Recreational Sidemount ...

[Jeff_S]

Bob,

Our Essentials of Side Mount class teaches the same personal skills as the back mount class: proper weighting, buoyancy, trim, propulsion, s-drills, smb. Essentials of Tech adds valve drills and gas switch. Essentials of Overhead doesn't teach gas switch, but does teach basic line handling.

In the side mount classes we also spend time on gear fitting, failures specific to the UTD side mount configuration, scaling the system up and down, and gas management (if on doubles).

In our Side Mount Mini, we don't dig into the personal skills, as we expect those skills to be in order for the student coming it. In the mini, we just do the side mount specific training as noted above, and geared to the students' current level of diving.

All the Essentials classes can be taught to a mixed team, back mount or side mount, as the personal skills and emergency procedures are the same.

Jeff

 

[Subcooled]

Curious how many of you dive sidemount on recreational dives. What kind of training did you receive?

I do all my dives with sidemount equipment. It is good to be familiar with it when entering more challenging environments. I have seen what can happen with unfamiliar kit and it isn't pretty.

OW sidemount is actually quite nice, especially with small light tanks and rigs that have no back plates. I'm not sure it's the best equipment for some boat/rib based dives, though. Backmounted kit is sometimes simpler.

I did not receive any training (wasn't readily available). I read books. Then I did a several dozen experimental dives in sheltered waters and recorded everything on video. Then analyzed. It took some time to optimize things (a year) but I learned a lot. The process was interesting. Unless you find someone knowledgeable to help, then it will take a lot of time.

 

[a878bob]

Interesting thread ! I started by slinging a pony up to a 65 on recreational dives and was amazed at how easy it was. And also had an interest in tech. So I looked at BM and SM, and decided on the later. I was lucky enough to find a friend who had been diving SM in Florida and was quite proficient and willing to help get me started on the right foot. Having a keen interest and unlimited pool availability has helped me improve. I have only seen one other person SM, and he wasn't really interested in starting up a conversation with me.

Since that time have done my tech training in SM, done hundreds of dives, here and in the Caribbean.
and continue to refine my skills and looking forward to doing some cave training. Not having anyone in my area as a SM instructor, I decided to become an SSI SM instructor, so I could share it with anybody else who had an interest, not just for getting another card. The course is set up for rec singles, but can include doubles, and does in my class syllabus.





Im I looking forward to having interested students. They will learn about different configurations for different types of diving, Proper weighting, bouyancy, trim, gas management, planning, and emergency procedures. I think those are the elements of any good training class.

 

[Pavao]

proper set-up and configuration, to permit steam-lined, effective cylinder and diver trim, hose management, gas management, mobility, propulsion and control, along with open-water emergency/contingency skills and drills.

I'm only quoting this because it directly relates to my question and your avatar pic...

Maybe it's because of how the picture is displayed, but it looks like the diver in the picture is in a configuration(?) which is a larger profile than a back-mounted doubles diver would have, can you please post the full picture?

--------------------------X----------------------X-------------------------------X---------------------------X-----------------------

I don't have experience with sidemount, it's a lot easier to visualize these differences when you have pictures to compare, sometimes it's pretty obvious that something isn't right, I have payed attention lately to videos/photos of sidemount divers, some of it are from divers that I would at least think they know pretty well what they're doing, and the images show that everything looks alright, but then, I would see someone else's images and it would make the former look not so alright.

So, would it be possible to illustrate these differences here with pictures, showing the difference in sidemount and sling bottles?

 

[Subcooled]

Sidemount diving doesn't make you smaller. It makes you of different shape. Half the height, twice the width (well not quite, but you got the idea)

(and the more protected and visible and reachable location of the cylinder valves is also beneficial in certain types of diving).

Some sites are low but wide (bedding planes). Some sites are narrow but high (doors in ships that sit on their keel).

Devon divers lowest tank is probably a stage or deco cylinder that he can remove and push in front of him. He may also be able to remove one or both main tanks, depending on suit and amount of lead. But that's very advanced.

 

[DaleC]

Do we require a c card for using a pony bottle? that also requires reg swaps and gas planning for a side mounted cylinder. It could get nutty if taken to the extreme. Next they will be offering a c card for diving with zombies.

If I were taking an introductory rec sm course I would expect to be taught the basics of the system (assuming prior ow certification). In the class room that would be:

how to configure the tanks and regs
how to manage tank switches and volume tracking
how to think of my dive plan in respect to min gas calculations
how rec sm diving is not tech sm

In the water I would expect to practice:

gearing up and down
weighting and trimming out
Reg swaps and donating
unclipping and reclipping
diving off of and boarding a boat

But, if one is thinking of a single comprehensive syllabus one has to contend with different reg/hose/inflator/weight configurations and mounting systems (bungee, ring etc...). I would also expect a rec sm course to be broad spectrum and rec-centric and not dwell on stage clipping, deco or confined spaces. That would be in part II, technical sm training.

 

[Teller]

... for those (if any) still interested in the original topic ... what do you believe should be taught in a sidemount class at the recreational level ...

... Bob (Grateful Diver)

I realize the benefits if SM but with good basic skills and buddy teams I dont see the need for SM at the recreational level. I choose the tool that I think best fits the job. All of my recreational dives are done with a single BM cylinder. A single cylinder is plenty to keep you within NDLs and shallower then 100'.

 

[Omisson]

Side mount doesn't need to be a Tech course any more than back mount does. Why does someone even want a side mount card??? Diving configurations are not specific to rec or tech diving. But if people will pay for it, let's create a BP/W specialty. There are reasons I'm not a Padi instructor, and one of them is that I don't believe in ripping off customers by selling them a course that they could have self learned in less than an hour.

With all due respect this is not an accurate statement.

SOME Technical Certs, for example -cave certification requires configuration specific training. Both the NSS and NACD will train cavern or intro in a single back mount, but basic, apprentice, and full cave requires a config specific to either back mount doubles, or sidemount and/or CCR, each is a separate cert, shortened if the original cert in Full Cave is earned in a different configuration.

My further understanding is PADI, TDI and IANTD require a Tec-Sidemount cert before side mounting for deco procedures and Trimix Tec ratings.


Dan

 

[FoxHound]

My TDI helitrox deco procedures cert doesn't have a "in sidemount only" clause on it anywhere. Nor did I have tec-sidemount cert before undertaking it....I was mentored by a sidemount cave diving instructor. (I won't dive tech in backmount, a tear in my right shoulder makes it very difficult to turn off the right valve, I don't want to be caught in a situation where I can't)



At a recreational level I will sidemount a single tank, but I will also backmount a single tank.....really makes no difference to me, depends on who im diving with, where i'm at, etc. I like both.

 

[tomfcrist]

Side mount doesn't need to be a Tech course any more than back mount does. Why does someone even want a side mount card??? Diving configurations are not specific to rec or tech diving. But if people will pay for it, let's create a BP/W specialty. There are reasons I'm not a Padi instructor, and one of them is that I don't believe in ripping off customers by selling them a course that they could have self learned in less than an hour.

With all due respect this is not an accurate statement.

SOME Technical Certs, for example -cave certification requires configuration specific training. Both the NSS and NACD will train cavern or intro in a single back mount, but basic, apprentice, and full cave requires a config specific to either back mount doubles, or sidemount and/or CCR, each is a separate cert, shortened if the original cert in Full Cave is earned in a different configuration.

My further understanding is PADI, TDI and IANTD require a Tec-Sidemount cert before side mounting for deco procedures and Trimix Tec ratings.


Dan

Dan you must be misinterpreting my meaning. To be more clear.... Side mount is not a tech only configuration, nor is back mount. There is nothing wrong with doing rec. dives in either configuration, nor do you need any tech training to dive the configurations or to do so effectively.

With that being said, nobody here is claiming that when undertaking tech training at any level that don't need additional guidance on configuration or procedures.

Hope that is a little clearer.