Wearing mask on the back of your head

[elgoog]

Seriously, who's caring about this as long as it works for you and is comfortable?

I wear back to front with a neoprene strap as it's more comfortable for me that way. I don't like how the mask skirt and frame feels on my forehead and found that I kept fidgeting with it during surface swims or waiting on the boat. All my dives are with a thick hood so the mask being on the back is cushioned by the few inches of neoprene.

One thing I would advise is not removing your hood with the mask still on in this way. Unless you want to whack your dive buddy in the face with your projectile mask in which case, this method totally works.

@Chavodel8en Try a neoprene mask strap if you haven't already - the cheapo ones from DGX are what I use. I had the exact same issue as you as we're probably diving the same sites

 

[Storker]

Cue concerns about suicide clips

Double ender.

Just sayin'.

 

[penak]

Indeed, very interesting thread

 

[doctormike]

I always assumed it was for the "distressed diver" that is taught. In my Rescue class I was taught that, so ever since just keep it on the back of my head, out of water just to stay consistant. So may be the same thinking on their part

Yeah, I always wondered about that. I cannot imagine the scenario where a diver would surface, and signal to the boat that they were "distressed" by putting the mask on their forehead, and that's it, no waving or anything else that could actually be seen from a distance. If anything, a distressed diver on the surface should keep their mask on, to keep water out of their nose, etc....

When you surface, especially if you surface away from the boat, you give the crew a big OK sign (fist on head). If you don't do that, a good crew will give you that sign and expect a return OK. A sign of a potential problem would be a lack of a response. THAT's what should be taught.

This MOF distress thing is a pointless relic that for some reasons gets passed on to new divers, and some of them may actually believe that's the correct thing to do in an emergency.

 

[Storker]

If anything, a distressed diver on the surface should keep their mask on, to keep water out of their nose, etc....

You're being rational. Panic isn't rational.


While I definitely don't subscribe to the MOF = distress meme, I do believe that a panicked/distressed diver well might reject critical gear like mask or reg.

 

[Kimela]

I'm curious how/when it became 'common lore' that if you're at the surface and have your mask on your forehead it means you're in distress. It seems like a panicked diver wouldn't have the wherewithal to secure it on their forehead. But having not experienced that level of panic (fortunately) I guess I don't really know ...

I keep my mask on my face until I'm seated on the boat again - then hang it on a dive tank (but it's also securely clipped to my BC shoulder strap so it won't go anywhere). But I figure 'to each their own', or as the kids say now, 'you do you'.

 

[elgoog]

I've only seen a couple of instances of divers in real panic and both times they wanted to do nothing other than get the mask off their face - one guy pulled it down and the other managed to knock it up and off. It's more lizard brain reactions by that point.

EDIT: Yeah, basically same as the video @Storker linked

 

[Storker]

I keep my mask on my face until I'm seated on the boat again - then hang it on a dive tank

I don't hang it on my tank, I put it in my fin's foot pocket. Otherwise, we agree 100%.

 

[doctormike]

You're being rational. Panic isn't rational.



While I definitely don't subscribe to the MOF = distress meme, I do believe that a panicked/distressed diver well might reject critical gear like mask or reg.

OK, but does that mean that we should TEACH them to do that?

 

[Storker]

OK, but does that mean that we should TEACH them to do that?

Uh... not in my opinion.

Why the heck do you ask that question? I'm smelling a slight whiff of gotcha.