How To Become A Sidemount Technical Scuba Diver Badge

The next day, technical sidemount was underway. This meant adding our deco 50 percent oxygen and 100% oxygen tanks on either end. The tanks will make you appear more prominent underwater. Each side of your waist has a few clips. As your tanks become buoyant from the air you exhale, adjust your tank to the second clip. You want to make your life as simple as possible. In a matter of minutes, your breathing is switched between the tanks. You can breathe easily because the pressure in each tanks is equal. Like all new things, experience is crucial to comfort and enjoyment. The following days I spent deco diving with the sidemount rig. My buddy David Joyce, Evolution co-owner and Trimix instructor, was with me. We went to the Japanese Mogami Japanese Mogami shipwreck at 164 feet. There, I was charmed and enthralled by the remnants of gas masks, uniforms, bones, and other old items we saw.

Backmounted doubles came into use in part because of the problems with backmounted independents and single orifice doubles, neither of which are as common in modern diving. Independents are two cylinders strapped to one’s back with independent regulators on each one. If a 1st stage was to fail the diver was down to one cylinder. Single orifice doubles were two cylinders linked together with a valve, and one 1st stage regulator. If a first stage failed on a single orifice doubles set all the gas would be lost. The isolated manifold doubles used today eliminate both of those problems. Each cylinder can be worked independently, but the diver can also breathe gas from both cylinders out of one regulator. This form of doubles is typically held together with metal bands and the valves are linked with an isolation manifold, allowing the two to be separate if needed. Backmounted doubles diving is similar to regular single cylinder backmount, offering a profile that is vertically the same.

To become a technical diver, you need to have passion, experience and training. Technical diving can be dangerous if one or more of these factors is lacking.

Sidemount Diver is one of the most challenging courses that I have ever completed. It was because Big Blue Tech, my trusted dive shop in Koh Tai, and Fiona my instructor included many more skills and dives to my course than necessary. Although we made sure my task load was manageable, we still practiced skills. These included tank removal underwater, mask removable, out-of air drills, SMB deployment, and many other things while maintaining (or trying to maintain) perfect trim.

Be aware of what you're paying: All prices include instruction and eLearning. The cost of eLearning by itself can range from $140 to $280. A $640 course purchased from us may cost you the same as $500 from someone else, if you need to pay for elearning separately.

Sidemount diving was originally developed in cave diving. However, it has now made its way into recreational non-overhead diving. Simply put, sidemount diving means that you no longer wear one or two tanks on your back. Instead, you wear your tanks on either your side. The tanks can be attached to a Sidemount BCD with clips and/orbungee cords. This gives you great flexibility. Cave divers were able to use this flexibility to allow them to transport their tanks underwater and fit into tight spaces.