Doubles - BM vs SideMount

[LiteHedded]

I thought that DIR ultimately represented principles that should/could be applied to every dive?

Is it really a just a 'tool in the box'... or have people just become too intransigent to apply principles, rather than just preach strict dogma?

backmounted doubles just wont fit in some caves. it's up to the diver to choose whether his "DIR" principles (whatever DIR is these days) override his desire to see what's on the other side of that restriction. I don't dive sidemount, but I know a lot of "DIR" divers that will. I personally think it can be a very valuable tool to have in the toolbox. but I just don't have it.

I'm starting to see the sidemount instructors say the same things about sidemount early DIR propents said about DIR...

 

[rlynch]

I think there are places for sidemount - its just the 90% + of the people i see doing it, have no need to do so.
Same thing goes for CC breathers although there are benefits to them i can clearly see. However they just scare the hell out of me personally.

My opinion and its free. Ymmv
*Edit clarified what i mean by Breathers = CCR

 

[PfcAJ]

I think that SM can be a viable option for getting into some caves. Rebreathers are great for some dives too, but they have some disadvantages as well. Where you fall on the risk acceptance scale will help determine what dives you'll do and what tools you'll use.

For me, SM presents TOO many disadvantages, and those disadvantages are just not worth the risk to me. SM doesn't fall in line with enough DIR principals for me to dive it. Same with CCR. I can ​barely​ get down with SCR since it applies to the dives I want to do.

 

[JamesK]

I think there are places for sidemount - its just the 90% + of the people i see doing it, have no need to do so.
Same thing goes for CC breathers although there are benefits to them i can clearly see. However they just scare the hell out of me personally.

My opinion and its free. Ymmv
*Edit clarified what i mean by Breathers = CCR

I think that SM can be a viable option for getting into some caves. Rebreathers are great for some dives too, but they have some disadvantages as well. Where you fall on the risk acceptance scale will help determine what dives you'll do and what tools you'll use.

For me, SM presents TOO many disadvantages, and those disadvantages are just not worth the risk to me. SM doesn't fall in line with enough DIR principals for me to dive it. Same with CCR. I can ​barely​ get down with SCR since it applies to the dives I want to do.

I can truly appreciate and respect these two answers. I do not consider myself a DIR diver anymore. I like sidemount. It is another tool in the bag. I want to become just as proficient in SM as I am in my BM rigs, with and without stages. Will you see me in SM gear in caves that don't need it? Yep, just like you can se me in OW right now in SM. Being new to it, around 50 dives or so, I want to dive the heck out of it for a while. I also want to take it in to the larger areas, and work my way down to the smaller caves. Gradually work in to it, and not just start out unclipping tanks and heading in.

Like you, CCR scares the hell out of me, because I don't understand it. I would like to try one out on a shallow dive one day though just to see for myself.

 

[TSandM]

Ari nailed it -- there are no DIR divers, just DIR dives. (I think JeffG or nadwidny first used that phrase here in my hearing, anyway.) The GUE DIR system is extremely versatile but not universal -- there are cave spaces you can't get through or into in backmounted doubles, or sometimes wearing tanks at all. Those dives represent a tiny fraction of the cave dives that are done, and most of them, in my opinion anyway, are dives which should involve very experienced and solid folks. At some point in your diving evolution, you may decide you simply have to do dives that require taking off tanks, or dives that logistically can't be done without a rebreather . . . and you leave the backmounted doubles/long hose configuration behind, sometimes just for those dives, and sometimes forever.

There are good arguments against using a sidemount system, just as there are good arguments FOR using one. You can go around forever about whether it's better to take the chance of losing all your gas, for the stronger chance of saving more than half of it, or whether it's better to be sure of saving at least half your gas, no matter what. For me, the big reason to adopt the GUE backmounted doubles system is that it IS a system, and one which is shared by a good many well trained and competent divers who form an enormous potential pool of buddies for me There are solid strengths to standardization and the selection of A configuration that works for most diving. When you get to where "most diving" isn't enough any more, you are hopefully a mature enough cave divers to make your own decisions.

 

[JamesK]

Ari nailed it -- there are no DIR divers, just DIR dives.

I remember when you were DIR or you were not. Plain and simple. If you deviated, you were not.

For me, the big reason to adopt the GUE backmounted doubles system is that it IS a system, and one which is shared by a good many well trained and competent divers who form an enormous potential pool of buddies for me There are solid strengths to standardization and the selection of A configuration that works for most diving.

Well said. I agree with standardization on dives. I think the GUE/DIR system is an excellent system, when I am diving backmount. However, and I know you agree, sometimes it just don't cut the silt, and you have to deviate.