Sidemount Scuba Training

Recreational Sidemount Diving

I will admit my Sidemount Diver course was probably one of the most challenging courses I have ever done. Mind you, this was mainly because my trusted dive center in Koh Tao, Big Blue Tech, and my instructor Fiona included a lot more skills and dives as part of my course than required. While always making sure that my task load was manageable we practiced skills over and over again and included things like mask removable, tank removable underwater, SMB deployment, out of air drills, and many more all while staying (or at least trying to) in perfect trim.

Skills (specific). Throughout the tech program, specific diving skills are practiced until they are perfect. Overhead diving navigation and line skills can be honed until they are automatic. Decompression divers know how to manage the gas and plan stops. Rebreather divers meticulously construct, test and tear down their equipment to ensure that it is functional. The skills required for each course are mastered at the beginning level. As you progress, they can be further developed. Each level takes these skills further and creates new challenges that make you a more knowledgeable, competent and well-rounded diver.

Twinsets on the other hand are two tanks attached to the back of the diver and are usually connected with each other thru a manifold. This means a diver can access to both tanks using a single regulator.

Take a look at these three options if diving classes and lessons are not what you desire or you need to decide where to go next.

How long can you dive with 2 tanks

Along with the Sidemount equipment that is specialized, you will also need your typical wetsuits, fins, masks, computer, compass, DSMB and other necessary equipment.

At first, technical diving was not something that interested me. I can clearly recall chuckling to my self at the Tec divers I observed, and wondering why anyone would want to have more equipment under water. I love the feeling of freedom and closeness to nature that can envelope you in "the quiet world". Tom was a respected teacher who I felt it was important to share my experience in Tec courses with.

How long can you dive with 2 tanks
What was found at the bottom of the Mariana Trench

What was found at the bottom of the Mariana Trench

Sidemount diving offers additional air sources, as you can dive with two tanks, each one with an SPG regulator and a first stage. Sidemount diving is safer and provides little air-hogs, like me, with more air. Sidemount diving is extremely comfortable. You can put tanks on the surface, and there is no pressure on your stomach.

New gear means new techniques. Sidemount diving, even if it's simple, requires some new skills (easily learned).

Sidemount Scuba Training

Tec Diving Equipment

Sidemount regulators will be taught. Asidemount regulators can be used on both long and short hoses. Sidemount regs are marked differently to normal regs. This allows you to easily identify the tank that you are currently breathing from. In my training, I was given a swivel elbow to use as a regulator for my short tube. There will be 2 SPGs available - one each for each stage.

Initial pool sessions were hard. I felt like an openwater diver again, strapped in to the twin tanks trying to conduct valve drills. However, as we moved through the Tec 40 to 45 and 50 courses, our skills improved and we were able to enjoy the course. The most satisfying part of Tec diving is taking your skills, buoyancy, knowledge and awareness to the next stage. It is quite exciting to be able to manage life-threatening emergencies at deep water without having to climb to the surface (due decompression requirements). It's gratifying to execute your dive plan in military precision.

How To Become A Sidemount Technical Scuba Diver 500
How To Become A Sidemount Technical Scuba Diver 500

For dives past 130ft decompression divers blend some Helium into their cylinders and dip into the realm of the rarely seen. The reefs and wrecks they experience are sometimes visited less frequently in a year than astronauts to the moon.

There is a wide variety of equipment that is used by technical divers the biggest impact on the decision is the environment a diver is exposed to. Many cave divers prefer to use Sidemount which means, independent single tanks are mount to the side of the divers’ body and attached by clips on a D-Ring on the waist band on the harness and on the shoulder. This allows the diver to detach and don tanks to fit thru tiny restrictions and have a lower overall profile to go to places unreachable for divers who chose backmount. During multiple trips, additional tanks can be placed in a cave or a wreck to allow the diver deeper penetration dives and to pick up tanks when leaving the cave or wreck.

How To Become A Tech Diver

To dive beyond 130ft, decompression divers should add some Helium to their cylinders. This will allow them to enter the realm of the seldom seen. Sometimes, the reefs and wrecks they visit are visited less often per year than astronauts to orbit the moon.

One of most significant changes to the equipment cave divers use since the beginning is the shift from using backmounted doubles towards sidemount. While a large number of cave divers are now sidemounting, it is possible that there are many more sidemount cave diver than backmount.

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Frequently Asked Questions

The depth range of oxygen rebreathers (simple closed circuit) is limited to approximately 6 m, beyond which the risk of acute oxygen toxicity rises to unacceptable levels very quickly.

- Increased Bottom Time A Closed Circuit diver is not concerned with running out of gas because they are only limited by decompression. This can also be reduced by selecting an oxygen partial pressure that provides the diver with virtually limitless bottom times in 60 feet or less of water.

Technical diving (also known as tec diving or tech diving) is non-professional scuba diving that exceeds the agency-specified limits of recreational diving.