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  1. BeijaFlor

    Sidemount from Rec Boats

    @MaxBottomtime ... Nice video! I'm reasonably experienced with side-mount diving, but I really need to work on deploying a DSMB.
  2. BeijaFlor

    Rescue course -- in sidemount?

    James had the shop's office-manager take some photos of the pool session, where I proved I could get out of the rig while keeping up the rhythm of 'mouth-to-cheek resuscitation.' Maybe he'll post a few here.... I'm diving a Katana, which has more in common with a Hogarthian harness than with a...
  3. BeijaFlor

    Rescue course -- in sidemount?

    Thanks, James - whether or not we broke new ground with that course, I think we certainly broke a new trail. And if I drowned for real, in that rig -- if I survived, that would matter far more than my cut-away gear; and if I didn't, then cutting off my gear REALLY wouldn't matter!
  4. BeijaFlor

    Rescue course -- in sidemount?

    More a statement than a question, Patoux, especially now that I've completed the course -- in sidemount doubles, my normal diving configuration. (Now that's a bit of a boast.) My course instructor was skeptical when I declared my intent to do the course in my accustomed rig, and it led to a...
  5. BeijaFlor

    Why could this scenario become dangerous?

    With your tank-necks hard-leashed to your shoulders with gate-clips, a broken or rotated-off bungee is a nuisance but not a major problem. But if you're relying on the bungees to keep the tanks in place under your armpits, without gate-clips, a loosed bungee certainly would be a problem -- and...
  6. BeijaFlor

    Rescue course -- in sidemount?

    Does anyone here know of anyone, anywhere, who was so single-minded bloody stubborn about his favored rig that he insisted on completing PADI's Rescue Diver course, in sidemount doubles?
  7. BeijaFlor

    Maximum SAC for Tech diving?

    Roger wilco on that ... and mea culpa, I have transgressed into inadvertent-deco territory a couple of times in my diving; it's easy to do with a Suunto Zoop. The only thing I could do was to wait out the clock, under the boat, and ride out the embarrassment when I got back topside. Planning...
  8. BeijaFlor

    Maximum SAC for Tech diving?

    Thank you, Brendan, for pointing out the important factor -- knowing what my RMV is, so I can use it to plan my dive. And thanks to everyone else for your advice ... I started this with Brendan's post, because he made so much sense and cued me in to the most important factor, knowing my...
  9. BeijaFlor

    Maximum SAC for Tech diving?

    Are you serious, musikbiz22? "Lots of people do" fly with their own rebreathers? I carry a Hollis Katana BCD, two Mares MR-12 Abyss regulators, a butt-pouch of emergency gear (compass, whistle, and a DSMB with an up-line reel), Force Fins and tropical boots, plus a reasonable save-a-trip kit of...
  10. BeijaFlor

    Maximum SAC for Tech diving?

    Maybe I'm over-reacting, but "rebreather diving" seems, to me, way more technical than "planned deco" diving, which is as far as I'd like to carry "tech diving." May I be honest? "Rebreather diving," as it's practiced nowadays, involves way more than planned deco ... especially if we regard it...
  11. BeijaFlor

    Maximum SAC for Tech diving?

    As in, travel with a rebreather? Carry my own rebreather?
  12. BeijaFlor

    Maximum SAC for Tech diving?

    I'm certified as a recreational diver, NAUI advanced with SSI Nitrox and PADI Sidemount/Wreck/Deep. I recognize that I'm an air-hog, but I haven't done much (or rather, quite enough) to establish my SAC rate. Some dives, I've recorded my SPG pressures at the beginning and end ... other dives...
  13. BeijaFlor

    Sidemount Equipment Advice

    In re adding weight capacity to different side-mount rigs: I found that using only the spine weight pockets of my Katana left me floating head-downwards, especially when carrying my negatively-buoyant camera rig. My remedy was to put external weight pockets on the waist-belt, between the upper...
  14. BeijaFlor

    Apeks WSX-25/45? Versus xDeep and/or Katana?

    If we're still including the Katana, I chose it because its bladder is built with baffles that constrain it from bulging up in that "beach-ball" effect. Here's the way it works out for me -- IIRC, we were about halfway through this dive, so I don't think the actual "bubble" of air in the BCD is...
  15. BeijaFlor

    Training on Different System

    To return (with a little bit of amateur anecdotal material about training on a different system) ... I took my sidemount course, almost at a whim, when I was in Pattaya, Thailand and found it offered by the dive shop near my hotel. My instructor used Hollis SMS100s, and consequently I learned...
  16. BeijaFlor

    Sears & Roebuck, JC Penneys & Montgomery Wards

    Those snorkels with the ping-pong ball valves were all the rage, weren't they? I did get a Voit "007" snorkeling set with full-foot fins, a mask, and an "007" snorkel with a squirt-gun built in. :rofl3:
  17. BeijaFlor

    video light deal: Evolva Future Technology D02

    I bought a pair of these Evolva lights in November, and took them to Phuket/Pattaya in December; they didn't seem like much help in daylight diving unless I was shooting macro subjects. They were a lot more help last month, in Subic Bay -- especially after I completed the wreck-diving course and...
  18. BeijaFlor

    Subic Wrecks

    Beautiful photo of the Phantom! You certainly lucked out with the visibility on that one; much better than I found on it, week-before-last. (A very short visit for me, to avoid deco, even with 26% nitrox IIRC.)
  19. BeijaFlor

    Training and Gear

    DiveRite worked well for me in the beginning; I learned with a Hollis SMS100, and the transition from that to reconfiguring my veteran TransPac to Nomad-style sidemount configuration went pretty well. What's more important, in the beginning, is learning how to adjust and trim your rig -- which...
  20. BeijaFlor

    Hollis SMS Katana -- a newbie sidemounter's review

    You mean, in the 3 Days in Mexico article? My guess is, because the guy with the doubles hasn't learned sidemount.:jester: ON EDIT: When I zoomed in, I saw the other guys have back-mounted doubles, too ... I guess they're just going through a stage. :duck:
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