SM in the UK

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Paul S

Registered
Messages
48
Reaction score
13
Location
UK
# of dives
200 - 499
So I'm wondering if anybody is trying the sidemount thing in the UK. I've been looking at it for a few months, but most of the information I see out there is US based. This makes it a little tricky to apply for a few reasons.

  1. A lot of the divers I read about are cave divers, which I get the impression is a lot more popular in the US than here. I'm personally interested in deep water wreck diving (30->50m, 100->150ft). i.e. Channel diving
  2. The cylinders that tend to be available here are steel rather than ali.
  3. The boats in use here tend to be either RIBs (but I can see how that works. Big plusses) or converted fishing boats with lifts.
  4. Conditions at sea can be bumpy, and often have current.

So I'm wondering if any SM divers this side of the pond (or anywhere else) have any tales about how practical SM diving is for this type of dive.

I'm thinking that you'd have to mount cylinders on the boat, as often once you're in the water you haven't got any of time to be messing with stuff before you're swimming to the shot line and then it's a quick ok before you decend to get out of the chop at the surface.

Steel 12's (HP 95's -ish) then seem like a lot of weight to be hanging from a couple of D-rings and/or bungies for a giant stride.

...and then coming back to the surface I can't see a practical way of handing off cylinders as the deck is a good six feet+ above you. Again current and chop are big issues.

So does anybody have any experience doing this kind of thing? Once in the water I can see the advantages (esp. for wreck penetration), but I'm concerned about entry / exit.

(Also I get sea sick, and the worst moments presently are the last few when you've got your kit on, and you're sat, fully kitted up, stuck to the bench while the boat pitches and rolls and skipper manuveurs into position for the drop. :( If I could mount cylinders quickly just before the drop, I'd be so much happier.)
 
I have been messing around with a Al 40 deco bottle on my back which weights about 2 lb full in the water. Hanging my twin side mounts on a Jon line just over the side and putting them on in the water which using my deco to breath and splash about. Tanks are much lighter when in the water. My steel 130s weigh in at 54 lb a piece. In the water they are about 11 lb.

Good luck.

While I have you on the phone. Do you chaps wear your BM with the valves facing down? I have been playing around with this also and find a shut down to be much easier or even possible. How do you protect the valves?
 
https://www.shearwater.com/products/teric/

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