Taking Mask off

[hodgson]

I did a quick scan of the replys, and am surprised nobody mentioned this, at least I didn't see it.

Place your tongue on the roof of your mouth when breathing without a mask. It doesn't work for everyone, but it helps some people. I think it triggers a nerve impulse that helps you concentrate on your mouth. :f:

Help.....I am having a hard time taking my mask off under water. I finally did it, but it took alot of concentration to exhale through my nose every time. The problem comes into when we had to trun off our air and swim to our buddy with our masks off. I cant see anything and with no air, I panicked. The second time I got to his reg and put it in my mouth but breathed water up my nose in the process so I ended up choking and shooting up to the surface. I need to get this down. Any tips out there on how to not breathe through my nose. I have one more pool class and then over Easter weekend go for my OW in California. I want to learn this before next pool class on Wednesday. Any tips would be great.

Just a note: I am just learning how to like water. Snorkeling scared me in Hawaii last year so really I had to start over from new.

Thanks for any info

 

[BabyAnnaRe]

Hi

which agency are you training with e.g. PADI, BSAC, SSI. Swimming with no mask and no air sounds scary to me!! It is certainly not a standard within the PADI Open Water Course.

With SSI. I just got my pool certification yesterday. Part of that was taking off our mask and them turning off our air so we can experience what it really feels like compared to just taking our reg out, and then swimming to our buddy to do a shared air ascent. I am glad I did it. (I did hold my nose for a little of it.) But I can say that with the two extra days that I went to the pool to practice made me more confindent. I was finally able to be calm the whole pool session and not panic at all. Not even when they simulated the night dive. Hmmm. Not sure if I will like that one. That was odd.
I have my OW Easter weekend and am now counting the days down in anticipation and excitement and not dread. Thanks for all those who helped.

 

[H2Andy]

way to go!!

just keep at it, don't give up

 

[Scubaguy62]

Don't rush the drill - take your time. It does get easier with practice.

This is the key. Don't rush it and pace yourself.

And well done to you for sticking at it!.

:bogey: :bogey: :bogey:


I tell you something that will help a lot, if you don't already have one, a slap strap. I realized how much better they are, especially for this skill, when I started DM training. The way I do it is I slide the strap off while holding the mask in place; I then peel the mask off my face so that it floods before I remove it, giving me a second or two to get used to the water against my nose. Then is just a question of reversing in the same order; paste the mask on, slide the strap in place and clear the mask, voila, all done.

Anyway, congrats!!!

Rick

 

[ScubaFrog]

I had that problem when I first started also. Just relax in the water and learn to exhale slowly. You can do it!

 

[Al Mialkovsky]

Yep breathing in shallow water while standing up with reg in mouth and mask off usually does the trick.

 

[dvoodoo83]

i shot strate to the serfes when i had to take my bc off under water and ajust my cilinder and my octo feel out of my mouth i dont know y. all i had to do is pick it up and breath o well i gues ishouldnt have paniced so i gues just keep your cool

 

[CJ_Albertson]

Help.....I am having a hard time taking my mask off under water. I finally did it, but....

Just a note: I am just learning how to like water. Snorkeling scared me in Hawaii last year so really I had to start over from new.

Thanks for any info

Putting your face under water is a hard skill many people. My
daughter is 5 years old and took her very first swimming class
yeasterday. THe instructor's first goal is to get the kids
to put thier face in the water and blow bubbles. Next they
did kicking while blowing bubles and looking down.

I wonder how many people take OW class that really can't
swimm freestyle in deep water for 200M

But I noticed the swimm instructor was doing what is recomended above in this thread. break the skil up into parts, master each part and then work on putting it together.

 

[Mako Mark]

It amazes me how many people have a hard time breathing with no mask under water when they wash their hair in the shower every day.

IT IS THE SAME TECHNIQUE.

1 Look down and start the exhalation then look up and continue. If you look up then try to exhale it is MUCH more difficult.

2 slowly slowly, slowly, slowly. The more you rush, the more water goes up your nose.

3 If water does go up your nose..... hold your nose, get your breath back under control, then clear the water out of your nose and start over. Practice until you dont get water up your nose. You are not expected to do it perfect the first time.

4 standing in the shallow end no mask breathing with just the face in the water, looking at your feet is a great way to solve the breathing problem. once the breathing problem is solved, move on to the mask flooding/mask clearing problem. It can be a gradual process.

Cold water makes it more difficult, so wet the face well and aclimatize yourself to the water temperature before you flood your mask.

If your face is warm and dry when you first flood you mask with cold water, the gasping (not being able to breathe) reaction is far greater.

just my 2 cents worth, hope it helps.

 

[JPBECK]

just keep trying and dont give up---try to swim around in the pool without the mask for a few minutes! You'll be fine--listen to your instructor and dont get pissed at yourself!