prophet98g
Registered
Maybe you mean Border Patrol.
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I chose sidemount due to the fact my back is FUBAR'd, walking to and from a dive site with even a single 12 on my back becomes murder, so being able to walk to cylinders down into the water then pop my suit n harness on and take my time is a godsend.
BM is better for "Sloppy Diving" I.e. you fancy a quick dip after work or in the morning, chuck your rig in the back of the car, suit up, rig up and jump in, a lot less faff involved.
Back to the OP, i think you learn backmount because it's how diving has always been done, everyone knows it and to that extent, it's easy, just a Single cylinder, BCD and regs. Once you built your experience up then going up to twins and then Sidies or just up to Sidies is a stepping stone because you already have the inwater competence.
That said... I'm wondering whether in the next few years there will be Open Water divers learning in single cylinder sidemount, just my 2 pennies.
I can get rigged up and ready to dive a lot faster in sidemount than in backmount. The more you do it the easier it gets.