How To Become A Sidemount Technical Scuba Diver Design
One of the big risks for a technical diver is decompression sickness. It occurs when nitrogen gas cannot exit the body thru respiration on ascent as the ambient pressure decreases. Therefore stops have to be executed on ascent in order to avoid a pressure difference too big so nitrogen bubbles can be formed. Buoyancy control is very important to control the stops on ascent and increase efficiency for off-gassing of nitrogen. Another important skill is proper breathing which makes metabolism efficient. Trim, which we call a proper tech diving position such as horizontal with a slight arch in the back, looking forward and knees at a 90 degree angle with fins pointing back. Trim prevents stirring up sediments on the bottom as well as most efficient movement in the water. And of course proper finning techniques to avoid overexertion are mandatory to make a diver achieve maximum performance. Now you might say, we want to have fun when we go diving and not be a machine.
My first courses were technical sidemount, and sidemount. Sidemount diving, which is the name of the course, involves placing your tank into your hands. My hands and knuckles were covered with cuts by the end. It is possible to remove the tanks from the clips and lay them out front of you Superman-style. The afternoon dive went much better after I made some adjustments to our harness. I was now comfortable with my harness, and was 'Superman'-ing with the tanks. Sidemount allows for an extraordinary level of freedom. Matt had set up obstacles courses. Soon we were flying around them, with tanks out front, barrel rolling and even swimming upside-down.
