I should mention why I did this course. Firstly because sidemount seems to be the in
thing at the minute so rather than write it off as a fad (which is what I had
been doing) I thought I should actually see what it’s all about. Secondly my good friend Mark had just
completed his TecRec Instructor course with TBI in Dahab and is about to move out to Dominican Republic to teach diving
full time, so this was an ideal opportunity for him to iron out the creases
before he delivers his first proper sidemount course.
Sunday 24 March 2013
I arrived early and was of only a few who had decided to
brave the weather (coldest March since 1962 apparently). I booked in and collected the hire kit (at
£35 per day) whilst I was waiting for Mark.
I had decided to go for the Hollis SMS 50 and Hollis SMS 100 (depending on the dive) although they also had the Dive Rite Nomad, Hollis 221 Regulators and 2x 12l cylinders. I’ll elaborate on the kit later but I should
say at this point that the cylinder valves should be opposing and have a stub
on the opposing side of the valve (basically a set of twinset valves but
without the manifold) for mounting (other mounting methods are available).
Mark
arrived and after completing all the paperwork we started talking through
various equipment configurations; single, double and technical (pros and cons)
on not only the hire kit (which he also owns) but his own kit. It is obvious Mark has a passion for
sidemount diving and when I could eventually stop him talking we kitted up and
headed into the water. By this point
there were a lot of people leaving Vobster Quay as both the water and surface temperatures were cold and
(apparently) the visibility wasn’t brilliant.
We jumped
in the water (sheltered first then open water) and the first things that were
noticeable were the shoulder d-rings were a lot more cluttered than I was used
to and the majority of the buoyancy was around the waist; I was glad I left the
umbilical torch behind. We briefly ran through all the basic skills (propulsion techniques
including helicopter turns and back finning, buoyancy and trim; although I found it hard to
judge trim as there was no manifold/first stage to press the back of my head
against so I just did the best I could) to meet the course requirements
although I could do them anyway before moving onto some of the sidemount
specific skills. Using steels cylinders
meant that not a lot of weight was required however when trying to reach
the rails on the butt plate it was a
real effort to lift the cylinder up compared to an aluminum stage cylinder I’m
more accustomed to. S-drills and valve
drills followed before we exited the water.
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Snapshot from GoPro footage
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During the surface interval we de-briefed each other (me
on any areas Mark could improve his teaching of specific skills and Mark on my
performance) before getting some lunch and a hot chocolate. During the first dive as well as having no
umbilical torch I carried no drysuit pocket contents (SMBs, spools, wet notes,
spare mask) as I was starting to think about where I could put these items as
the cylinders would restrict my access to the said pockets. I will now say to emphasise how cold it was
that during the surface interval those who were mad enough to stay had gloves,
hoods and p-clips freeze but some unlucky diver had their mask freeze to the
kitting up bench. When they were trying
to prize it off the lens stayed frozen to the bench and the strap and skirt
came away. Oops!
Dive 2 was more of the same but this time we left the
platform and conducted the skills on the move as we explored the underwater
attractions that Vobster Quay could offer. The steel cylinders were becoming a little
bit of a pain and I now realise why Mark likes to dive aluminium regardless of
country or location and some of the skills were alien
to my backmount diving muscle memory. I also now know why my friend Jason refers to sidemount as widemount when unsuccessfully trying to exit the
plane via the side door.
It was still early; well the dives had been short; but
with the diving done for the day we headed off to Homefarm Guesthouse where
we would be spending the night. Some of
the reviews on trip advisor seem a bit harsh so I decided to write one here. The guesthouse is run by an elderly couple;
it’s clean, basic and provides an excellent breakfast (cooked, cereals, fish,
and porridge), has en-suite and has free WiFi.
Not only that, they let you dry all your undersuits and drysuits infron
of their Aga overnight. What more could
a diver need?
We completed some theory and discussed the day before
walking about 600m to The
Populars Inn for dinner.
Again I was very impressed; local beers and ciders, the home cooked food
was excellent and free WiFi. The only
thing I would advise would be to take a torch if you go at night; just in case.
Monday 25 March 2013
After an excellent night’s sleep we headed down to
breakfast, collected our now dry clothing and headed back to Vobster Quay. We collected our equipment but
this time we added an additional 2 cylinders; our stage/decompression
cylinders. We headed back in and went
straight to the platforms. As stage
cylinder handling was not new to me we conducted cylinder ditch and retrieval
on the move and this was much easier than with the steels. Although the sidemount configuration is
supposed to be streamlined I again found the area by the shoulder d-rings
increasingly cluttered which I do not like.
Mark also decided to throw in some more OOG drills which were fine along
with finning whilst using the long hose and ascents. Again, nothing new so no problems.
By now all of the skills had been conducted so we swapped
out the Hollis SMS 100 for the Hollis SMS 50 and used aluminum cylinders as our primarys which were fixed to the
shoulder d-rings by chokers instead of bungee.
These were much easier to handle and would be great to use in warm
weather conditions (or the UK but you’re more likely to find aluminum cylinders
abroad). I also found the butt d-rings
on the Hollis SMS 50 easier to use than the rails on the
butt plate on the Hollis SMS 100.
Unfortunately the dive was cut short due to a freeflow from the turret
of my primary regulator so that was isolated and we ascended.
Summary
So, is it still a fad?
Honestly I’m not sure. It was
interesting but it would take more than 4 dives for me to convert so I doubt I
will be using it on my Florida cave trip in May. However it was good to be back in a student
role and some of the unfamiliar equipment allowed me to empathise with students
learning SCUBA or twinsets for the first time.
Regarding the course, Mark was a great instructor who has
a passion for sidemount and I wish him all the best in Dominican Republic. PADI still
have some work to do as there is yet no official student materials or visual
aids but overall it has the capacity to be a very good course.
I just need to practice a bit more!
The boring bit!
All opinions expressed in my
articles are my own and may differ to other instructor’s and agency guidelines;
by no means are they wrong and I would not wish to disrepute any of them. This article is for information only and
should not replace proper training.
Safe diving!
Timothy Gort
BSAC, PADI and SDI/TDI
diver training
l Mob: 07968148261 l
Email: tim@rectotec.co.uk l
Un-inflated from the front.
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