Sidemount Instructors

[lostsheep]

I am curious who the SB community thinks are currently the best SM instructors ignoring cost and travel requirements. Indepth did the "who's who of sidemount" recently, I recognize most of the names and have met or dived with several. I dive sidemount and have for about 8 years but my "training" has been hodgepodge to say the least. My training has been a bit of WAG, luck, mentoring, informal class, and experimentation; if I can save my buddies some of the hassle I want to. I might even go take an actual class myself one of these days lol.

I have a lot of buddies asking me this question because for some scary reason they look to me for SM guidance. I can share what I know, I can call out BS, but I am by no means an expert.

I don't think there is only one answer due to intended usage but would like to hear what you all think.

If you don't want to name drop publicly DM is understandable.

So what say you?

 

[tursiops]

My classroom instructor (SM and Cave Stage) was Jill Heinerth in north Florida; my post-class practical instruction was from Brian Kakuk in Abaco. To speak highly of these two individuals would be an understatement.

 

[Superlyte27]

Not in any particular order, Max (The Russian) in High Springs. James Draker, Marissa Lasso, Reggie Ross (RIP)

With all that said, when my daughter wanted sidemount cave training and if for some reason I couldn’t teach her, she would have gone to Marissa.

 

[SlugLife]

Check out sidemounting.com. I went through their online sidemount training which was fantastic and "self taught." I haven't taken their in-person course, but would like to one day, despite now being "experienced" with sidemount.

"Best?" That's an almost impossible question to answer, without perhaps taking every class (and even that, it's subjective or depends on context). I found the videos engaging, easy to follow, concise, and informative. and by my estimation they are well informed instructors and good as instructing.

 

[Bald Wookie]

I did mine with Ryan at Aqui Watersports in Fort Lauderdale.
Lots of dive planning, skills and drills, video reviews of the how and why, and good explanation for the gear setup and reasons why things are done.

Would definitely recommend. Plus he makes good coffee.

 

[Jens Bölte]

Hello

I took my training with Audrey Cudel. Later with Vas Proud for Advanced Nitrox aso. Intro to Cave. Nick White was my cave instructor.

Best wishes Jens

 

[billgraham]

Edd Sorenson, Cave Adventurers, Marianna, Florida.

 

[Rapid Metric]

There are some really amazing instructors mentioned in this thread. You can’t go wrong with any of them. I’d like to throw Under the Jungle into the mix of great places to get training. Natalie Gibb’s program is thorough, challenging, and…well, you’d be diving in the Yucatán, which is awesome!

Before you decide though, I think it’s important to know what style of sidemount you want to learn. If you’re looking to get training in heavy steels (typically mounted using ring-bungies) then go with a top instructor that understands and uses that configuration. And visa-versa for AL80 and LP85 using a loop bungee setup.

Sidemounting.com has fantastic online resources, and combining that with excellent hands-on instruction, can give you a great training experience. Just keep in mind that, if you don’t get your hands-on with their instructors, you’ll need to remain open to learning different techniques from the instructor that does do your hands-on.

 

[J-Vo]

Does anyone actually teach ring bungees? I thought that was a system of the past. I may have to revise my post in another thread about there being three major systems currently taught.

 

[happy-diver]

Do people actually teach sidemount?