Underwater Tourist
Contributor
For some reason, most course reviews stop at the full cave level, and people don’t really write anything about more advanced courses they take. So, I thought I would write one, and maybe we get a new trend of people reviewing more interesting and fun courses (for example I know cave survey workshops/courses are fairly popular).
Last November (2024), I took the Advanced Sidemount Workshop (ASW) at Protec. The reason it’s called a workshop is because it is not really a course, and you don’t get any c-cards or certifications at the end. Instead, it’s a class where the instructor shares his knowledge and experience on how to intelligently navigate tight restrictions, and all the associated “dos” and “donts”. Think about the class as a paid mentoring session.
As for my motivation to do the workshop, there were two: #1 was DT video about their adventures in the Bahamas where they tried to go through a restriction. I remember watching and thinking “there is no way what I am seeing is right”. #2 was the DAN guy who got stuck in Florida ~15min away from the exit, panicked, flooded his ccr, and drowned with two full bailout tanks. What I took from both of those cases is that lack of skill and knowledge on how to pass restrictions, coupled with poor gear set up, really bit those guys in the butt.
Also, I believe every cave diver should do some version of “advanced side/back mount” class. The reason being is that it makes you a better all-rounded diver and you won’t have to make up techniques on the spot should you, for whatever reason, find yourself needing to navigate a tight passage. “But I never ever want to dive tight caves, so I won’t need those skills!” – you may argue. Sure, but the way I think about ASW is like training for OOA – it is never in my plan to get anywhere near to an OOA gas share situation, but still it is something that we all trained for should we find ourselves in that 0.01% situation. Same with ASW, I don’t actively seek tight passages nor plan on getting wedged in anywhere, but I would rather get stuck for the first time during a supervised class than in a real-world scenario. And should that 0.01% real-world scenario happen, I would prefer to have protocols and knowledge of what to do to get out of that pickle.
Historically, ASW has been a two-day activity, but the two caves where such training can be safely conducted are no longer accessible, so now it’s a one-day gig. If you really really wanted, I think it’s still possible to squeeze in a second day, but the instructor basically discouraged that because he didn’t feel that it would be worth the money, plus you can cover most of the info in one day.
In one training day we did a 2-3h classroom theory/discussion/chatting/thinking session, and just under 2.5h in open water doing a circuit of 4 restrictions in Mayan Blue and other miscellaneous exercises. (Day 2 would have been a repeat of Day 1 restrictions practicing but in the actual cave). Also keep in mind that ASW is definitely a niche class and I believe any instructor might be a little reluctant to sign up a person they have never dived or trained with before (if you want to push to have Day 2 included, then I am 100% sure nobody will sign up a random guy). So, if you are interested in doing ASW, some forethought might be a good idea.
As for what we did specifically, I think the classroom part is pretty self-explanatory and it covered everything from types of restrictions, common and uncommon hazards, mental aspects, techniques, talking about experience of local Mexican explorers who dive tight caves, finessing gear set up, line work, etc etc. The in-water part was also pretty fun with two main activities: #1 was a circuit of 4 one-tank-off restrictions in Mayan Blue that you first complete regularly, and then blindfolded and then without a mask (so the usual cave training drills). I must say, it is truly amazing what tiny holes you can fit into taking just one tank off! #2 was Bogaerts’ “reg of death”. I am sure most cave divers know about, but for those who don’t, you essentially disassemble and reassemble the entire reg while breathing from it (so first you take off the 2nd stage, breathe from the hose, then undo the 1st stage, breathe from the tank, swim a circle, and the reassemble the reg). Obviously, it’s not about “what realistic scenario would force you to actually do that”, but more about the whole experience and tinkering with the gear underwater (not to mention it’s just a fun exercise to do).
So, would I recommend ASW? Most definitely yes, like I wrote earlier, I think it’s a great workshop to take for any cave diver, and I don’t think you need to have thousands of cave dives either – having 100 cave hours is good enough. If you are someone who gets a kick and plans to dive mega tight caves, then doing it over the course of two days is definitely the way, for the rest of us, one day is perfectly fine.
Last November (2024), I took the Advanced Sidemount Workshop (ASW) at Protec. The reason it’s called a workshop is because it is not really a course, and you don’t get any c-cards or certifications at the end. Instead, it’s a class where the instructor shares his knowledge and experience on how to intelligently navigate tight restrictions, and all the associated “dos” and “donts”. Think about the class as a paid mentoring session.
As for my motivation to do the workshop, there were two: #1 was DT video about their adventures in the Bahamas where they tried to go through a restriction. I remember watching and thinking “there is no way what I am seeing is right”. #2 was the DAN guy who got stuck in Florida ~15min away from the exit, panicked, flooded his ccr, and drowned with two full bailout tanks. What I took from both of those cases is that lack of skill and knowledge on how to pass restrictions, coupled with poor gear set up, really bit those guys in the butt.
Also, I believe every cave diver should do some version of “advanced side/back mount” class. The reason being is that it makes you a better all-rounded diver and you won’t have to make up techniques on the spot should you, for whatever reason, find yourself needing to navigate a tight passage. “But I never ever want to dive tight caves, so I won’t need those skills!” – you may argue. Sure, but the way I think about ASW is like training for OOA – it is never in my plan to get anywhere near to an OOA gas share situation, but still it is something that we all trained for should we find ourselves in that 0.01% situation. Same with ASW, I don’t actively seek tight passages nor plan on getting wedged in anywhere, but I would rather get stuck for the first time during a supervised class than in a real-world scenario. And should that 0.01% real-world scenario happen, I would prefer to have protocols and knowledge of what to do to get out of that pickle.
Historically, ASW has been a two-day activity, but the two caves where such training can be safely conducted are no longer accessible, so now it’s a one-day gig. If you really really wanted, I think it’s still possible to squeeze in a second day, but the instructor basically discouraged that because he didn’t feel that it would be worth the money, plus you can cover most of the info in one day.
In one training day we did a 2-3h classroom theory/discussion/chatting/thinking session, and just under 2.5h in open water doing a circuit of 4 restrictions in Mayan Blue and other miscellaneous exercises. (Day 2 would have been a repeat of Day 1 restrictions practicing but in the actual cave). Also keep in mind that ASW is definitely a niche class and I believe any instructor might be a little reluctant to sign up a person they have never dived or trained with before (if you want to push to have Day 2 included, then I am 100% sure nobody will sign up a random guy). So, if you are interested in doing ASW, some forethought might be a good idea.
As for what we did specifically, I think the classroom part is pretty self-explanatory and it covered everything from types of restrictions, common and uncommon hazards, mental aspects, techniques, talking about experience of local Mexican explorers who dive tight caves, finessing gear set up, line work, etc etc. The in-water part was also pretty fun with two main activities: #1 was a circuit of 4 one-tank-off restrictions in Mayan Blue that you first complete regularly, and then blindfolded and then without a mask (so the usual cave training drills). I must say, it is truly amazing what tiny holes you can fit into taking just one tank off! #2 was Bogaerts’ “reg of death”. I am sure most cave divers know about, but for those who don’t, you essentially disassemble and reassemble the entire reg while breathing from it (so first you take off the 2nd stage, breathe from the hose, then undo the 1st stage, breathe from the tank, swim a circle, and the reassemble the reg). Obviously, it’s not about “what realistic scenario would force you to actually do that”, but more about the whole experience and tinkering with the gear underwater (not to mention it’s just a fun exercise to do).
So, would I recommend ASW? Most definitely yes, like I wrote earlier, I think it’s a great workshop to take for any cave diver, and I don’t think you need to have thousands of cave dives either – having 100 cave hours is good enough. If you are someone who gets a kick and plans to dive mega tight caves, then doing it over the course of two days is definitely the way, for the rest of us, one day is perfectly fine.
