I'll name names.... Some of the folks I respect the most on SB, and no longer interact with are here in this thread, and it's all because of sidemount. Pete, you came back from a trip in the Sea of Cortez where you were diving sidemount and touting the benefits like a convert. I had seen only Rob Neto dive SM on my boat, he did fine, but I mentioned that I thought it was the wrong tool for the job diving from a liveaboard with a 6 foot drop into the water. At that time, Bob jumped me and derided me for telling him what "tool" worked best. Our relationship has been strained at best since then. Since that time, you have come to understand what I said and meant. That while diving sidemount in open ocean from small boats where you can get in and have a bottle at a time handed down/up is fine, doing a giant stride from 6 feet and climbing the (26" wide) ladder with handrails and narrow openings with all gear intact is not so appropriate. I miss interacting with Bob, I'm glad that you can see my point, even if you don't agree with it, we can go on to other issues we don't agree on.
Hmmm ... first off, I didn't realize we had a strained relationship. I certainly don't feel that way. But we do live on opposite ends of the continent, so our opportunities for interaction are limited. As I recall the conversation, you said you didn't want sidemount on your boat ... to which I said then you'll never see me on your boat, first off because I don't have a desire to frequent businesses that want to tell me how to dive, and second off because if I want to dive doubles then sidemount is my only option ... for the reasons I stated above.
Nothing personal Frank ... I don't hold it against you. Your boat, your rules ... I respect that. But it's my choice whether or not to patronize your business. I don't like being told how to dive, and tend to avoid people who would do so. Doesn't mean I dislike them ... it's just my way of agreeing to disagree.
But it has become like DIR and indeed, the whole tech diving forum.
I don't think it's anything like DIR. In fact, I see it as being somewhat a polar opposite. DIR is regimented ... there's basically one way to do almost everything, and the whole concept of DIR is predicated on standardization. Sidemount is freewheeling ... take a half-dozen randomly chosen sidemount divers and the chances are no two of them will be configured in exactly the same way. And that lends itself well to some lively discussion.
I left the tech diving forum because I was wrong in all of my opinions.
I don't know that you were wrong ... but I think that like a lot of folks you tend to generalize based on specific experiences, and make rules that apply to everyone based on a "lowest common denominator" approach. That doesn't sit well with those who aren't among the lowest common denominator.
Now, between Pete Mesley and I we run more tech divers than any other boat, especially now that the last Northeast Liveaboard is gone. I know a little about tech diving, and I have opinions about what works and what doesn't and how to do things safely. I'm happy to share those opinions, and I'm happy when opposing opinions are made, but my opinions are based on watching tens of sidemount divers, hundreds of backmount divers, and thousands of rebreather divers dive open ocean moored and liveboat tech dives. I can tell you what I've seen work.
... on your boat. And that's useful information for those of us deciding what boat, and in what conditions choosing sidemount is appropriate. I've dived sidemount off of boats in some pretty rugged places. Some are better suited for it than others. In hindsight, there are definitely boats where it works better or worse than others. And that legitimately needs to be considered.
I can't tell you how to rig for Sidemount, just like I can't teach you cave diving, I don't do either. I don't penetrate wrecks, either, I play around the outside. The wreck doesn't care, BTW. I'll never tout the Razr or the Z or the Stealth or the X-tec, because I don't know squat about any of them. What I do know is how folks move like wallowing hippos on the boat if they aren't rigged properly, because their weight is too low and swinging as the boat rocks. I also know that if they come up the ladder and don't twist to go through the gate sideways they will chip Melanie's paint, and I know for third that the sidemount advocates are so infinitesimally small of a percentage of our normal customers that it isn't a market worth chasing.
Those are all legitimate business reasons for not wanting it on your boat.
Then you get the brand new guys, guys who have 25-50 dives telling the guys who invented sidemount how completely messed up they are, because some other guy wrote a book about what they saw, and when someone like Andy comes along to try to guide the newer diver, they are dismissed as dinosaurs. Well, maybe some of us are dinosaurs, but 6,000 safe dives should count for something.
You see that in all endeavors ... it's human nature, on the day after losing his virginity, for a guy to strut around acting like he invented sex.
I only tend to lurk on the SM threads, because they are filled with the righteous, the pious, the true believers. It's a lot like watching arguments between the Baptists and the Church of Christ. It frustrates me because I want to grab them and shake them and say "for hell's sake, you're both Christians.".
... and those are the kind of generalizations that just irritate the hell out of me. There's not a lot of sidemount diving going on up my way ... and a dearth of instructors to teach it properly. But most of the sidemounters I know locally have legitimate reasons for wanting to use it, and I don't know a single one I'd put in the categories of "righteous, pious, or true believers". They just want to go diving, and sidemount seems like a useful approach to them.
And that's what I mean when I say I'm glad I don't live down your way ... folks who would fit those categorizations would suck the fun right out of diving for me. I'd just as soon not be around them.
For Hell's sake, we're all divers.
You see? We do agree on some things ...
... Bob (Grateful Diver)
