Heavy steel-tanks mounted the Steve M way?

[Razorista]

... none of those are "valid" reasons. MAYBE inspecting the ceiling in an overhead situation.

For me, most are 'valid' and validity depends a lot on the actual situation.

Yesterday my buddy got a bit buoyant during a late accent and I did not want to follow her as fast as she went.
Turning on my back made it easy to keep eye contact.
If I had not turned around before surfacing (because I mistakenly did not want to surface on my back with a third stage attached) I would probably even have noticed her going down again immediately.

Regardless, the problem with clipping heavy tanks to your waist is that physics is NOT on your side.

It isn't but you can use and abuse it much more than with the 'easy' floaty tanks.

The tanks WILL sink the length of the clip unless there is a HEAVY rotational force preventing that from happening. This would mean a tighter bungee than you're used to, if it's possible at all.

That's right, but you can also get an improvement with extending the length of tank between upper and lower attachment.

Beside stabilising the tank by just shortening the amount extending past the hip attachment, it also changes the direction of the bungee pressure a minute bit and pushes the front and back up at the same time.

That can only help a little, but Dezz seems to have the rest figured out already and is only searching for a little extra elegance.

 

[gearhound]

I'm not sure if it can or can't be done with heavy steels. I've been on my back on a few occasions in a cave through restrictions. It wasn't intentional. We would enter these vertical squeezes that would flip us onto our backs as we went through. It wasn't for extended periods of time, but we were swimming on our backs. A few times i have intentionally hovered on my back to look at the formations on the ceiling of the cave. I didn't swim, for fear that I would damage the cave because I wasn't looking where I was going. All this was done with Al80s though.

Now swimming on our sides...lots and lots of occasions to get through vertical fractures and restrictions. It's imperative to have your tanks tucked in tightly, otherwise you'd smash the formations. Same principals as rigging to swim upside down.

I don't see an issue with someone practicing swimming upside down. It can be like any other skill that we practice "just in case". I practice swimming and hovering with my mask off all the time, but in all the years I've been diving, neither I nor any of my buddies have ever lost a mask during a dive.

 

[Razorista]

It's a bit off topic, but in my opinion 'upside down' is one of the essential practice skills to learn before 'sidemount' can be fully experienced.

It is not essential as a movement option, sideways is sufficient in most situations, but it is very important to develop the situational awareness required by the increased dexterity sidemount can offer.

When it is used often enough the importance of 'up and down' decreases significantly and special skills like 'inverted mask clearing' turn into 'just normal mask clearing'.

For me the only important reason for a good tank trim and position is the ability to move in any direction equally well and take any position without actually investing any effort. If you do not fully use it, why sidemount at all? A backmounted rig can be moved horizontally well enough.
Sidemount is 3D movement! There are actually no 'inverted' positions, just a lot of additional normal ones.

 

[tiki_bill]

It's a bit off topic, but in my opinion 'upside down' is one of the essential practice skills to learn before 'sidemount' can be fully experienced.

For me the only important reason for a good tank trim and position is the ability to move in any direction equally well and take any position without actually investing any effort. If you do not fully use it, why sidemount at all?

Essential practice skills before sidemount can be fully experienced? Essential?! Gimme a break. This isn't underwater ballet here. In a cave you very rarely (if at all) swim inverted like that. I guess we should just stop sidemounting according to you. Do you even cave dive?

 

[Razorista]

Do you even cave dive?

Not really, do I have to?
Depending on location cave diving can be very unattractive from a sidemounters viewpoint.

Essential practice skills before sidemount can be fully experienced? Essential?!

Yes!
If you really want to 'experience' an ultimate thrill impossible to find anywhere else on earth do this:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=8ahQYqho7w4#t=191 (watch the timestamp)
Use it in your normal diving.

Location does not matter.

But that is just my personal view!
Nothing to get exited about.

Gimme a break.

You do not have to agree, but neither do you have to voice disagreement.

This isn't underwater ballet here.

Can be, doesn't have to.

What's important to me there is that to most normal divers watching sidemounters just doing normal movement looks a lot like ballet indeed.

In a cave you very rarely (if at all) swim inverted like that.

That's sad. But nobody said you have to, only that it is and should be possible.
Sidemount equipment should not restrict you in any way there.

I guess we should just stop sidemounting according to you.

Why?
First of all I did not imply that!
Secondly in my opinion any sidemounter can do that easily but is not required to do anything at all.

In my opinion everyone can easily do what Steve Bogaerts showed us a few years ago, when the sidemount craze started, now.
With today's level of sidemount training options that is easy for some (very lucky) beginning divers with second or third hand training.

I am always irritated that some still find themselves restricted in any way at all.
For years now I could not find a limit on the things anyone can do with a bit of practice.
Backmounting I always hated my lack of skill, but 'since sidemount happened to me', I am so far ahead that even experienced divers do not notice when I am struggling for control because of some miscalculation in planing and imply advanced skills I do not have.
If sidemount can give others the impression of me being a skilled and experienced diver some beginners could look like diving god's avatars

I am a bit euphoric regarding 'the sidemount experience', but what I am saying is:
Everyone can do anything he could ever imagine (or I could imagine), nobody has to!
You do not have to float along inverted, it's easy, though.