In-Water Skills on Adv/Tec Sidemount Courses (agency approaches)

[decompression]

It comes pretty close to matching my PADI TEC SM instructor guide, although definately not a PADI produced video.

 

[DevonDiver]

For me even basic sidemount is where I start introducing three or more tanks as an idea, even if not in practice, because for me that extensibility is where SM shines. One tank, two tanks, then three tanks four tanks. No big deal in SM, a major hassle to add the second, third and fourth in BM.

Yes, I appreciate the benefit of the tec sidemount in that respect. I still don't see how it fit well into the rest of the tech program though. Killing too many birds with one stone.

A recreational diver takes that course...does 5 dives progressing up to 4 cylinder dives... then enrolls on the Tec40 and goes back to 3 cylinders... not seeing a fourth until they get to Tec50.

Same is true for all the simulated deco on the course dives. I find that confusing on a course that is aimed to be (as stated): primarily a hardwear training course. Students on the tec sidemount either won't be able to use that deco practice afterwards, or they will already have been trained to do it. Either way, it useless or it is a repetition of existing skill not specifically relevant to the hardwear itself.

IMHO, making it an 'intro-to-tech' AND a 'hardwear course' AND a 'tech conversion' creates too much variance for it to truly accomplish any of those goals with relevance to the individual diver.

Of course... it does depend on how the course is taught/presented... but there's still a lot of superfluous stuff there for any given student.

For me another distinction between tech and rec (other than overhead, virtual or real) is not being able to breathe all the gas one is carrying at any given depth. So to techify the Tech Sidemount, one could designate one tank as non-usable at depth even if it is actually safe to breathe for the purposes. Or we could empahsize the ability to fully exploit Nitrox by adding a third tank to make NDLs the limiting factor.

I think that's included - 'simulated deco' is included on several dives, along with 'simulated deco gas' (air/nitrox being hypothetically used as richer mixes). Students have to 'NOTOX' gas switch etc.

Again, this is where having a 'too broad' scope is detrimental to the course. If aimed specifically at qualified tec divers (a hardwear conversion) then you could do REAL technical dives, with REAL gas swapping and REAL deco. Because PADI has added the 'intro-to' element and opened the course to AOW+ divers, that learning/training value is diluted because no real deco/real deco gas is used on the course.

Same is true for the mention of 'stage' cylinders (NOT deco cylinders). The manual seems to state that extra tanks can be carried "to extend bottom time", containing more back-gas. Personally, I've never seen anyone commonly dive with 3+ tanks of back-gas... but it does provide another 'tool' I suppose. Perhaps the cave divers need that... most open water tec/wreck divers are unlikely to IMHO.

For PADI however, the main distinction of Tech Sidemount is only adding a third tank it seems.

Well...it looks like kinda a mish-mash of 'adding another 2 tanks' and doing a few deco procedures. But yes, the differentiation between 'basic' and 'tec' is more tanks... and associated tank/gas management skills.

I expected that, but not at the exclusion of refining the 'hardwear skills' of core sidemount diving to a higher level.

There's also some inconsistency with approach... for instance, it teaches deco procedures, but not gas management ("you get that on the Tec40").

My personal feeling is that they should have either disregarded the "intro-to-tech" aim (made it a course for tech divers only) or got the whole 9-yards and made it a complete tech qualification course (done in lieu of the Tec40).

As it stands... I'm more inclined to offer recreational divers a Basic Sidemount-Tec40 combo.... or even Basic Sidemount - Tech Basics combo... rather than throw them into the Tec Sidemount (in at the deep end, with no additional benefit). For existing qualified tech divers... I'll emphasis the course as a hardwear conversion, using all the repetitive/superfluous sim-deco as buoyancy training drills and time for 'problem management'.

Since this in the distinction, I am annoyed by the fact that the long hose on the right tank is written in as a requirement, since the ability to add stage bottles arbitrarily to increase gas supply makes sense (to me) only if the odd regulator is the left tank (with the inflator hose and the long hose), and every other tank is just a stage bottle with a 40" hose and a lollipop SPG (even though my lollipops lie along the tank).

I don't 'get' the long hose specification at all. They are very particular about that, but then very wishy-washy about everything else configuration related. I guess that's a problem with trying to make one course to fit everyone...

Andy, if you do a YouTube search for "sidemount skills" it should show you an instructor going through set up and onto skills. You'll be glad to see that inverted skills are included. Overall, it's not too bad of a start.

There's nothing in the manual that specifies 'inverted' - but I guess there is no limitation on the individual instructor additionally specifying the position that existing drills/skills are completed in. A skill listed as "swim 25m to demonstrate buoyancy and trim" could be conducted upside-down, without breaking a standard?

 

[beanojones]

Yes, I appreciate the benefit of the tec sidemount in that respect. I still don't see how it fit well into the rest of the tech program though. Killing too many birds with one stone.

A recreational diver takes that course...does 5 dives progressing up to 4 cylinder dives... then enrolls on the Tec40 and goes back to 3 cylinders... not seeing a fourth until they get to Tec50.

I don't 'get' the long hose specification at all. They are very particular about that, but then very wishy-washy about everything else configuration related. I guess that's a problem with trying to make one course to fit everyone...

There's nothing in the manual that specifies 'inverted' - but I guess there is no limitation on the individual instructor additionally specifying the position that existing drills/skills are completed in. A skill listed as "swim 25m to demonstrate buoyancy and trim" could be conducted upside-down, without breaking a standard?

I agree with everything you said here, and had plenty of food for thought in readin it. I had not really thought about the four tanks to three tanks point, because for me dealing with four sidemount tanks is a rather different than four in BM, and I was not really processing the deco/no-deco part.
...
I simply do not understand the long hose specification either, to the point that I taught to an educational consultant about it. So many SM divers want it on the left, that it seems like the course was just a reflection of the one author, rather than the open to new ideas sidemount community as a whole.
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I think when it comes to standards in Con-Ed, that an instructor not exceeding standards to match local conditions is cutting a great deal out of the customers choices.

 

[Karl_H]

I simply do not understand the long hose specification either, to the point that I taught to an educational consultant about it. So many SM divers want it on the left, that it seems like the course was just a reflection of the one author, rather than the open to new ideas sidemount community as a whole.

Using the long hose on the right gives better routing in an air sharing situation,the donor can hold the upper arm of the receiver with their left hand and secure the hose with the right. Using the left hand to maintain contact with the receiver, secure the hose and give direction prompts wouldn't be recommended in an out of air situation, it's better to share task loading between hands, especially as the left hand is also normally used for BC deflation.

There's also the same argument that is used for the primary post in twin tanks - right rolls on, but in side mount, right rolls off. This makes the left tank the default choice for the primary tank and inflation hose - if you are donating air it's better if comes from your secondary tank? If you remove a tank for a restriction you'll keep on the primary tank in almost all occasions, there's no point having the hassle of a long hose in a tight restriction if you only have a single reg anyway (the one actual draw back of independent cylinders).

Using 40" hoses on the right side makes for uncomfortable routing, it is either too short to route around the neck without a 90 elbow (which is still tight) or has to be breathed with the hose infornt of the diver which ends up a bit of a mess and then would result in the 40" hose being too long. The easiest option for stage or deco bottles on the right is to use reversable second stages (such as the Apeks XTX) where the hose can be routed to the opposite side of the second stage.

Deeper trimix dives or even dives on the 50m range can often require the third+ back-gas, particularly if there is an objective such as a wreck, where the 'third' bottle can be used as a travel gas (all be-it the same mix as the main back-gas) from the surface to the primary tie-off and then from the tie-off back to the surface (gas planning allowing for this, noted this seems to be missed in the TecSidemount course) - this gives everyone in the team two full tanks for the overhead/objective portion of the dive.

 

[beanojones]

Using the long hose on the right gives better routing in an air sharing situation,the donor can hold the upper arm of the receiver with their left hand and secure the hose with the right. Using the left hand to maintain contact with the receiver, secure the hose and give direction prompts wouldn't be recommended in an out of air situation, it's better to share task loading between hands, especially as the left hand is also normally used for BC deflation.

There's also the same argument that is used for the primary post in twin tanks - right rolls on, but in side mount, right rolls off. This makes the left tank the default choice for the primary tank and inflation hose - if you are donating air it's better if comes from your secondary tank? If you remove a tank for a restriction you'll keep on the primary tank in almost all occasions, there's no point having the hassle of a long hose in a tight restriction if you only have a single reg anyway (the one actual draw back of independent cylinders).

Using 40" hoses on the right side makes for uncomfortable routing, it is either too short to route around the neck without a 90 elbow (which is still tight) or has to be breathed with the hose infornt of the diver which ends up a bit of a mess and then would result in the 40" hose being too long. The easiest option for stage or deco bottles on the right is to use reversable second stages (such as the Apeks XTX) where the hose can be routed to the opposite side of the second stage.

Deeper trimix dives or even dives on the 50m range can often require the third+ back-gas, particularly if there is an objective such as a wreck, where the 'third' bottle can be used as a travel gas (all be-it the same mix as the main back-gas) from the surface to the primary tie-off and then from the tie-off back to the surface (gas planning allowing for this, noted this seems to be missed in the TecSidemount course) - this gives everyone in the team two full tanks for the overhead/objective portion of the dive.

I cannot follow your reasoning for OOA situations. If it is OOA in a restricted space which side it comes from is immaterial. If it is not in a restricted space, the OOA diver will want to be on the left of the donor for hose routing reasons, and reg security (for a standard hose from the right reg). The right side hose forces the diver to either have a hose loop in front of them or behind their neck. (This holds for BM long hose as well, but since BM is generally a 7 footer, wasting hose length on a loop is not as crucial.)

For me, 40 hoses work just fine on the right tanks with a 120 or 45 swivel, and since 40" is pretty much standard for stage/deco, it's easy to pile them on, and leave them, and clip them to the hip and all the other reasons why people use 40" on deco/stage bottles in the first place