Sidemount and helmets in open water

[Razorista]

Yes, exactly that is what I mean with the original question.

I still remember German language DIR descriptions explaining why helmets are an absolute NO-GO in technical diving.
I also know commercial divers who dislike helmets generally and hate it when they see them in at lakes.
There was however, never a page or post saying the same about using a helmet for open water dives - it was simply inconceivable.

The helmet can have severe disadvantages.
Disadvantages typical 'forums posters' worldwide would routinely call 'suicide' and a reason have the poster removed from the human race and send to a waterless planet with warning sings in orbit forbidding beginning divers to ever go there.

Catching on the hoses in OOA situations for example.
Generally there is a very realistic danger of the helmet getting stuck somewhere and dislocating mask and hood.

Got stuck myself with my now mothballed second generation helmet and had to remove the hood in very cold water not to get choked.

With the helmet tank light there is the additional complication of the light cable crossing both hoses in front of the left shoulder.

I remember fairly recent discussions addressing one of those topics critically concerning normal open water dives and even cave or trimix dives.

Regarding sidemount I was told it to be 'impossible taskload' to identify the longhose if I am not breathing it constantly (b*llsh*t, but still a common discussion topic).
I am telling people that two long-hoses around the neck cross each other and have no advantage to the long-hose/short-hose configuration because of that.

Now I have a two handed OOA routine...
On the other hand: not including a goodman mounted 2000lumen light in in the OOA routine somehow will probably blind the OOA diver as securely as not thinking about the helmet light.

 

[mddolson]

I've seen a few helmets, but not many, (6) over the past 30 years, worn by wreck (penetration & night) divers, in Great Lakes & St Lawrence River. Most have a couple of back up lights secured to them.
Given the cold waters here, a 7mm hood tends to offer adequate protection for one's noggin.

 

[The Chairman]

Generally there is a very realistic danger of the helmet getting stuck somewhere and dislocating mask and hood.

So many myths. My helmet keeps my mask from ever, ever getting dislocated. No matter the pressure of the water coming into my face, the mask cannot come off.

Also, I dive with two 5 foot long hoses, one on each tank. I utilize a double reg necklace and the hoses never go around my neck. Any diver in need can take either of my regs and it will easily pop out of the necklace and the hose will deploy easily, no matter what direction they are coming from. No clips, no guessing. The port tank's reg is on the port and the starboard tank's reg is, you guessed it, on the starboard. My helmet never comes in contact with either of the hoses since I don't route them that way.

Here is a pic of my port tank. Three bungees keep the hose under control: One at the neck, and two on the body. While I use 90 or 120 degree angles, the port reg is a "lefty". The hose feeds straight to my face and the excess stays safe within the bungee. When I switch to the other side, I pull out a couple of inches of hose and tuck in a few inches on the abandoned side. The abandoned reg sits under my chin, close to my chest. This is from a few years ago. I no longer use the lollipop but opt for wireless AI and the hard plastic tubing separating the two regs on my double hose necklace is just about half that length.

 

[Razorista]

I know you have a lot more experience than I could match @NetDoc.

However, I had an instructor with a really nasty mind.
When I dove that config while gathering experience he occasionally grapped the reg I was breathing from my mouth with force and from a well calculated angel.
The other reg smacked me so hard one time I could not hold the regulator between my lips for hours afterwards.

btw: I dive with a 150cm and a 210cm hose myself, no shorthose.

 

[Wookie]

If I had an instructor rip a regulator out of my mouth, or indeed smack me with an anything, I would pin his left testicle to the nearest coral head with my trusty dive tool and then proceed to feed him his sidemount rig. Some things are just not called for. But it does explain a lot about the OP.

 

[Razorista]

... the mask cannot come off.

What I mean is:
When the helmet in yanked forward hard (for example by a hose stuck under the rim) it can connect to the top of the mask.
Flooding is normal than and also dislocating the mask strap uncomfortably.
I use a bungee instead of a mask strap myself and do not mind a flooded mask from time to time, so this for me are 'other people problems', they exist, however.

 

[The Chairman]

Mine would just pull free. The necklace is really a long single loop separated by the plastic tube. One grape knot at either end. Since the hoses don't go behind my head, I don't have to worry about hose deployment bothering me at all. I just put the other reg in my mouth and figure out why the other diver needed my reg.

 

[Razorista]

If I had an instructor rip a regulator ...

Well, he was the Teak Kwon Do Expert in that constellation. And he was engaged to the dive sites owners daughter.
I am not that stupid

Ripping the regulator from the mouth is a typical German thing perhaps, but it is done here by many 'advanced' instructors, preferably as surprisingly and awkwardly as possible.

 

[Razorista]

Mine would just pull free. The necklace is really a long single loop separated by the plastic tube. One grape knot at either end. Since the hoses don't go behind my head, I don't have to worry about hose deployment bothering me at all. I just put the other reg in my mouth and figure out why the other diver needed my reg.

He twisted it in the loop, pulled the bungee to half a meter length and let it go
Did not like me much I think.

but could also happen any time in a real emergency.

 

[Wookie]

It's a crappy training technique, utilized by crappy instructors to make crappy divers. I have not personally met a crappy German diver yet, and I've met bunches. Most of the ones that dive with me are extremely advanced rebreather trimix divers. Maybe it isn't as common as your instructor led you to believe.