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Sidemount diving with Sunreef
What is Sidemount??
Sidemount is the repositioning of dive tanks to run alongside the body instead of being mounted on the back. One, two or even 4 tanks worn at the same time. It is very popular within the technical diving community because it is more practical way to dive in smaller spaces. Environments such as overhead , caves and wrecks are an ideal place to sidemount dive due to the fact you can unclip and remove tanks to bring them forward and manoeuvre into confined areas. Today more and more nontechnical (recreational) divers are using the sidemount configuration, and for all good reason!!!!Our Sunreef instructors Dan, Katie and Jim are fast moving in on this wonderful new way to dive. Sunreef are proud to say that we are the only company on the Sunshine coast that are able to offer both technical and recreational courses in sidemount.
| Here is a little run down on Dan and Katie’s Recreational and Technical Sidemount course with Dive Dive Dive’s Daren Marshall.
First day starts off in the early morning in the classroom with a little theory. Great thing about this course is there is little to no theory! No knowledge reviews or exams, awesome!! Just a power point presentation that Daren has put together. Next is checking out all the new cool gear including our Hollis SMS100 BCD’s. |
After we have altered our BCD’s and bungy’s (that hold the tanks in place beside us) to fit our bodies perfectly, we are off to the gear room to learn how to set up our tanks. We are really getting get excited to start our new adventure. When we first jumped into the pool it was a strange feeling, all we had on was our BCD and wetsuit. We then had to attach our tanks. Now I’m not the most co-ordinated person, so it did take a few attempts to clip the tanks onto the rails but once they were in I found the set up to be very comfortable. As we headed underwater I understood why this was becoming so popular. Why hadn’t we done this years ago?, streamline and your buoyancy feels perfect due to the symmetrical setup. Can’t wait to head out into the open water!
Day 2
Up bright and early and extremely excited to be trying out our sidemount on the HMAS Brisbane, we jump off the 2 Ezy and clip on our stage bottles and descended down the line. Even though we dive the HMAS Brisbane everyday heading down the line towards the 133m destroyer, decked out in our sidemount gear gives an overwhelming new feeling of excitement. We swim inside the wreck penetrating all of the little holes not possible with back mounted scuba, it is easy to see why sidemount fist started out in caves. With a simple snap of a lock the tanks come forward, even the biggest person can swim through the narrowest places. We had a fantastic time diving on side mount and look forward to sharing our enthusiasm with everyone by teaching the PADI Sidemount courses both tech and recreational. It just goes to show it doesn’t matter if you have been diving for a long time or a new openwater diver, there is always something new you can sink your teeth into, in the amazing world of scuba diving.Image may be NSFW.
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