Trust me, there's no reason to be frightened....I've completed about 50 solo dives in both sidemount and backmount with stage to include light deco within the requirements of PADI Tec 40 and I'm still here.....I am anal about redundancy and staying within the boundries of my cert level (other than maybe the solo w/deco part...nobody's perfect and yes, I am SDI Solo certified).....out of due diligence I will flesh out my reason for asking the question in the first place...I was recently reading a write up by this rebreather diver who had just tried sidemount....he, like me, was primarily a shore diver and, as part of his write up, stated he would stick with his rebreather over sidemount because it was easier for him to gear up, enter and exit....he stated that disconnecting his inflator hose under water, upon exit, which would make in his words exits easier in sidemount was not something he wanted to do because it would be bad for equipment...this didn't sound right to me but I thought maybe he knows something I don't because, as I've stated already, myself, my brother and my brother-in-law, the latter two having a different instructor then myself, were never required to do this during our open water training. I thought maybe it was just me who couldn't recall so I asked them and they said they hadn't done it either. So, I decided before I start disconnecting my inflator hose under water, maybe I better confirm with an instructor on this board that there is not an issue. Big mistake. I should have talked to my Tec Instructor in Key Largo...you can keep stating all freakin' day long that its a requirement but that won't change the fact that there are at least three of us here that were never required to do it in a class. If that doesn't satisfy ya, I'll be on Bonaire 3 - 10 May all by lonesome doing solo sidemount dives (some deco...so sue me) one after another day in and day out for the sole purpose of working on skills I was taught in my Side Mount Tec 40 class I preparation for a cavern class and Tec 45....I do these skills trips at least twice a year on Bonaire which is something I'm sure you don't believe so I challenge you to show up and assess for yourself instead of over the internet my knowledge, trim and buoyancy skills...I'm always open to input from the so called experts....I'll be at the Belmar all week....just ask the girls at the office for Marcus or the Colonel (yep, I'm a retired military officer with 38 years service)...they will know where to find me....