any advice for sidemount class

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this, but not this



There are courses where academic preparation is useful, i.e. CCR, trimix, etc. where establish standards exist. Sidemount is not one of those areas. I recommend that you go into the course with an open mind and absorb as much as you possibly can. Mike and the rest of the team at @Dive Right In Scuba are awesome.
Now, as with any course, you should come OUT of it with all sorts of skepticism that you need to validate through your own experiences because none of us are infallible and with a course like sidemount, there is no establish standard. Your instructors job is to give you the tools to develop your own experiences and adapt as necessary, especially with something as subjective as sidemount.
Why I recommend not watching Steve's materials before the course is because I don't know which school that your instructor subscribes to. If you go in with preconceived notions from Steve's course then you may be sadly disappointed if they teach with a different fundamental set of sidemount techniques. It does not make either one more right than the other, just different and you need to establish that for yourself AFTER you are done.

I respectfully disagree. There are many ways of doing things with different tradeoffs. A student should listen to their instructor and try their way, but know that there may be other options to try. They at least show up with somethings at least partially configured. They will also understand more of what their instructor is telling them.
 
I respectfully disagree. There are many ways of doing things with different tradeoffs. A student should listen to their instructor and try their way, but know that there may be other options to try. They at least show up with somethings at least partially configured. They will also understand more of what their instructor is telling them.
Your argument could be used to be supportive of learning OW on your knees....
In both cases, the instructor has to break a bad habit.
If someone has already 'learned" sidemount and "tried" to set their gear up, there may be a lot of unlearning and restarting that has to go on.
A clean slate is, well, cleaner.
 
Your argument could be used to be supportive of learning OW on your knees....
In both cases, the instructor has to break a bad habit.
If someone has already 'learned" sidemount and "tried" to set their gear up, there may be a lot of unlearning and restarting that has to go on.
A clean slate is, well, cleaner.
Lol that’s a stretch equating Steve Martin’s content to teaching on the knees.
 
I have already watch a lot of his content. I really like his video.
The really good SM divers I know all rave about it. I'm not a SM expert. Steve Martin, Garry Dallas, Demis Farugia, are just a few of the people I listen to for ideas for "perfecting" my setup.

Now from what others have been saying, you are going to get good instruction. One of the problems with SM is that there are so many poor, self-certified instructors. And that leads to a disaster. During your course, just do what your instructor says. Afterwards, if you are not satisfied, try some other things.

Edit: and if you decide to take video and share that to elicit feedback, you will get some good feedback from helpful folks. But you'll incur a fair bit of abuse from the peanut gallery.
 
I have already watch a lot of his content. I really like his video.
and its completely useless for cold water, steel tanks, drysuit, and diving a hollis katana (just one example)
 
Yawns

Diving AL80s in a one piece harness is nothing like diving steel 95s in a Hollis (or even more different a diverite with ring bungies)
I have a razor and a hollis and a couple of homemade harnesses - I have a couple hundred SM dives in each. The setup, rigging, neck bungies, hose lengths etc is completely different.
 

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