Wearing a mask on forehead a distress signal, now that seems ridiculous!

[buddhasummer]

JohnyH and Oldbear, nice. Your posts show you are both good people. Thank you to you both for doing more than just talking.

 

[Nemrod]

If some day, after all of these years, I finally loose my mask from my resting it on my forehead, you know what? I got enough money and I think my wife might let me get another. I always have a spare in the bag and a spare regulator. Plenty of people have borrowed those items and I can say for certain that as well, the spare mask has never been borrowed to replace one lost from a forehead. Now one guy, somehow balancing his rig on the gunwale, lost the entire thing with his mask hooked under the valve and his regulator and tank and it went down to Davey Jones Locker. Never was found. He borrowed both my spare reg set and my spare mask.

N

 

[flabeachdiver]

I am glad to see this discussion. I am personally tired of the Nazis who lecture divers about wearing their mask on the forehead.

 

[Adam Grose]

I was taught, also, to put the mask around my neck while on the surface. Unfortunately, that is not very comfortable for me (dunno if I have a short neck, or what?!). Usually I will put it on my head backwards, so the strap is at the front. Seems to be pretty secure against loss there too. Just my 2 cents worth.

Adam

 

[Zieg]

So isn't a mask placed on the back of your head just in the reversed position of being on your forehead?

 

[Peter69_56]

It's a sign, not an intentional signal.

Equipment rejection is a common sign of impaired thinking or panic. You'll often see mountain climbers or hikers with hypothermia losing important items like hats and gloves.

flots.

I think that's the exact point. Its one of a number of signs to indicate "possible" panic. Not an absolute or a no no.

For me I put my mask around my neck, and have no problem with it being there. The main reason is from not wanting to lose it.

I have a number of rescued masks in my possession from those who were less fortunate. Some brand new, others been on the bottom for some time.

I dislike the idea of a tether as its another hook point when diving wrecks. The cleaner and more streamlined you are when wreck diving the better. Having loose bits of line is a great way to have a mask pulled off, or hook up to a wreck and not be able to release from the wreck.

The only other time I have had my mask different than on my face or around neck, was when I did a course and had to take mask off and put it on in reverse (to hold it), take reg out, then swim with fingers around a guide line for 25 meters before finding reg, then replacing and clearing mask. I found it fun.

 

[justbillin]

I was floating in the shallow (<15’) end of a rock quarry in KY last year and talking to my daughter after one dive with my mask on my forehead, and an OW diver with a hand full of dives asked me if I was in distress. I laughed and told him that I was OK, and that I normally don’t do that in the ocean. I actually know he only had a handful of dives because he asked me to sign his log book after I got back to the picnic tables. Nothing wrong with what he said, he was just executing what he had been recently taught, and to his credit he didn’t forget everything after getting his c-card.

 

[Nemrod]

I was floating in the shallow (<15&#8217 end of a rock quarry in KY last year and talking to my daughter after one dive with my mask on my forehead, and an OW diver with a hand full of dives asked me if I was in distress.I laughed and told him that I was OK, and that I normally don&#8217;t do that in the ocean.I actually know he only had a handful of dives because he asked me to sign his log book after I got back to the picnic tables. Nothing wrong with what he said, he was just executing what he had been recently taught, and to his credit he didn&#8217;t forget everything after getting his c-card.

Even if some of what he was taught was erroneous.

N

 

[Steve_C]

If I am in the water the mask is on my face. If I am on the boat it may be on my forehead. So far no one has thought I was panicked and about to drown on the boat.

 

[The_Aviator_1]

On a hot Florida day after a dive hanging out in the water waiting for stragglers to come up I would rather prefer to bob around for a bit. If it's calm I have no problems with having a mask on my forehead as opposed to competing for my limited neck space with my necklace and reg. If it gets knocked off, which it never has, I can just reach over to the right leg pocket and voila a spare. After the trip I could find a few extra dollars for a mask I'm sure. Now if one of my petrels were to go MIA I'm not going to lie I would probably cry a bit if I couldn't find it before we left. MOF while lounging around isn't a big deal. The people I have seen gear reject in panic are usually MOFO (mask on floor ocean) not MOF.