Tech/Cave Gear

[kensuf]

Bill doesn't dive independents.

 

[Johanan]

Those two main styles are Mx/Alu style and FL/Steel style Picking a "doctrine" is, to me, as simple as knowing where the majority of your diving is and/or will-be.

Thanks, that is a good point, but this is a more advanced phase. The focus of last few posts was on sidemount converts who do not understand the configuration. My recommendation for them would be to find a really good instructor and let him/her teach you his/her "style". Sure, there are other schools and styles, but if you copy a good professional, you will not go astray. When the student has completed some 100+ dives following his teachers example, then he/she will be comfortable enough to be creative with the gear etc. No rocket science.

 

[victorzamora]

Bill doesn't dive independents.

I didn't think so, but someone told me he dives independent and non-isolotable manifolded doubles. I apologize for being incorrect, above, and have removed the reference.

 

[tbone1004]

Bill doesn't dive independents.

is he still diving without an isolator?

 

[leadduck]

is he still diving without an isolator?

last paragraphs of this interview say so:
Interview with Bill "Hogarth" Main

 

[leadduck]

It's one thing to develop your SM skills in preparation for more advanced dives. But there are people going straight into SM that are not doing cave or wreck penetration. And.. there sure do seem to be a lot of medically motivated SM divers. Has the ADA gotten involved in this??

I had two reasons to go to open-water SM: back pain and safety. In BM I never liked the fact that some vitally important gear is behind my neck where I can neither inspect nor fix it. Nowadays more and more people, I heard some 50%, start already cavern training in SM. They may not go into advanced SM caves and don't need the low SM profile for many years, but more importantly they have really redundant gas supply with them and their valves, first stages and hoses in plain sight. I think that's a positive development.

A lot of the SM "standardization" discussion is caused by trying to optimize SM configuration for mixed teams with BM divers, and maintaining BM procedures and training when converting to SM. Think about UTD Z-system discussions. I bet there are plenty of cave instructors who dove and taught mostly BM so far but face a growing demand for SM training today and so teach it but with a BM philosophy and background. In the future, if more and more divers pick SM for cave by default, pure SM teams may become the standard and mixed team compatibility will lose relevance.

 

[divad]

Simply get the best, worldwide respected instructor and follow his doctrine regarding the gear, skills etc. That's it.

What's his name?

 

[Johanan]

Sorry, my English is self-taught. I did not mean one single person but rather - the one you can get from the recognized masters with good reputation. Garry Dallas, Steve Bogaerts, Steve Martin, Tomasz Michur - to name a few. Definitely there are more, who are anonymous to me but known to everbody in Florida.

 

[divad]

Sorry, my English is self-taught. I did not mean one single person but rather - the one you can get from the recognized masters with good reputation. Garry Dallas, Steve Bogaerts, Steve Martin, Tomasz Michur - to name a few. Definitely there are more, who are anonymous to me but known to everbody in Florida.

My bad.

 

[Caveeagle]

To be fair, there's a lot of the same in the doubles world. There's the strictly-DIR guys, all-short-hoses, indy-doubles, isolatable manifold vs not, longhose-bungeed-on-your-tanks à la BSAC, extra d-rings, d-rings on your tanks, deluxe vs single-piece harness, tank positioning (I believe GUE teaches a standard positioning of bands) vs tail weights for trim, etc.

As for which "doctrine" you subscribe to in the SM world, the main problems are when people try to crossover from one of the two main styles to the other without sufficient experience or understanding. Those two main styles are Mx/Alu style and FL/Steel style Picking a "doctrine" is, to me, as simple as knowing where the majority of your diving is and/or will-be.

Edit: Removed a Bill Main reference.

With all due respect, those are all pretty minor variations on a central theme. Excluding dedicated wreck divers... BM doubles in cave country is pretty darned standardized. I'm diving on average trice a week and see a lot of divers. Non-ISO manifolds is pretty rare and does not really change much. Indy-doubles is also rare. I saw one last month, but he even had mismatched tanks and two RH valves, so this appeared more of a "make do" than a planned out config. Whether you loop your long hose on your tank, can light, or tuck in belt is really pretty Minor.

Like I said I have no problem with folks who put the effort in and have their crap together. If you want to SM at the cavern level, that's fine! Just don't show up for intro class as your first dive in half-arse sidemount and hog up the steps for 30m while a line of other divers is overheating, and waiting to get in the water.