Nose Clip - looking for a good one

[Cliff Etzel]

Many of the top freedivers utilize a very beefy looking nose clip in their training and competitions, but I have yet been able to find a company that makes one (at least here in the states)

Is there such a company or are these custom made by the divers themselves?

I am looking for one for my training and have run out of places to look...

TIA,

 

[Cragrat]

Check out: http://www.clickandbuild.com/cnb/shop/freediver the site store associated with the UK Freediving magazine aptly called "FreeDiver" ( http://www.freediver.co.uk/ ).

The actual gent who makes these nose plugs has a web site at
http://www.chez.com/paradisia.

-Cragrat

 

[cjborgert]

Just Curious - Why a nose clip?

At the risk of revealing my tremendous fd naivete, I can't help asking why one would need a nose clip? I assume that the training you refer to, Cliff, is not pool training but actual deep diving. Do competitive divers forego a mask to reduce drag?

 

[Cliff Etzel]

It has more to do with doing static apnea in the pool and believe it or not, swimming laps. I have been using an almost worthless Speedo nose clip - I need something that actually works...

Regarding the mask - some do, some don't - I was fortunate enough to get my hands on a Technisub Sphera mask, which isn't available here in the states from a contact I have in the dive industry. SOme use special contact lenses and then flood their goggles with sterile saline solution .

I am also looking at getting either the Sporasub Stinger or the Cressi-Sub Minima mask. Omer also has one, but it has plastic type lenses - not sure how well those would work, but it is readily available.

Hope this helps...

 

[Cragrat]

I was able to purchase a Technisub Sphera mask from my local dive shop. They had to order it from their distributor and it took a while but they got them in. The owner of the store liked it so much I usually see one or two on the shelf when I pop into the store. This is a Canadian Store so they should be widely available, though maybe you have to order them. I haven't actually seen any in the numerous dive shops I've visited lately (except the afformetioned shop)

It is an excellent mask if you don't mind a bit of distortion in your field of view. The down side is the plastic lense scratches easily (not that it matters in the water, just an esthetic thing).

The Stinger mask is really nice, very low volume. I've tried two masks in the style of the Minima and they are certainly low volume but I didn't like the restricted feild of view, I use my OMER millinium as my back up mask to my Sphera. Thought the Minima having tempered glass lenses might change my mind.

A friend of mine has one of those speedo nose clips and was thinking he might be able to wear it under his mask so he wouldn't have to pinch his nose while diving.

- Cragrat

 

[cjborgert]

To clip or not to clip

Thanks for the patient reply.

I've been swimming pool laps as a competitive swimmer since I was 6 years old, so the thought of using a clip in the pool never occurred to me. I think if you can get confortable without one in shallow water, that is best.

However, the possiblity of using a clip under a mask to obviate the need to use one hand to equalize pressure in the eustachian tubes would be a great improvement for me. I'm still working on other hands-free methods of clearing my ears, but when I'm trying to descend quickly so that I have some bottom time to play with, I always have to resort to pinching my nose and pushing air against it.

Does anyone have experience with using these beefy clips under a mask? Would they fit under an Omer Abyss mask?

 

[jero]

mask compensation

Hi all!

I must tell you that using a nose clip under a mask is a very bad idea since middle ear is not only thing you must compensate. You also have to compensate your mask by forcing some air thru your nose into the mask (to prevent your eyes from popping out) and you can not do that unless the nose is "free".

 

[cjborgert]

Love that mask squeeze

Of course! -Solve one problem, create a worse problem!!
I guess clips only make sense with a goggle-type mask.

 

[jero]

goggles

The trouble is that the air in the goggles is also compresing as you decend. Since you don't have the way to put extra air in it I think that the goggles are off too. Unless you fill them with water...
I was once told that Pipin uses goggles and compensate it by forcing air thru his eye pits. I don't know if this is true but that is what I heard.

 

[Erik]

Clips

Hi all, for those that don't know, the reason that divers will resort to wearing fluid goggles or underwater contact lenses is because it gets to the point where you simply can not go any deeper with a mask. Below 60 metres most divers do not have the air or ability to access the air that remains in their throats with which to equalise their ears and sinuses. At that depth, a major portion of the air that was in your lungs is now in your mask. The solution is to not wear a mask. Since you're not wearing a mask, you might as well spare yourself the energy and resistance to hydrodynamics that pinching your nose takes. Hence the Paradisa nose clip available at the freediver.co.uk online store.
I have used a Dacor Bandit for the last 3 years; it was made with the polycarbonate lenses, and is still in good shape. You have to be very careful with storing it and handling it, so as not to scratch the lenses. Dacor does not sell it anymore, but OMER and a few other companies still do. The OMER has flattened sides for a little better side vision. At first I was not too happy with the limited vis, and it is a tough mask to clear, but I got used to it, and It definitely helps in the air-saving department. By the way, I tried a Sphera, and I nearly threw up! I couldn't get used to the curved view through the lense. I might still try to give it a better shot though.
Also, if you see a diver doing a deep sled dive with a pair of goggles on, I guarantee that they are filled with water.
Cheers,
Erik Young

 

[subaquaticus]

Re: goggles

I was once told that Pipin uses goggles and compensate it by forcing air thru his eye pits.

Excellent joke !! :duh :wave