges AT ALL - meaning you would have to hang on to your buddy and surface with him while breathing with no mask.
So I practiced for the whole hour last evening, entering the pool with no mask, swimming all the way down to the bottom, then putting it on and clearing it. (I tried dropping it into the pool and then swimming down to get it, but before I even got to the bottom, another student had grabbed it and held it out to me
). I found it a little tricky descending with no mask because I still had to clear my ears at the same time as no-mask swim. Then at the bottom I removed it again and surfaced without wearing it (tricky ascending with no visual reference but we were only in a pool, so rate didn't really matter for the exercise).
I did this so many times that today my eyes are still burning from the chlorine, but I feel SO much better about my confidence and skill level.
Sorry this post is so long, but I just want to encourage everyone else who is having trouble to keep at it and realize the importance of learning this skill not just to the minimum standards but to a level at which you would feel safe in a real emergency situation.
I am heading to Cozumel for 2 weeks this winter and will feel much safer now. I plan to still do another complete skills review in the pool with an instructor before I go, and you can bet I will practice this again.
I had huge difficulty with this when I did my OW and barely managed to pass it after numerous classes and even a 1:1 class with a private instructor. When I first tried it I would panic/choke/practically drown and then surface, coughing and spluttering. I thought I was the stupidest student ever and was in tears over it and thinking of quitting.
After the 1:1 class with a VERY patient instructor who had some tips and tricks, I managed to do it well enough to pass my OW, but I was still nervous about it.Then AFTER I had already passed my OW, I started reading ScubaBoard and all the many posts from other students who had trouble with this skill. I felt better knowing I was not alone. There are tons of suggestions in these threads that I wish I had read sooner; they would have helped me.
However, I also read some other posts that drove the point home to me about how important this skill is - it's not just something to "pass" or do "good enough" to get your OW. I read posts about people who had their mask kicked off by someone's fin at 80 feet, or straps breaking, or even a lens popping out at depth.:shocked2: That scared me into wanting better mastery of this skill than I felt I had.
I did a pool dive last night for my Nitrox cert but used most of the dive to review my mask skills. I tried to duplicate many of the situations I had read about on SB, and I realized the posters were right. When your mask comes off, you cannot see a thing! It is like diving in pea soup. There is no way you are going to be able to find your mask once it has floated more then a foot or so away from you. One of two things is going to happen - either your buddy will grab it and hand it to you (which emphasizes the importance of staying within arm's length of and keeping a close eye on your buddy), or you will have to surface without it. In the latter case, you are surfacing blind - I tried last night but could not read my gauges AT ALL - meaning you would have to hang on to your buddy and surface with him while breathing with no mask.
So I practiced for the whole hour last evening, entering the pool with no mask, swimming all the way down to the bottom, then putting it on and clearing it. (I tried dropping it into the pool and then swimming down to get it, but before I even got to the bottom, another student had grabbed it and held it out to me
). I found it a little tricky descending with no mask because I still had to clear my ears at the same time as no-mask swim. Then at the bottom I removed it again and surfaced without wearing it (tricky ascending with no visual reference but we were only in a pool, so rate didn't really matter for the exercise).I did this so many times that today my eyes are still burning from the chlorine, but I feel SO much better about my confidence and skill level.
Sorry this post is so long, but I just want to encourage everyone else who is having trouble to keep at it and realize the importance of learning this skill not just to the minimum standards but to a level at which you would feel safe in a real emergency situation.I am heading to Cozumel for 2 weeks this winter and will feel much safer now. I plan to still do another complete skills review in the pool with an instructor before I go, and you can bet I will practice this again.
