Ozwald
Contributor
Not sure if this is a rant or what but nevertheless I thought I'd post.
I just took a local sidemount course and am less than impressed to say the least. I guess what I'm looking for is any else's opinion and what they did if they experienced the same. The course consisted of a 2 hour classroom session, 2 hours in a public pool and a day out at the lake (3 dives). Now correct me if I'm wrong but isn't it about "instruction" as opposed to do this and do that and if it meets minimum standards you pass? I have roughly 300 dives on back mounted doubles and was quite proficient but the allure of sidemount grabbed me. I bought the sms100 and had maybe a dozen dives on the rig, made some tweaks using some of Ed's ideas as well as a couple others, this was prior to the course. I had signed up for this course course in the hopes of going over hose routing methods, weight distribution etc but nothing. It was more of a "do this and do that" and all while underwater. Personally I don't feel that there was any "instruction" of anykind but more of a hold your position, OOA drills, air sharing and unclipping. I was hoping to get my trim somewhat better and as I mentioned go over different options for hose routing, tank mounting etc. I am dissatisfied to the point that I plan on heading somewhere south that gives proper instruction if there is such a place, I'm sure there is. Anyhow, I guess this was more of a rant. Thanks for reading.
I just took a local sidemount course and am less than impressed to say the least. I guess what I'm looking for is any else's opinion and what they did if they experienced the same. The course consisted of a 2 hour classroom session, 2 hours in a public pool and a day out at the lake (3 dives). Now correct me if I'm wrong but isn't it about "instruction" as opposed to do this and do that and if it meets minimum standards you pass? I have roughly 300 dives on back mounted doubles and was quite proficient but the allure of sidemount grabbed me. I bought the sms100 and had maybe a dozen dives on the rig, made some tweaks using some of Ed's ideas as well as a couple others, this was prior to the course. I had signed up for this course course in the hopes of going over hose routing methods, weight distribution etc but nothing. It was more of a "do this and do that" and all while underwater. Personally I don't feel that there was any "instruction" of anykind but more of a hold your position, OOA drills, air sharing and unclipping. I was hoping to get my trim somewhat better and as I mentioned go over different options for hose routing, tank mounting etc. I am dissatisfied to the point that I plan on heading somewhere south that gives proper instruction if there is such a place, I'm sure there is. Anyhow, I guess this was more of a rant. Thanks for reading.