How To Become A Sidemount Technical Scuba Diver Master

Accelerated Decompression

While I still haven’t perfected this art, I am proud that after 20 Sidemount divers I can call myself a Sidemount Diver. It is the most comfortable way of diving!

Despite the gear choice the entry level tech diver will be taught to streamline their equipment to prevent dangling items and drag. This ensures a maximized profile for efficient propulsion and awareness.

Divemaster —

Sidemount cylinder mounting was developed for cave diving. They have been more popular in technical diving ever since. They are able to seperate the dual cylinders and mount them on either end of the diver's body. While this prevents the diver from breathing from one cylinder in case of a failure of the regulator, it allows them to have easier access to the valves. Sidemount diving provides a diver with a more horizontal profile but a smaller vertical one.

Sidemount can provide a number of benefits for any diver, but is especially well suited for cave diving. (It was, after all, cave divers who invented sidemount.) Among these benefits:

Logged Dives

International Training is the parent organization of Technical Diving International and Scuba Diving International. They offer both the SDI and TDI versions for their Sidemount Diver course. Both courses are similar. Both courses use the same learning materials (which we also wrote). What's the difference between them?

In general Sidemount is more task loading for a diver as the pressure in each tank needs to be balanced in order to have enough gas for an out of air diver and to be balanced on each side.

Logged Dives
Skills

Skills

Technical diving was something that I never had an interest in at first. I remember laughing at the Tec divers and wondering why anyone would need more equipment. I love the feeling you get when you are close to nature. Tom had a reputation for being an inspirational teacher. It seemed to me that I should at least try.

Continue your Tec Sidemount Diver training and you'll be able to learn additional skills for tec diving in sidemount.

Cylinders

The very general definition of technical diving is to be exposed to a ceiling that does not allow a diver to ascend to the surface at any moment of the dive. This might be due to a real ceiling, in terms of a cave or a wreck, or a virtual ceiling created by a decompression obligation. In this case, by exceeding the NDL’s, mandatory decompression stops have to be performed on ascent in order to avoid any case of decompression sickness. In most cases this requires the use of special equipment, e.g. Twinsets or Sidemount, special gas mixes and of course additional training to be able to perform those stops accurately on ascent to optimize off-gassing of Nitrogen.

The Sidemount diving setup differs from that used for backmount diving.

How To Become A Sidemount Technical Scuba Diver Master
How To Become A Sidemount Technical Scuba Diver Driver
How To Become A Sidemount Technical Scuba Diver Driver

The following options are available for those looking for diving classes alternatives and lessons, as well as information on the best next steps in their education.

Divers using decompression oxygen mix all types can extend their time looking at wrecks or reefs on the oceanfloor. The sport diver may be limited to two short dives at 100ft. A decompression diver can cruise the seas for 60 minutes or longer, getting more bang for his buck.

Why do divers fall backwards

If you will not be using sidemount during your cave diver training, what you should be looking at is our CDS Basics Orientation course.

Although I'm still learning, Sidemount diving is something I feel confident in. I have done 20 Sidemount dives and I can proudly say I'm a Sidemount diver.

Check our other pages :

Frequently Asked Questions

According to experts, approximately 40% of technical divers enroll in additional education and training programs. This yields a reasonable estimate of approximately 160,000 active technical divers worldwide.

from 170 to 350 feet
While conventional scuba diving has a recommended maximum depth of 130 feet, technical divers may work at depths ranging from 170 feet to 350 feet, and sometimes even deeper.

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.