Beginner diver thinking of switching to sidemount

[Imla]

Alright so I have reached the end of my dove season this year. Took so many of your opinions and applied them. I have 65 dives under my belt from 40 to 115 ft. AOW with nitrox certed. I have been working tirelessly to improve trim and being neutral at all times and frog kicking. I’ve tried several different rigs this last season. One strap harness with back mount doubles. Steel tank instead of alum. Dropping weight and moving my weights around to “balance my rig” not sure if that’s a thing but I found it helps me AMAZINGLY. I’m still feeling partial to sidemount. Not just because longer bottom times, that’s just an added benefit obviously. But to be more rounded of a diver and more ready for the cave class I found and am going to take. The instructor teaches in sidemount and he’s pretty well known for his skills and accomplishments. (I’m sure you already guessed right lol). I agree I did and still do need SO MUCH MORE TIME actually diving. As awesome as it is to see where I was end of last season and where I am end of this season, it showed me my learning ability and I think I can move my timeline up some. Not much. But maybe 4-7 years. Maybe sooner if I can get the gear faster. Lol. But I found spg and my wrist computer to be my fav configuration so far. After doing more research I have bviiusly have more questions. Rigs. What would be the best for me. I plan on full cave still. But a lot of different types and conditions I actually dove are more suited for Dbl back mount. Im looking at an apeks wtx harness. Hog d3 regs. Anyone have experience with hog in cold water? Like ice diving cold? I’ve pursued and found by going to all dove shops in a 50 mile radius a course schedule I want to follow. rescue, advance nitrox and decompression theory. Intro to tech thru UTD. That’s the first set of goals. After that will be more tech courses for deeper dives and whatnot. But depth isn’t important more so the information I’m taking in. Quality of course is what I want. Thank you everyone for the amazing opinions. All of them. And please keep them coming. I find little treasures in all of them and apply them and it has made me a better diver for it.

Just out of curiosity... considering the diving you have managed to put in until now... Why "season"? Why do you not continue to dive through winter? (Norwegian here... we don't have seasons... only "cold diving" and "Cold diving")

 

[Beau Holden]

Alright so I have reached the end of my dove season this year

Why are you ending your season? I dove NE Indiana lakes and NW Ohio quarries for several years, before moving back south. Winter diving is some of the best you will do. A couple years in farmer john 7mm, 150 or so dives in semi dry before finally going dry. Now the only wet suit I still have is a full 3mm, that I haven't been in the water with for years. Go get you a dry suit and dive...dive and dive some more.

 

[Robert H. Diver]

Just out of curiosity... considering the diving you have managed to put in until now... Why "season"? Why do you not continue to dive through winter? (Norwegian here... we don't have seasons... only "cold diving" and "Cold diving")

I would guess he doesn’t have a Drysuit .

 

[306dive306]

I would guess he doesn’t have a Drysuit .

so? dive in a pool and keep practicing basic skills.

 

[Marie13]

Alright so I have reached the end of my dove season this year. Took so many of your opinions and applied them. I have 65 dives under my belt from 40 to 115 ft. AOW with nitrox certed. I have been working tirelessly to improve trim and being neutral at all times and frog kicking. I’ve tried several different rigs this last season. One strap harness with back mount doubles. Steel tank instead of alum. Dropping weight and moving my weights around to “balance my rig” not sure if that’s a thing but I found it helps me AMAZINGLY. I’m still feeling partial to sidemount. Not just because longer bottom times, that’s just an added benefit obviously. But to be more rounded of a diver and more ready for the cave class I found and am going to take. The instructor teaches in sidemount and he’s pretty well known for his skills and accomplishments. (I’m sure you already guessed right lol). I agree I did and still do need SO MUCH MORE TIME actually diving. As awesome as it is to see where I was end of last season and where I am end of this season, it showed me my learning ability and I think I can move my timeline up some. Not much. But maybe 4-7 years. Maybe sooner if I can get the gear faster. Lol. But I found spg and my wrist computer to be my fav configuration so far. After doing more research I have bviiusly have more questions. Rigs. What would be the best for me. I plan on full cave still. But a lot of different types and conditions I actually dove are more suited for Dbl back mount. Im looking at an apeks wtx harness. Hog d3 regs. Anyone have experience with hog in cold water? Like ice diving cold? I’ve pursued and found by going to all dove shops in a 50 mile radius a course schedule I want to follow. rescue, advance nitrox and decompression theory. Intro to tech thru UTD. That’s the first set of goals. After that will be more tech courses for deeper dives and whatnot. But depth isn’t important more so the information I’m taking in. Quality of course is what I want. Thank you everyone for the amazing opinions. All of them. And please keep them coming. I find little treasures in all of them and apply them and it has made me a better diver for it.

Holy wall of text, Batman! A few paragraphs would make that much easier to read.

 

[Gbair89]

Holy wall of text, Batman! A few paragraphs would make that much easier to read.

Lmao, yeah I guess my editing skills aren’t the best. But hey, if I was any smarter I wouldn’t be a mechanic!!

 

[Gbair89]

I do not own a dry suit. I’m working on it but as I may have said before, may not have, I have 3 children from 1yo to 10 yo. So I’m going at a pace that doesn’t financially crunch my family. As much as I’d love to grab a cold water reg set and drysuit and hell, even a bcd that isn’t a travel one, but I must save and be patient. Soak in as much as I can while I’m being patient. But there is a pool where I trained at. So I have no doubt I’ll be in it at least a cpl times over the winter.

 

[Gbair89]

Like most things in life, I am going to go against the stream on this one.

I am a firm believer in finding the config that will fit you best for the diving you want to do. If you want to cave dive in the SM config, start now. Do not let anyone tell you that you need 100 dives or any other arbitrary numbers they make up.

I did my SM course at the same time I did my RAID Advanced 35 course. I may have had 15 or 20 dives at that point. You see, SM is where I new I wanted to go due to the diving I planned on doing. Plus, I am a big fan of having my gas sources independent of one another.

Was the SM course harder because I was still working on propulsion techniques like frog kick, back kick and helicopter turn? No it wasn't. At no time was I ever out of control even though I was still working on my trim and buoyancy.

It did allow me to feel more comfortable in the water, which not many talk about. You see, when you are new and doing dives in the 30-35m range...nothing makes you feel more safe than having that extra source of gas that is 100% independent of your other gas source. As a matter of fact, I did my first deep dive for the ADV 35 course in single tank bm. The entire time my brain was like this " How much gas do I have left?...ohhhh a wreck...how much gas is left...is that enough to get me to the surface...think Turk...Puffer fish!!! " LOL

My second deep dive for the course as done in the SM config. That dive was incredibly relaxing I still checked my gas as I was supposed to but I was able to relax a bit more knowing I could rely on me to save me in the event of an issue with one cylinder. This allows me breathe more like a normal person rather than sucking down gas like on the previous dive. My SAC rate was actually lower on the second dive.

Comfort is a big part of diving and safety tends to make most of us more comfortable.

I say go for it but be sure to find a great instructor. SM instructors, like all instructors, are not equal. Find someone who dives SM when they are doing fun dives and not just when teaching. Ask to see videos of past students and post questions here about where to find a proper sidemount instructor.

I am always happy to help if needed

Ideally I want to do sidemount and back mount doubles. I’m suuuuper comfortable in the water with one tank on my back. Backmount doubles will be a lot heavier and harder to negotiate from what I’m used to, but it’s nothing but another class.

Do you have any instructors in mind for any classes. Like I said I am researching sooo much just tryin to get it right. Lol.

 

[Gbair89]

1) first and foremost, i want to thank you for being such a humble person and for going about diving the way you do. I believe humble people live longer.

2) Rigs: try a few before you make a decision. They will all feel differently in different body shapes. I used to dive a certain rig in SM but when i started doing stage dives i felt the need to change in order to address the new weight distribution and it has worked fine for me.

3) i dont dive HOG regs but they have an excellent reputation for comd water diving. I live in saskatchewan, canada, and i definitely know cold water diving.

4) if i were you, i would not “carve in stone” the name of the agency you want to train with. I would definitely never consider PADI for tec training, though. I am a firm defender of the motto “it’s not the agency that matters; it’s the instructor that matters” UNLESS we’re talking PADI.

5) before you sign up for a cave course, go spend time with the instructor in the water. Some people have great “pedigrees” but you may not get along with them on a person-to-person level. There is no shortage of extremely competent instructors who do not have gigantic pedigrees but who are a joy to be around and who love teaching.

6) i highly recommend you do not stop diving altogether for months. Find a dive shop that offers pool time in ur area and go practice basic skills. Im a cave diver who lives in northern canada. I dive constantly in open water and pools, practicing everything i possibly can even though there is no rock above my head. When i go mexico, the beginner skills i have are “still there”.

Best wishes! Safe dives!

So I did reach out to quite a few shops in my area. And by area I mean like 50 mile radius of Detroit. Excluding canada. I don’t have the means to get over there yet. And I did talk to someone who was pushing PADI tech pretty hard. Is there anything I should know about them? I’m still not sure on who I’m going thru because as you stated the instructor is the important part. I need one that is gonna challenge me and not just put the information in the air and hope I grab it.

There is a pool at the shop I trained outa m, so I’m not worried about keeping the basics tuned in. That’s part of my winter routine. Indoor rock climbing one week. Pool dive the next and repeat.
And thank you, I’m prone to be stubborn and hardheaded. But when it comes to diving I know there is a right way and a wrong way to do this. And it’s a team sport from any aspect. Even if it’s just a bunch of divers talking on the scubaboard, there’s always something to learn from everything. It’s nice to hear that I’m approaching this the right way.

 

[Gbair89]

Are you going SM through UTD? I imagine they require using their Z manifold, about which there are some reservations.

I haven’t nailed down who or what agency for anything except cave. I want to do the UTD intro to tech course because I know I’ll learn things in it that I won’t elsewhere. Not particularly set on UTD or GUE. I haven’t really looked into the Z manifold yet other than seeing it online.