6 replies to this topic

[georoc01]

This weekend I traveled to Lake Jocasse to take a sidemount class from Bill Routh of Off the wall diving.

How this started was two years ago we started talking about going to Truk Lagoon. One of the first things I realized is that a couple of the wrecks on this trip were going to be deep, beyond rec limits. While the ship accomodates this with bounce dives and support divers, my thoughts were if I am going to spend the money to do this trip, I want to be able to spend time on the wrecks down there. And so a new set of skills is necessary to do this.

So this year is devoted to prepare for the 2011 trip. I knew a doubles wing was in order and as I had purchased my singles wing from Bill two years ago, I sent him an email asking him about the wing and started talking about my training needs. He recommended I take the sidemount class, so we found a time to do it, and off to South Carolina I went.

First of all, Lake Jocasse is cold. Even in the summer there is a definite thermocline. On the first day we went out to the wall. Unfortunately due to zipper issues, my dry suit did not keep me dry and I got chilled. we did get through the class, but if cold water is not for you, this may not be the ideal place to take a class.

The class started at his dive shop as he reviewed the benefits and drawbacks of sidemount as well as the skills that we were going to do in the water. Basically you have an attachment to your wing which has two bars along the bottom where the bottom of the tanks connect. The neck of the tanks hook to an upper D ring on the harness. We then set up my gear and off to the lake we went.

After dropping in we did a bouyancy check and work on balance in the water. Then we started drills. deal with tank switches and share air drills. Probably the most difficult thing for me was reaching back behind my back to disconnect and reconnect the tanks underwater.

We did 4 dives in all, practicing the drills. After my dry suit issues, we moved over to a location called the hot hole, where the discharge of a power plant keeps the water warmer.

Bill was great and very accomodating. While I need to continue onto other technical classes (advanced Nitrox is up next), this gave me a good start and I believe this is the way I plan on diving Truk next year. While I was able to handle the basics, I definitely need to continue to practice between now and then and work on the flexiblity in my upper arms to reach this clips easier. But it also gives a level of control and redundancy that single tank diving certainly doesn't give. And it should give me the air to do Truck as I as want to as well.

[pir8]

Was there much of a weighting change for you?

[Greg@ihpil]

Congrad's ,George.I remember what it was like to take my BC off under water and try and put it back on.Let alone replace tanks.I your dilegence and dedication for your goal.Hope we can meet on a SD trip sometime.

[georoc01]

Was there much of a weighting change for you?

Not really. I was diving with weights on my cam bands, and those simply transfered to the AL 80s on each side. What's nice is that you can slide them back and forth on the tank to assist in getting horizontal. We did do a dive on steels and despite taking off the bands, was still overweighted. If we had done a 2nd dive, I probably could have dropped some lead then, but that was the end.

The bigger thing in making the tank change was that the steels were 3 inches shorter than the AL 80s. So it made connecting the tank to the harness behind my back even more difficult.

On my back I never really noticed the height of a tank making a difference, but for this is certainly did.

[peterbj7]

I've dived side mount several times and had no problems, despite having no specific tuition. I was already pretty adept at moving tanks around underwater from my various CCR diver and instructor courses. What skills did the course cover?

[georoc01]

I've dived side mount several times and had no problems, despite having no specific tuition. I was already pretty adept at moving tanks around underwater from my various CCR diver and instructor courses. What skills did the course cover?

Mainly tank failure drills and a share air drill on each dive. Probably the most challenging for me was putting the long hose back in the elastic bands on the right tank after a share air drill.

During the last dive there was a drill where you disconnect both tanks from the back of the rig, bring both tanks around 180 degrees and then swim with both tanks in front of you, then hook them both back up, simulating a tight swim through.

[ScubaDadMiami]

Sidemounting is also great for CCR diving (for the bail out gas).