Side Mount Bicker Battle...
- Thread starter Razorista
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victorzamora
Contributor
Interesting opinion.
'Twice on the last thousand dives' I wrote.
I was also diving backmount before and hated it in hindsight.
And yes, calling someone with more than a thousand sidemount dives a beginner sounds a bit arrogant, that's true
Daniel, no offense but....didn't you say most of your dives are indoors?
Either way, dive quantity and dive quality have very little to do with eachother. I'm not passing judgement on you, simply stating that number of dives doesn't define my progression. There are better divers than me with fewer dives than me, and worse divers than me with many more dives than me. Quantity and Quality are different.
No offense taken.
I am a bit 'miffed' however of always having to repeat that a dives quality does not only depend on the dive site.
I like a certain indoor facility here in Germany that is more like an old flooded industrial site.
It has a roof over 16million liters of water and for the area is one of the best locations to get below a few feet of water available.
How anyone could believe I would really do more than a small fractions of my dives at a pool (even a pool as large and interesting as that) is beyond me, however.
right
Sidemount dives have a certain 'inherent quality' however
I do not like pissing contests. I do not like contests at all.
For me a diver with 100 pool dives without getting out once is as trustworthy as a potential dive-buddy with 100 open water dives.
I have seen divers do things after 10 dives others could not do until their 500., seen people fail at skills they had shown to perfection in practice hundreds of times before.
To me anyone can dive. Some are better, others will never learn more than basic survival.
There is a significant difference concerning sidemount and backmount in my opinion however.
In backmount it takes skill and practise to 'survive', it takes next to none in sidemount.
Perfection is always hard to define, but even the most perfect backmounter can do nothing 'better' than he himself could do in a sidemount config with minimal additional training.
Even the most unskilled sidemounter can do a few things most backmouters can't do at all.
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Like what?
You mean me @bluemed?
Yes I said that, but does backmount diving require somersaults?
Anyway: I meant to say that, if you take the right tools, diving is very easy.
Sidemount would be one of those tools.
In backmount diving most people are locked into the horizontal position.
Everything else requires effort.
It is ideal (for example) to drop down a line, move around at a tightly restricted distance from that line and go up again.
But you can do that sidemount too.
Most other situations work better for a diver who can take any position, moves fast even against current and always can be counted on to be able to look after him- or herself.
Carrying large amounts of redundant gas as a beginners config, not as the advanced divers config, helps too.
And if you can do a somersault without stirring up the ground or simply stand on your head for more than a few seconds (no hands) or know someone who can do that using backmount, you must know as well that only a fraction of the people diving will ever learn to match that.
In sidemount things like that are 'beginners skills' often already tried and at least survived somehow on the first sidemount dive.
Sidemount being more secure and maneuverable in general are simple facts of diving.
Denying that (even to yourself) is nothing more than an uneccessary emotional reaction.
There is no need for that.
Backmount diving is not deminished in any way by sidemount being superior in most ways, not even if everyone would share that opinion.
In fact people should be proud of what they can achieve backmount, but it is time now or soon to move on to 'the new thing' and achieve even more with less effort.
Skills translate well and fast, everyone seems to agree on that, even if we don't agree on anything else.
Hey Razorista,
I am always up for a discussion, obviously you just don't want to understand or think but discussing things like this it doesn't make any sense.
Anyways, safe diving.
Gruesse,
Mike
I am always up for a discussion, obviously you just don't want to understand or think but discussing things like this it doesn't make any sense.
Anyways, safe diving.
Gruesse,
Mike
You mean me @bluemed?
Yes I said that, but does backmount diving require somersaults?
Anyway: I meant to say that, if you take the right tools, diving is very easy.
Sidemount would be one of those tools.
In backmount diving most people are locked into the horizontal position.
Everything else requires effort.
It is ideal (for example) to drop down a line, move around at a tightly restricted distance from that line and go up again.
But you can do that sidemount too.
Most other situations work better for a diver who can take any position, moves fast even against current and always can be counted on to be able to look after him- or herself.
Carrying large amounts of redundant gas as a beginners config, not as the advanced divers config, helps too.
And if you can do a somersault without stirring up the ground or simply stand on your head for more than a few seconds (no hands) or know someone who can do that using backmount, you must know as well that only a fraction of the people diving will ever learn to match that.
In sidemount things like that are 'beginners skills' often already tried and at least survived somehow on the first sidemount dive.
Sidemount being more secure and maneuverable in general are simple facts of diving.
Denying that (even to yourself) is nothing more than an uneccessary emotional reaction.
There is no need for that.
Backmount diving is not deminished in any way by sidemount being superior in most ways, not even if everyone would share that opinion.
In fact people should be proud of what they can achieve backmount, but it is time now or soon to move on to 'the new thing' and achieve even more with less effort.
Skills translate well and fast, everyone seems to agree on that, even if we don't agree on anything else.
Honestly Mike, I tried to get you to at least answer what makes you think that all those sidemount divers who show exceptional skill really are more skilled than the backmount divers who have a hard time learning the same skills.
I am trying to explain, you are just ignoring it and not answering much at all, instead you are just telling me I am wrong.
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