July 2011    Download the Entire Issue (PDF)

Vol. 26, No. 7   What's this?

The Mask-under-the-Chin Syndrome

from the July, 2011 issue of Undercurrent  

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Encouraging beginner scuba divers (and any scuba divers) to drag their masks under their chins when they surface is patently dangerous. In that mode, surfaced divers cannot use their snorkels or their regulators very comfortably for their swim to shore or the boat. One need only try this to have the point proven.

I've been chartering around Cape Ann, MA on weekends and holidays for 32 years. We have to pull these misguided people with their masks around their necks to the side of the boat and "rescue" and "scold" them. They surface from a dive, drag the mask down to clutter under the chin, and snort and cough their way back. They say, "My instructor told me to." Invariably, that instructor is from PADI. Really bad business....