Just for laughs...

[Pullmyfinger]

I suspect many are diving it simply because they think its cool.
Compared to the usual jacket BCs that are so common.....it is cooler than that.
Maybe the recreational dive world needs a "cool" makeover?

Maybe side mount is that thing.

Lets face it....image is a driving factor in many outdoor sports, scuba diving included.
Pick up any outdoor gear guide, or a mountain biking, or skiing magazine.

Hopefully....the diver skills and performance standards will increase along with the growth of it.


Otherwise....it'll just be a bunch of front mount divers with crappy skills.

I'm sure side mount diving will grow in a positive direction. The long hose. Com guys seem to be doing a pretty good job representing it.

 

[shoredivr]

^^...just a bunch of front mount divers with crappy skills" is a keeper, tks.

---------- Post added December 12th, 2013 at 12:26 AM ----------

Found the pool, I think: Seigburg.

 

[Razorista]

Found the pool, I think: Seigburg.

No, sorry, Siegburg is the other one ;-)

 

[Johanan]

My understanding - happy to be corrected - is that the attraction of side mount to many newer adherents has nothing to do with restrictions and more to do with bad or aging backs and knees.

Correct - the weight of the cylinders comes mostly on the waistband when you walk, so it saves your back. Regarding knees the relief comes mostly from the fact that you can mount the cylinders in the water. During shore dives you can bring your tanks one by one into the water. During boat dives you may jump into the water and have the cylinders handed to you. The best thing is to hand the tanks up to the crew after surfacing when you have to get into a RHIB by jumping out of the water over the board.

However, this is just one part of the "attraction". Another great thing is that you have the valves in front of you. You can see and comfortably reach them. If a freeflow starts, you can "feather" the tank valve and breathe while opening and closing it with your hand. You can even breathe directly from the tank orifice. You have two fully independent air sources and, if you dive dry, also two independent sources of buoyancy connected to them (the bcd to one tank and the suit to the other). It's great for redundancy. AL80s are ideal for SM so you can rent a second tank almost everywhere. Not so easy with backmount doubles. There are other aspects, too I think, sidemount is very versatile.

 

[Ragnar]

My understanding - happy to be corrected - is that the attraction of side mount to many newer adherents has nothing to do with restrictions and more to do with bad or aging backs and knees.

I'll buy that, serves a useful function in that case. But to say it has advantages to gas planning/sharing etc is ridiculous. For example, in side-mount, a simple free-flowing reg is "almost" the equivalent of a manifold failure in doubles, an EXtremely rare occurrence.

Beyond many peoples poor equipment set-up, buoyancy, trim, etc, I see lack of proper gas planning in side-mount a much more serious situation!.......would be willing to bet that MOST side-mount diving is done without adequate reserves for gas sharing, Deco dives included.

 

[DevonDiver]

I see lack of proper gas planning in side-mount a much more serious situation!.......would be willing to bet that MOST side-mount diving is done without adequate reserves for gas sharing, Deco dives included.

On what evidence would you base that assumption?

 

[shoredivr]

I'll buy that, serves a useful function in that case. But to say it has advantages to gas planning/sharing etc is ridiculous. For example, in side-mount, a simple free-flowing reg is "almost" the equivalent of a manifold failure in doubles, an EXtremely rare occurrence. Beyond many peoples poor equipment set-up, buoyancy, trim, etc, I see lack of proper gas planning in side-mount a much more serious situation!.......would be willing to bet that MOST side-mount diving is done without adequate reserves for gas sharing, Deco dives included.

Gas planning with adequate reserves should be well covered in a good SM course. There are a number of ways to do this. Doppler has an easy to work with system that he outlines in an article in X-Ray Mag, it is in section five.
X-Ray Mag #56 | X-Ray Magazine

 

[Ragnar]

On what evidence would you base that assumption?

The math, depth and tanks I see people using.....

Edit: For shallower dives, sure, my statement is probably a bit strong, but go deeper and from what I've seen people are diving a liability.

 

[Johanan]

Do you dive sidemount, Ragnar? I understand what you say about some people making deep dives with insufficient amount of gass, but where does the configuration come into the picture? Does the gas last longer when mounted on your back?

 

[Ragnar]

No, given no failures it's fine.......but one free flowing reg and it's a different story, and to me feathering a valve to use the gas while ascending on schedule and dealing with whatever else may come up is not a viable solution. Could it be done, sure, I'm just saying it's not an optimal set-up compared to doubles and unless someone is actually planning to go into a restriction requiring it or has some other back ailment or other disability requiring it they'd be safer in doubles with a buddy also in doubles.

No, I don't dive sidemount, therefore have probably reached the end of this discussion with you guys seeing as it's your area to do so, just pointing out the fact that much of this sidemount craze is simply a novelty, most people don't need it, and in fact probably don't even realize they don't have the same conservatism or availability to deal with emergencies in their diving because if it.

From here I'm not getting into the numbers with you guys as I'm sure some of you here are in fact doing the proper gas planning etc, and that's great because there is a lot of improvement needed in this segment of the industry and I think was Andy's original point of the thread.......there's a long way to go....