Is Side Mount the new DIR??? Building resentment towards us as a group...

[TONY CHANEY]

To NetDoc:
First and foremost, I very much respect you and your diving abilities. I greatly find that your reply is very weak and watered down. Are you trying to say that I have no situational awareness? I am very far from that stereotype. I see and observer all divers with me and around me. The "problem" that you see simply does not exist! So you come into a shop and start a conversation teasing / talking bad about BM divers, thus creating the conflict, and then you post on here about an ongoing argument. It simply does not happen in the cave community or within the technical dive community. I guess that by, " keeping your eyes and ears open all the time," is the same as looking for silver cars. The more that you look for, the more you will see. So, if you are looking and listening to the negative comments and actions then you will get what you are looking and listening for. The rest of will just dive with others that chose to do it different. I dive and screw the politics. I will have a great conversation, dinner and a beer with my fellow divers, no matter what kit they chose, after the dive.

 

[OrangeCountyScuba]

@TONY CHANEY I dont think he is inferring that you do not have situational awareness, I think its just a blanket statement where the masses do not have situational awareness. So you say that you are really aware of what is going on with yourself and your buddies at all times, correct? Then how come with your excellent awareness do you have really bad trim in your picture. Is that not a part of awareness, uh, ya. However, this thread has gone off track.

 

[beester]

Actually I was able to get sidemount tanks on the Tala, in the Red Sea. In fact, there were four of us in sidemount on that trip and they supplied us all with sidemount tanks. We requested them in advance, and they even had the proper left/right valves on our tank sets. They also offered backmount doubles to those who wanted to use them. And scooters ... and helium. Wasn't cheap ... but it was worth it ...

... Bob (Grateful Diver)

Good liveaboard that is ... been on diving trips with them 3 times already and they do have a well run organisation. (including monkey diving).

As for sidemount being the new DIR? I don't think so. In my opinion they're closer to an opposite. DIR is exclusive, sidemount is inclusive. Everyone can dive sidemount, but only the cool kids sit at the DIR table. I don't think I've ever heard of sidemount instructors calling non sidemounters names like "stroke" etc...

So have you ever heard a GUE instructor call anybody a stroke? Because most that I know (at least cave instructors) also dive sidemount if the dive warrants it And yes GUE (I don't know dir) is exclusive but only on following group procedures, not because of some perception of being cool... that only exists in your head. But I digress... back on topic.

 

[The Chairman]

who is determining what is DIR at this point in time?

Does it matter? I made it pretty clear that I am referring to the fanaticism that a few DIR displayed. They soured a number of people from ever considering being DIR because of it.

Are you trying to say that I have no situational awareness?

Actually, you're admitting that you don't... at least in this context. Using your silver cars analogy, I not only see silver cars, I see red, yellow, rusty and a whole panoply of different colors on the roads. You seem to see only black and white and fault me for pointing out that silver cars do exist. Now you appear upset that I'm suggesting that you lack situational awareness in this area. You may not like silver cars. Silver cars may be inconvenient for you to ponder. Still, regardless of your demeanor towards them these silver cars seem to exist

 

[Wookie]

Don't nobody troll like the guy what owns the board. Trollololololol!!

 

[Razorista]

...Still, regardless of your demeanor towards them these silver cars seem to exist

The funny part being that most people seem to assume every car to be just overpainted silver ones.
There seems to be a compulsion to scream at everyone: "There are no colored cars, all are silver".

 

[Imbodie]

It's apparent to almost anyone, other than the converted, that Side Mount has become a religion for a number of us. We've become overly exuberant about our new found passion, convinced that it will save those poor lost back mounters. Maybe it's time we re-assessed our fanaticism? It's not the message in this case, as there are a lot of places where Side Mount makes the most sense. It's actually the messenger this time.

As one of the "new" side mount divers that has NEVER had a set of doubles on his back.... It's a tool, I will eventually have my set of 74's banded and manifolded for open water diving. I can't imagine a set of LP 85's anywhere but on my sides... and I'm impressed by anyone that wears them back mounted.
It's hard to not be fanatical about something that just works so well....


Tim

 

[Storker]

Don't nobody troll like the guy what owns the board. Trollololololol!!

Now, now.

But I can agree that some participants here seem to enjoy

 

[The Chairman]

Don't nobody troll like the guy what owns the board. Trollololololol!!

It's easy to dismiss any inconvenient discussion, problem or difference of opinion as a troll. The whole point of a forum/discussion board is to discuss the issues that affect us. If you don't like a particular subject or feel that it's frivolous, you're free to simply ignore it. Of course, quite often a troll makes themselves known in a thread by calling others trolls.

 

[BDSC]

Sorta stupid n00b question here, since I don't believe I've ever seen or heard about sidemount rigs in my neck of the woods:

Unless you're doing penetration dives with tight restrictions, what are the rational reasons for choosing sidemount over backmount? I can really understand the "Because I think it's cool and want to do it this way" reason, but it'd be interesting to hear some more rational arguments.

Obviously there have been some legit reasons given for diving sidemount but I had an interesting discussion with a few dive shop owners on a FAM trip two years ago. They all agreed the biggest reason that SM was being pushed to OW divers was to simply sell more gear.

If properly taken care of, a good BC can last a diver many years. So how do they increase sells to customers they have already sold gear to......teach them a different way to dive that requires new gear and tell them this is the latest and greatest way to dive.