Only one type of gear? Why limit yourself?

[Richard FDC]

Geez Louise ... if we all agreed on everything this place would be boring.

Maybe a better idea would be to disagree without taking the comments so personally (or else come join The Pub where we hang our emotions out there like laundry on a clothesline).

Diving's supposed to be fun. And as long as you're having fun who cares what gear you're using. Someone asked for an example of when a jacket-style BCD is appropriate. I'll give you one ... when the person using it is doing a recreational dive, loves their gear, and is having a great time. Nothing could be more appropriate.

I'll be diving one or both of my sidemount rigs tomorrow for recreational open water dives. Do I care that somebody else might think it's inappropriate? Not really ... I'm not diving with him, and he's not doing the same kind of dives I am. I can assure you that I'll have a great time ... and that the gear is totally appropriate for me, and for the circumstances. Otherwise I'd be using one of the other rigs hanging in my garage.

A lot of times these perspectives are based purely on the fact that we're diving in different environments, and/or with a different set of personal preferences. What someone else might see as a drawback, I might see as a benefit. So we disagree ... the exchange of perspectives can sometimes make the conversation more interesting ... if we let it.

... Bob (Grateful Diver)

Well said! Thank you. Diving should be fun. Sharing ideas can be fun as well!

 

[Patoux01]

I really don't think I belong to the class of "sidemount nazis" you mention. I couldn't give a flying **** about what you dive, tbh you might have been on TV, I still don't know who you are nor do I care.

However, when an article states twice, for wrong reasons, that sidemount is being overpushed, yes I feel it's only correct to point out that the article is wrong (much like I did with that livingseas thing). I have many examples where I've been waiting on my buddies, or where sidemount made it much easier to get through the surge than my BM'd buddies....

 

[MXGratefulDiver]

Over the last few years we have seen sidemount come on very strong. This has created sidemount divers who have sort of become sidemount Nazis. I cannot tell you how many times I've been asked, "Why aren't you diving sidemount?"

This isn't a new phenomenon ... nor is it unique to choice of rig. I've had people ask me why I'm diving sidemount, or a backplate, or not using an air-integrated computer ... or why for chrissakes I'm using those clunky old fins when split fins are so much better. It's all perspective. I try to be patient (most times) ... especially when some 50-dive expert is telling me how I'm "doing it wrong".

I taught sidemount classes until recently, when I retired from teaching scuba. There are no caves where I live ... and precious few of the people I was teaching are ever going to do anything but open-water, recreational profiles. So why do they want sidemount? And why for heaven's sake would I agree to train them? A number of reasons, ranging from physical limitations to personal preference. There are many more considerations than just those pertaining to whether or not you need the gear to wriggle through restrictions.

Let's start with a simple premise ... all gear, regardless of what it is, comes with benefits and drawbacks. What's appropriate for you depends entirely on your understand what those are, and deciding for yourself which are more important to you. My reasons for choosing a specific style of diving may bear little resemblance to yours, when considering the exact same choices. Therefore, my approach when training divers wasn't to recommend any specific equipment as "appropriate", but rather to talk to the student about what I saw as benefits and drawbacks to the gear they either owned or were interested in purchasing ... and trusting them to make up their own minds about whether or not the benefits outweighed the drawbacks. Because the sum of that equation is going to depend a great deal on the diver's needs, preferences, and goals ... and that combination adds up differently for each of us ...

... Bob (Grateful Diver)

 

[Richard FDC]

This isn't a new phenomenon ... nor is it unique to choice of rig. I've had people ask me why I'm diving sidemount, or a backplate, or not using an air-integrated computer ... or why for chrissakes I'm using those clunky old fins when split fins are so much better. It's all perspective. I try to be patient (most times) ... especially when some 50-dive expert is telling me how I'm "doing it wrong".

I taught sidemount classes until recently, when I retired from teaching scuba. There are no caves where I live ... and precious few of the people I was teaching are ever going to do anything but open-water, recreational profiles. So why do they want sidemount? And why for heaven's sake would I agree to train them? A number of reasons, ranging from physical limitations to personal preference. There are many more considerations than just those pertaining to whether or not you need the gear to wriggle through restrictions.

Let's start with a simple premise ... all gear, regardless of what it is, comes with benefits and drawbacks. What's appropriate for you depends entirely on your understand what those are, and deciding for yourself which are more important to you. My reasons for choosing a specific style of diving may bear little resemblance to yours, when considering the exact same choices. Therefore, my approach when training divers wasn't to recommend any specific equipment as "appropriate", but rather to talk to the student about what I saw as benefits and drawbacks to the gear they either owned or were interested in purchasing ... and trusting them to make up their own minds about whether or not the benefits outweighed the drawbacks. Because the sum of that equation is going to depend a great deal on the diver's needs, preferences, and goals ... and that combination adds up differently for each of us ...

... Bob (Grateful Diver)

Again, well said. I agree and will quote from my article, "By encouraging only one style of diving and one equipment configuration we are doing them an injustice. Knowledge is power. We should provide information and guidance but free choice should be the norm."

 

[MXGratefulDiver]

I really don't think I belong to the class of "sidemount nazis" you mention. I couldn't give a flying **** about what you dive, tbh you might have been on TV, I still don't know who you are nor do I care.

However, when an article states twice, for wrong reasons, that sidemount is being overpushed, yes I feel it's only correct to point out that the article is wrong (much like I did with that livingseas thing). I have many examples where I've been waiting on my buddies, or where sidemount made it much easier to get through the surge than my BM'd buddies....

I also think sidemount is being overpushed ... but for perhaps different reasons. I think a lot of agencies and dive shops are looking at it as yet another revenue stream, and pushing it on people for whom it really isn't appropriate. A lot of customers will listen to the advice coming from their LDS representatives simply because they don't know any better. And while it may be a perfectly good choice for some, for others it's going to be a case of buyer's remorse once they own the gear and start discovering all the things their LDS rep didn't tell them about using the gear. Like a lot of things, a good salesman can talk someone into buying a product simply by emphasizing the benefits while ignoring the drawbacks. But the purchaser will discover the drawbacks once they've made the purchase and attempt to use the gear.

This is why full-disclosure matters ... people need to understand that there are always trade-offs, no matter what gear you choose, and make their purchasing decisions with their eyes open, and all factors considered.

The other thing I dislike about the current trend in sidemount is that there are a growing number of sidemount "instructors" out there who don't know how to dive sidemount. They know how to put the gear together (for themselves), but not how to optimize it, or to help their students properly trim either the gear or themselves. They don't understand that there are different rigs out there with different performance characteristics ... some of which will make it more difficult for a student to achieve proper trim than others. A lot of this is dependent on other factors, such as body build, tank choice, exposure gear, and other factors that may already exist for the student. These should all be considered and factored into an instructor's advice and curriculum. But you can't teach what you don't know ... and far too many of these are open water instructors who, through minimal use of a sidemount rig, got their certification to teach sidemount. They don't know anything except that there's a market out there and they can now add sidemount instruction to their list of training offerings. These folks are a disservice to their students, and to the industry in general, to my concern ... but they're growing proportional to the demand for sidemount among recreational divers. So it's less that the gear's inappropriate than it is that the way they're being trained to use it is ...

... Bob (Grateful Diver)

 

[Neilwood]

Never dived BM doubles or SM but here's my two PSI - the best gear to wear for any situation is that which works best for you for that situation.

Is someone choosing a jacket BCD over a BP&W wrong? Maybe but maybe that is what works best for them for rec dives.
Is the DIR route right for everyone? Probably not for most rec divers.
Long hose or generic "recreational" hose length? Not that big an issue for most divers that might never see a long hose set up never mind learn how it should be set up and used.

What we should be encouraging is for people to think about their configuration with regards to the diving they will do, how to set that up best to allow them to enjoy their diving safely

 

[Rhone Man]

OK, I'll play ...

1. Fills - where there is a demand for a service there will always be someone to offer it. The price might go up, but if there were no dive shops there would still be folks with compressors offering fills. I could even envision a "coach" arrangement where someone parks a van or truck at a dive site and provides that service. In fact, I know a couple places where that already happens.

2. Equipment service - many dive shops will happily take your regs and mail them out to a service provider. We have a guy in our area that services regs for over 80 shops in four states. I don't think that's uncommon. And frankly, I don't take my regs to a shop ... knowing that guy, I mail them to him directly and cut out the middleman (and their profit).

3. Training - independent instructors. I was one for the better part of the 12 years I was training scuba divers.

4. Advice - seriously? Dude, where are we?

5. Dive trips, friendships and camaraderie - I'm heading off to the Philippines in three weeks with ... ScubaBoard. I've met and dived with dozens of people through this board, both locally and abroad. In fact, I've arranged trips specifically BECAUSE of someone I met on here. Thanks to this place, I have friends all over the world. In addition to that, I am a member of two independent dive clubs ... one of which is intensely active (as in, club dives multiple times weekly). I'd say about 95% of my diving friends became friends outside of a dive shop.

That said, I'm a big fan of scuba gear. Got a variety of the stuff ... in fact, I just got my second sidemount rig from Edd Sorenson a couple days ago. Got a Katana ... looks like a nice rig that will travel much better than my Nomad, which I use here at home. Oh, I mostly still backmount ... but when I solo dive I will either sling a 40 or use the sidemount rig and take along a couple 100's, depending on where I'm diving and the anticipated dive profile. I like variety ... I like options ... and there's no such thing as too much gear ...

... Bob (Grateful Diver)

I'll add a couple more points. The LDS helped popularise diving, but did not define it. Diving existed long before, and would - in theory - continue long after.

My Dad learned to dive and was an active diver in East Africa in the 1950s, about 15 years and 9,000 miles from the nearest dive shop. They had their tanks filled at a local gas factory.

In the UK, right up until the mid-1980s dive shops were a rarity. Almost all diving (and dive instruction) was done through local clubs. Much of it still is.

The LDS is a self created industry. Without it there would likely be fewer divers, but there most assuredly would still be plenty of divers.

 

[Richard FDC]

Never dived BM doubles or SM but here's my two PSI - the best gear to wear for any situation is that which works best for you for that situation.

Is someone choosing a jacket BCD over a BP&W wrong? Maybe but maybe that is what works best for them for rec dives.
Is the DIR route right for everyone? Probably not for most rec divers.
Long hose or generic "recreational" hose length? Not that big an issue for most divers that might never see a long hose set up never mind learn how it should be set up and used.

What we should be encouraging is for people to think about their configuration with regards to the diving they will do, how to set that up best to allow them to enjoy their diving safely

Another round of applause is in order here

 

[kelemvor]

What a disappointment. I thought it was going to be an interesting article but it was just an anti sidemount rant.

Frownie Face

since it's on topic. I don't always dive sidemount, but when I do - it's because I want the benefits of doubles without the additional cost (and no benefit that I can see) to backmount doubles.

Other dives I dive backmount single tank.

 

[Richard FDC]

What a disappointment. I thought it was going to be an interesting article but it was just an anti sidemount rant.

Frownie Face

since it's on topic. I don't always dive sidemount, but when I do - it's because I want the benefits of doubles without the additional cost (and no benefit that I can see) to backmount doubles.

Other dives I dive backmount single tank.

But thanks for reading it! I have an open invitation for any authors to submit articles for my blog