I learned freediving with a mask that leaks a bit. I never had to equalize it as the water will fill in when it's getting deep. It wasn't bad on the way down for some reasons but right after turning to ascend, water got in half the mask at 25" and they got out on itsown at shallower. Then I switched to another non leaking mask noticing that I have to waste some air to clear it. Although my instructor says I can suck it back on the way up, but i still lose some. Maybe it's better to dive with leaking mask?
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Is mask leaking a good thing?
- Thread starterKray
- Start date
Thread Status: Hello
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Never considered this option!
I'm more worried about COLD Canadian water or heavy contractions with water up your nose.
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I'm more worried about COLD Canadian water or heavy contractions with water up your nose.
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Funny that you mention this...I was using my freediving mask to do a deep SCUBA dive and the regulator deformed my mouth a little, so it caused some leakage...and the deeper I went, the less air needed to equalize the mask...so I tried it on a freedive, filled the mask about three quarters full...a true pain in the rear to get used to...so, I would recommend that if you are going to dive with water in your face, that you dive without the mask and just use a nose clip...won't see much, but obviates the mask equalization problem.
I remember there was someone on this forum who fills part of mask volume with silicone. Same idea basically, taken seriously.
That would likely be me... Scroll down to bottom. [emoji14]
http://apneaddict.blogspot.com/p/masks.html
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In the movie "The Big Blue", the actors/divers looks like they did that to their masks.
only very basically, as I can't imagine silcone becoms liquid and floods the sinuses.
Alina, flooding sinuses is kind of very specific technique, not sure if OP ever meant it. Anyway, leaking mask is a bad thing on my book, and filling mask's volume with silicone serves very specific purpose making mask essentially useless for pleasure dives. I think blood shift does reasonably good job displacing lost volume
I know about flooding the sinuses 
(and more) @Andrew the fish . I was referring to the fact that silicone in the mask is in no way same idea like water in the mask. Blood shift, though, doesn't have anything to do with mask's lost volume of air
(and more) @Andrew the fish . I was referring to the fact that silicone in the mask is in no way same idea like water in the mask. Blood shift, though, doesn't have anything to do with mask's lost volume of air
I suck the air back in during ascent... can't do this with water in there.
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Why is that? Is it because of opening up the glottis?
It's my own air and it's free! The other option is to let it bubble out. Every Freediver is addicted to O2! I'll take all I can get underwater!
I know many divers that regularly do that. I only do it north of -20m or if my mask starts to get loose on ascent due to neoprene hood compression (5mm [emoji26] )
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It's my own air and it's free! The other option is to let it bubble out. Every Freediver is addicted to O2! I'll take all I can get underwater!
I know many divers that regularly do that. I only do it north of -20m or if my mask starts to get loose on ascent due to neoprene hood compression (5mm [emoji26] )
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No - the suit compresses on the way down but the mask stays put due to suction and the straps drop down the back of my head a bit SOMETIMES.
On ascent, the suction lessens and you feel that the mask might leak if you don't "suck it up".
Why is it unusable? I think it's valuable even in the sinus membranes, no?
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On ascent, the suction lessens and you feel that the mask might leak if you don't "suck it up".
Why is it unusable? I think it's valuable even in the sinus membranes, no?
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It's a hit of O2! On a long dive... It actually feels great and is confidence inspiring.
I think I get maybe the nostrils filled and not too much more...
Perhaps it's a false sense of comfort.
It could make the difference between a samba / BO and a clean dive, no? A tad more O2 15 -20 seconds before surfacing?
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I think I get maybe the nostrils filled and not too much more...
Perhaps it's a false sense of comfort.
It could make the difference between a samba / BO and a clean dive, no? A tad more O2 15 -20 seconds before surfacing?
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Care to elaborate? I just finished a FII Level 1 class and the instructor suggested we sniff air back in on ascent.
there is so much wrong in this post it is hard to know where to begin .As Alina says Bloodshift has absolutely nothing to do with this issue .The Idea of suit compression on the way up is of course ridiculous , pressure decreases and the neoprene expands . But lets look at what is happening here -the mask feeling loose on ascent can be many factors . To list several ,some of which may well be irrelevant, because depth was not mentioned here , The mask strap too tight - it will create mask squeeze ,resulting in very red eyes , or in a lesser case a impression of the mask on your face -this can cause EQ problems . Next sniffing after equalising , this also causes eventually a mask squeeze , Failing to equalise the mask -same results . If you feel the mask actually loosening on the way up -it had to be too tight at depth !
Next sucking the air back , did you ask your instructor why ? It cannot prevent either LMC or Blackout -insufficient if any extra oxigen would reach the brain . To try this deeper than 10 mts on the way up would be dangerous . The biggest expansion of air in the mask takes place between 10mts and the surface , that means you are a maximum of 10 seconds to your first breath ,so why would you do this ? This sniffing the air back in is a very bad habit and one day you are going to do it at the wrong time and pay the price . Sorry about this but you seriously need to review with your instructor what you learnt on the course or if it was FII check it with Martin Stepanek .
Next sucking the air back , did you ask your instructor why ? It cannot prevent either LMC or Blackout -insufficient if any extra oxigen would reach the brain . To try this deeper than 10 mts on the way up would be dangerous . The biggest expansion of air in the mask takes place between 10mts and the surface , that means you are a maximum of 10 seconds to your first breath ,so why would you do this ? This sniffing the air back in is a very bad habit and one day you are going to do it at the wrong time and pay the price . Sorry about this but you seriously need to review with your instructor what you learnt on the course or if it was FII check it with Martin Stepanek .