LiteHedded
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Doubles vs Sidemount
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I don't know why people insist on continually bringing up the SM vs BM argument.....its kind of like arguing over religion.....you are never gonna convince the other side to come to yours.
I dive both systems....I like both systems....I like sidemount more.....if you don't, thats awesome, dive the system you are comfortable with. Both systems work, to dive both systems you have to plan the dive, plan your gas usage, if you need to plan in extra emergancy reserves then do it....rule of thirds is a bare minimum.
The gearing up/down arguments are moot, ive seen both ends of the spectrum, bm taking forever to get in the water and sm taking forever to get in the water. boat diving vs shore diving....i find it easier going up a ladder in SM, others find it easy in bm....everyone is going to find things harder or easier depending on who they are.
And its not a gue against SM or SM against GUE its people against people. I have a lot of GUE trained friends that dive with me while im in SM including decompression dives....why, because we all love to dive, we can all plan our dives accordingly the extra few min of planning is not the end of the world. And lets be honest, you do some OW dives with someone new long before you do staged deco, or cave. If you don't then it does not matter what training they have as you have no idea how they are going to act under the water especially under stress. If you do not want to dive with me because I am in SM, or if you are in sm and don't wanna dive with someone in bm thats fine, doesn't hurt my feelings one bit, chances are you are likely not a person i'd want to dive with anyway.
There are reasons why guys like Edd dive sm.....because it works.....it just doesnt work for everyone.
At the end of the day both systems have their pros and cons. its up to you to weigh those pros and cons and decide for yourself. try both ways, find out what you like best. No matter which why you decide you will always be able to find a team to dive with, you will always have people judging you for your choices, and if you plan you dives properly, chances are you will be coming home at the end of the day.
Just make sure you are having fun, the day diving isn't fun for me anymore will be the day you see all of my gear go up for sale. People like to make it not fun.....avoid those people.
I dive both systems....I like both systems....I like sidemount more.....if you don't, thats awesome, dive the system you are comfortable with. Both systems work, to dive both systems you have to plan the dive, plan your gas usage, if you need to plan in extra emergancy reserves then do it....rule of thirds is a bare minimum.
The gearing up/down arguments are moot, ive seen both ends of the spectrum, bm taking forever to get in the water and sm taking forever to get in the water. boat diving vs shore diving....i find it easier going up a ladder in SM, others find it easy in bm....everyone is going to find things harder or easier depending on who they are.
And its not a gue against SM or SM against GUE its people against people. I have a lot of GUE trained friends that dive with me while im in SM including decompression dives....why, because we all love to dive, we can all plan our dives accordingly the extra few min of planning is not the end of the world. And lets be honest, you do some OW dives with someone new long before you do staged deco, or cave. If you don't then it does not matter what training they have as you have no idea how they are going to act under the water especially under stress. If you do not want to dive with me because I am in SM, or if you are in sm and don't wanna dive with someone in bm thats fine, doesn't hurt my feelings one bit, chances are you are likely not a person i'd want to dive with anyway.
There are reasons why guys like Edd dive sm.....because it works.....it just doesnt work for everyone.
At the end of the day both systems have their pros and cons. its up to you to weigh those pros and cons and decide for yourself. try both ways, find out what you like best. No matter which why you decide you will always be able to find a team to dive with, you will always have people judging you for your choices, and if you plan you dives properly, chances are you will be coming home at the end of the day.
Just make sure you are having fun, the day diving isn't fun for me anymore will be the day you see all of my gear go up for sale. People like to make it not fun.....avoid those people.
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UTD side mount... Anyone dive it?
Z-system doubles sidemount integrates perfectly with my mixed team of SE Asia/Indo-Pacific Wreck Divers (hogarth & DIR); we use scooters to help get down in current on the deep WWII wrecks of the South China Sea (as well as getting out of the way of the big container ships in the busy shipping lanes to Singapore) --another one of the reasons why I went with the Z-system SM is that you always breath the long hose primary in normal diving situations. All I have to do when alternating tanks is turn one on and shut down the other --all easily done on-the-fly & on-the-trigger while scootering in open water at depth. i.e. --I don't have to swap/deploy/stow regulators if I went with a traditional/conventional independent SM set-up, which would be much harder to do on-the-fly and on trigger (with a Super Tanker bearing down on me !).
Was in Vanuatu diving the SS President Coolidge transport wreck from shore all on Z-system sidemount last year December; been in Truk/Palau for October, Truk again the following month November --and returned to Truk to close out 2012 after two weeks in Vanuatu, diving both Z-system sidemount and conventional doubles backmount.
No "QC6 accidents" or "Distribution/Manifold Block Single-Point-Failures" waiting to happen have occurred and I didn't expect any to happen & am confident in the training I've received to deal with such rare contingencies --btw QC6 diluent changes are done all the time on CCR: Where are the reports & instances of major QC6 failures in that implementation???
And no long hose trapping on Z-system sidemount with two tanks because I tuck the excess length in my waist belt in front of the tanks (AG taught this option during the training course) --and no, I have not cut the long hose yet on jagged metal sliding into engine rooms, crew-spaces and other confined areas of the WWII wrecks I've been diving on (vulnerability of the long hose is the only thing I'm really worried about & careful in preventing).
This is practical reality --objective, adaptive & experience diving for months with initial basic training on the Z-system, but now out there overseas on my own with minimal support-- and not just idle speculation or spurious arguments of worst case & unlikely scenarios like in most of the rebuttal posts & rhetoric against UTD's sidemount Z-system. . .
The only problem I had during the nearly three month trip was a leaky OPV, and the inability of the the small 9kg/20lb Z-trim wing to float me on the surface pre-dive with two 11L/AL80 tanks and two 5.5L/AL40 deco bottles attached, even with no weightbelt and a just skinsuit (neutral buoyancy submerged at depth however turned out to be okay). I've since decided to replace with the larger Z-trim+ wing with greater 23kg/50lb lift capacity.
Was in Vanuatu diving the SS President Coolidge transport wreck from shore all on Z-system sidemount last year December; been in Truk/Palau for October, Truk again the following month November --and returned to Truk to close out 2012 after two weeks in Vanuatu, diving both Z-system sidemount and conventional doubles backmount.
No "QC6 accidents" or "Distribution/Manifold Block Single-Point-Failures" waiting to happen have occurred and I didn't expect any to happen & am confident in the training I've received to deal with such rare contingencies --btw QC6 diluent changes are done all the time on CCR: Where are the reports & instances of major QC6 failures in that implementation???
And no long hose trapping on Z-system sidemount with two tanks because I tuck the excess length in my waist belt in front of the tanks (AG taught this option during the training course) --and no, I have not cut the long hose yet on jagged metal sliding into engine rooms, crew-spaces and other confined areas of the WWII wrecks I've been diving on (vulnerability of the long hose is the only thing I'm really worried about & careful in preventing).
This is practical reality --objective, adaptive & experience diving for months with initial basic training on the Z-system, but now out there overseas on my own with minimal support-- and not just idle speculation or spurious arguments of worst case & unlikely scenarios like in most of the rebuttal posts & rhetoric against UTD's sidemount Z-system. . .
The only problem I had during the nearly three month trip was a leaky OPV, and the inability of the the small 9kg/20lb Z-trim wing to float me on the surface pre-dive with two 11L/AL80 tanks and two 5.5L/AL40 deco bottles attached, even with no weightbelt and a just skinsuit (neutral buoyancy submerged at depth however turned out to be okay). I've since decided to replace with the larger Z-trim+ wing with greater 23kg/50lb lift capacity.
It's probably a better assumption that those mentioned are just following the latest shiny bauble and don't really have a clue.
ianr33
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