Snorkel Use

[hypertech]

Ok then. I've never seen a simple cheap j tube snorkel in a LDS. I doubt there is as much profit in them as the super dry extra cool models they sell.

Your argument is simply hollow. Even if rescue breathing were a good reason to wear a snorkel it requires a snorkel that practically no one has. Virtually every new diver sold a snorkel as part of their personal gear package for ow class will get one with a purge valve in it.

 

[jimthediver]

I rarely dive with a snorkle mounted to my mask but I like the idea of having one along for unforseen issue when it would come in handy. I have never seen a "folding " snorkle, who makes them?

 

[fnfalman]

I rarely dive with a snorkle mounted to my mask but I like the idea of having one along for unforseen issue when it would come in handy. I have never seen a "folding " snorkle, who makes them?

I don't know who the actual manufacturer is, but I've seen these roll-up snorkels with Aqualung brand on them.

Aqua Lung Sport Nautilus Folding Travel Snorkel 1000342 with reviews at scuba.com

 

[hypertech]

Aqualung makes one that rolls up called the nautilus. There might be others.

 

[fnfalman]

Whenever I've had to make a long swim over a thick kelp bed I've been thankful for my snorkel.

But you can do it without the use of snorkel, right? Just less convenient.

So, once again, the snorkel is far from being a "safety device" or a "life support device". It's at most a convenience...or in some cases an inconvenience.

 

[seaducer]

Just wondering, how often do you need/use your snorkle when you dive?
When we did our OW, the snorkle was optional. The last boat dive we did, not one diver had a snorkle. This included a DM and instructor. I don't wear one yet because I have not had to and just think it will be in my way. Just trying to get a different point of view.

Anymore I do not ever wear a snorkle when I strap a tank on. There have been a few times when I have regretted not having one, all of them in Bonaire, it would have been easier on the long surface swims out to the reef to see some of the cool stuff if I had a snorkel.

I do not like wearing them while diving, I can feel the snorkel dangling there, sometimes if I turn my head it hits something. None of these things are any real concern but stuff I find bothersome, so I don't bring it.

I actually have a second mask with a snorkel attached as I love to free dive as well, so I don't have to constantly take it off and put it on.

There are lots of good reasons to have on with you though, so unless it bothers your personally, this is your choice to make for comfort and convenience, don't let us talk you out of it if you want to wear one.

 

[hypertech]

But you can do it without the use of snorkel, right? Just less convenient.

So, once again, the snorkel is far from being a "safety device" or a "life support device". It's at most a convenience...or in some cases an inconvenience.

Exactly.

 

[Thalassamania]

Ok then. I've never seen a simple cheap j tube snorkel in a LDS. I doubt there is as much profit in them as the super dry extra cool models they sell.

Your argument is simply hollow. Even if rescue breathing were a good reason to wear a snorkel it requires a snorkel that practically no one has. Virtually every new diver sold a snorkel as part of their personal gear package for ow class will get one with a purge valve in it.

You are missing the point. I never said that you should throw away your snorkel, run out and buy a new snorkel from a dive shop that is more interested in function than inflated prices and then find an instructor who might teach you to perfrom mouth to snorkel ... you can do whatever you want to; I was answering the OP's question.

The fact that you can say that you've, "never seen a simple j tube snorkel in an LDS" speaks to where you've coming from more than anything else. I can show you such a snorkel in virtually every shop I go into. Granted, it's not always a front and center featured item ... but it is there.

The hollow argument, however, is that one that we need to accept crappy training because of the stupidy that results in, "Virtually every new diver sold a snorkel as part of their personal gear package for ow class will get one with a purge valve in it." Keep in mind that those purge valves only exist to make early training in snorkel use go faster; and that it is (at least as fare as some of the agencies are concerned) irrelvent since they consider any sort of rescue training to be too advanced for open water (read that as too time consuming) and push it off into a separately priced product ... but that's another discussion.

 

[hypertech]

I don't care why the purge valves are there. Pretty much every snorkel sold now has a purge valve. That means your justification that a snorkel is safety gear based on some attribute a j tube snorkel might have is simply a weak argument for generally wearing a snorkel.

I suppose the next argument I should expect is that my rescue diver course was inadequate because we weren't required to buy j tube snorkels and learn mouth to snorkel breathing techniques?

The crappy training would be teaching people to do mouth to snorkel rescue breaths so that in a stressed situation, they do that only to realize the snorkel they grabbed when they ran out or off the victim had a purge valve in it and none of those breaths did anything but slow down your progress towards help.

 

[Thalassamania]

I don't care why the purge valves are there. Pretty much every snorkel sold now has a purge valve. That means your justification that a snorkel is safety gear based on some attribute a j tube snorkel might have is simply a weak argument for generally wearing a snorkel.

I was not making an argument that YOU should generally do anything, I was responding to your absolutist statement:

It is not survival gear. It is not life support equipment. It is not safety equipment. It is not required.

There may be one or two places where a snorkel is helpful. I haven't found those places yet. When I do, I'll take a snorkel diving. Until then the snorkel stays home.

by saying:

... you need to be careful what you claim in absolutes:

I see no suggestion there that you wear a snorkel or buy a j-tube, just that your initial premise is a bit overstated.

I suppose the next argument I should expect is that my rescue diver course was inadequate because we weren't required to buy j tube snorkels and learn mouth to snorkel breathing techniques?

The crappy training would be teaching people to do mouth to snorkel rescue breaths so that in a stressed situation, they do that only to realize the snorkel they grabbed when they ran out or off the victim had a purge valve in it and none of those breaths did anything but slow down your progress towards help.

It rather depends on how you judge adequacy. I can guarantee you that the students I've trained in mouth to snorkel can transport a non-breathing victim, whilst providing rescue breaths at more than twice the speed that you assisted by your buddy can. If that makes your training and equipment inadequate, so be it ... if you (and/or the victim) can live with the difference, that's your karma, not mine.

As far as running off with a "wrong design" snorkel ... if I use the one that is always on the strap of my mask, there is no such issue.