How To Become A Sidemount Technical Scuba Diver Director

Recreational Sidemount Diving

Technical diving can still be fun but is not recommended for anyone who wants to go deeper. Cave and decompression diving are more dangerous. You can reduce this risk by training and planning well in advance. Divers who do these dives are expected to be of a higher standard. Technical diving requires practice. You can't learn enough by reading and researching. Divers will find that the minimum standards for diving are often exceeded during training and technical instructors may do this. Technical training teaches divers redundancy. Problems can be solved from 1500ft within a cave. Then, an exit to the surface is possible. This is a crucial aspect of diving in this environment. It sounds complicated and scary. Technical training is both challenging and fun. It also gives divers the opportunity to explore parts of the globe that are not accessible to them.

Skills (generally speaking) - The introductory technical diver will practice their trimming and buoyancy using new equipment. This builds the foundation for efficient diving. Once the foundation is in place, students can start to practice locomotion and then move on with more advanced skills.

How To Become A Sidemount Technical Scuba Diver 60 —

With most agencies you can choose between recreational Sidemount and technical Sidemount. The prerequisites for example with SDI and TDI are the same but the tec Sidemount course will add more skills. It will also ask more of you in terms of mastering them – perfect trim and keeping still and leveled during your skills is a must!

Even though the gear choice is important, the entry-level tech diver can learn to streamline their equipment to minimize drag and dangling items. This optimizes the profile of the diver's equipment for optimal propulsion and awareness.

How To Become A Sidemount Technical Scuba Diver Director

Sidemount Scuba Setup

Sidemount Diver was by far the most challenging course I have ever taken. However, my instructor Fiona at Big Blue Tech (a trusted dive center) and Big Blue Tech (my instructor) included a lot of skills and dives in my course. We made sure to keep my task load manageable and practiced many skills including tank removal underwater, mask and tank replacement, out of the air drills, and many others while trying to stay in top trim.

Divers who are comfortable with sidemount diving can also enjoy open-water dives. Why? Because sidemount diving is very easy and comfortable.

Sidemount Scuba Setup
Dive Centre

Dive Centre

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.

There are many great readings about technical diving. Some are stories of personal experiences and adventures in technical diving that are definitely worth reading. Some of the greatest books for sure are:

Can you drink alcohol after scuba diving

I'm not sure when or why I chose to take my Sidemount course. It was, as with many of my diving decisions. I think it was a case where I thought, "Oh, that looks cool. Could be useful. I'm going for it!" I knew Sidemount would be useful and something I could continue to use and improve on. Sidemount certification would be useful for me if I ever wanted to cave dive.

To dive beyond 130ft, decompression divers should add some Helium to their cylinders. This will allow them to enter the realm of the seldom seen. Sometimes, the reefs and wrecks they visit are visited less often per year than astronauts to orbit the moon.

Diver
Diver

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.

Every PADI Specialty completed will get you one step closer towards the Master Scuba Diver(tm).

How To Become A Sidemount Technical Scuba Diver Quick Guide

You will also learn how to use Sidemount regulators. Usually, you will have one regulator on a long hose as well as one regulator on a short hose with a necklace. Unlike your normal regs, Sidemount regs are also marked so you can easily distinguish which tank you are breathing from. During my training, this included a swivel joint for my short hose regulator. In addition, you will have 2 SPGs – one for each first stage.

Computer-aided instruction is an integral component of almost every course we teach. The Why? The Why? We include all applicable eLearning programs, usually $140 in value, in our courses at no additional cost. This directly translates into an additional day of in-water training. What is the value? Priceless.

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Frequently Asked Questions

To register for the PADI Advanced Rebreather Diver course, you must first: You must be a PADI Open Water Diver, but you must also be a PADI Advanced Open Water Diver to become a PADI Advanced Rebreather Diver. Have at least 30 dives under your belt.