Open Water Skill Trouble

[nueOWdivr4]

Okay so I'm going into my third pool session for my OW cert and had a little bit of trouble with one of the skills in the 2nd session. The troublesome skill was breathing through the regulator with my mask removed. I managed to do it on the third try but it was extremely difficult to keep the water from going up my nose. On the third try I had to scrunch up my nose to prevent water entering, is there any secret technique for doing this skill easily?

 

[sixgears]

No secret to it, just practice. I'm in roughly the same class as you and for some people it's not an issue. Remember we are mammals and it's a natural way to breathe for us. Just be conscious of it and when you feel water coming into your nostrils, exhale thru your nostrils.

Good luck.

 

[TSandM]

One tip: If you are sitting or kneeling, tilting your head back will easily allow water to flow through your nose into the back of your throat. In the upright position, looking slightly downward is a better choice. (It's when you are swimming along in a horizontal position that you may need to tilt your head back to clear your mask.)

THIS post describes a procedure for becoming comfortable with no-mask breathing. Don't feel bad; this is one of the most common issues for new divers, right up with problems clearing their ears.

 

[parrothead725]

think about it like this - you dont breath through your nose when you have your mask on either, just make sure to be conscious of this and dont change your breathing pattern when you take the mask off. i think its more mental than anything else because when you take the mask off its like putting binders on, so your body reacts by trying to get more O2 and breathes through the nose.

my advice would be just to do it slowly and consciously - good luck!

 

[nueOWdivr4]

yeah it is really mental, when i focused on just breathing through my mouth and forced myself to stop letting water in my nose i got it

 

[malvarez2]

To take that one step further, concentrate on breathing out through your nose and in through your mouth. That way, any water in your nose gets cleared on each breath.

 

[jenlaur]

This was the single skill that made me want to quit. I practiced and stressed over this dreaded skill. What did it in the end for me was that I breathed out my nose the entire time I had the mask off. I kept my eyes closed too, ended up dropping my mask and my instructor recovered it for me and handed it back to me in the end. He held my hand the entire minute. He was awesome. I still don't like taking my mask off but I know I can do it if I have to....and even hold on to it!

 

[DeepSeaDan]

To take that one step further, concentrate on breathing out through your nose and in through your mouth. That way, any water in your nose gets cleared on each breath.

...Focus on no-nose breathing. Concentrate. Leave your nose out of the equation.

...Most of all: get your snorkel & your rubber ducky, hop into a full bathtub & do nothing but breathe thru your snorkel till the water is too chilly to stay. Do it every day til you get on to it...

...it is THAT important.


DSD

 

[maged_mmh]

tilt your head to either side...you'll get it easily

 

[FF-EMT Diver]

Hey, I had the same prob. BUT I did find that I could do it if I closed my eyes, So I did that and then made a lap around the pool with my eyes closed and then i was able to do it with my eyes open, Never had another problem after that, Maybe I'm weird But... it worked! P.s. let me know if it works, (cause I have gotten strange looks when I tell someone this)