Sidemount on a Liveaboard... Musings on my trip on the Rocio del Mar

[danvolker]

Someone diving doubles in 10 feet of water is maybe not doing it right, whether it is BM or SM. Not being able to handle an OOA situation in 10 feet of water is not doing it right, whether BM or SM. Unless they are intentionally working out of the bugs and learning from doing stuff. Which is fine too, but they maybe should be doing that solo.

Not being able to handle monitoring gauges though, beyond all that, shows a real problem. It has nothing to do with gear configuration when someone runs out of air unintentionally in 10 feet of water, because, unlike in 100 feet of water, that means there is a brain-lock going on for near 20 minutes. If she had the 'wrong' reg in a check of the gauges would have alerted her to that. But she did not check, and in order for that to matter in 10 feet of water, she had to be brain locking for a good long time.

Perhaps the level of brain cycle theft is higher up the ladder than hand swipes, but IME people with situational awareness, add numerous checks when they are in new gear and new gear configs. And IME people without situational awareness are fighting buoyancy and trim issues. Until buoyancy and trim issues are sorted (and OW class is the place where they get sorted), no additional training is going to help, sidemount or otherwise, because there foundation is so shaky, new behavior patterns are just not going to stick. I can show a nervous person how to something and they can parrot it endlessly, but they never internalize it

The fact that you say "got her to stop" is the sort of hallmark for describing someone who is still working out basic buoyancy issues. What would someone who has buoyancy down need to "stop" doing if they were doing a nudibranch search in 10 feet of water? Anyone who has their buoyancy down, is already stopped, so they can find the nudibranchs. And then in that case, even if they ran out of air, the noticeable change in breathing would give them lots of time to switch to the other reg. At 10 feet, it's a minute or two before "empty" means "cannot breathe".

Something is stealing brain cycles from this diver and it is not the sidemount config. That's just regs, hoses, and gauges. This is not a SM instructor issue; this is an open water diver training issue.

Unfotunately, I imagine this diver sucks in single tank BM too.

Well, this particular diver, while being a PADI instructor, is not good with trim ( silts constantly) or buddy awareness.. All this was worsened with the macro photography she was doing. She is very good as a macro photographer, or hunter of things so small most of us would never know they were there.

The macro crowd she is in, pretty much dives solo at the BHB. I would see her going by, and it would look bad! . On this OOA day I refer to, she was telling Sandra and I afterwards, that she hated the way this system made it so hard to keep track of so many things.....In reality, she might be better with a single tank and a J valve
I don't recall ever hearing of her running OOA on any boat dives, just this one time, with the SM, which was configured terribly.
Also, the moron that taught her SM, also was the one that tried to set her up in a Halcyon Backplate and wing she had bought somewhere...and he could not get the harness to be comfortable for her....and ended up telling her she was to small to be comfortable in a Bp/wing..and that at her height ( 5 foot 6 inches at about 135 lbs weight) she would really need SM if she was going to need doubles...and she has a friend dragging her into cave, so she had to be in doubles.

I agree she is largely at fault for much of this, but everything I have heard about her instructor screams incompetence.
She is a nice girl ( on land) and is one of the people you want to reach out to, but I won't touch SM ( and have no experience with it), and as far as the bp/wing harness, I hesitate to get involved. The story is way too long to get into here
On the other hand, there have been many SM divers at the BHB, and very few look even remotely like Net Doc in trim or configuration..... Most are a mess. Maybe some of the talented instructors for this need to start doing some "Demo Days" at the BHB !

 

[beanojones]

FWIW, my regs are separated by a piece of rigid plastic tubing used for supplying water to ice makers. It's the bigger of the two that you can find at Lowes or Home Depot.

I never understood how your regs worked until you said that. (Speaking of brain lock, I have read some descriptions of your setup and never got it til now.)

 

[The Chairman]

I never understood how your regs worked until you said that. (Speaking of brain lock, I have read some descriptions of your setup and never got it til now.)

I got the idea from a caver when I was diving at Peacock a few years ago. I think it was one of those "Wouldn't it be nice if..." discussions and the idea of the tube just popped into my head. I was already tying a number of single reg necklaces for friends and realized all I needed to do was to make the grape knot separation really long with the tube in the middle. I'll try and post a pic in a bit but I am out diving today and will be hunting anchors. I just got my boat ready to launch (again) and I still need an anchor. Why buy when there are so many lying around for free?

The two reg necklace really makes sidemounting easy and (ahem) far more intuitive. I leave the bungee on my left reg as it's the first one I don. After I don the right tank, I put the right reg into the bungee. What really made this S-M-O-O-T-H was Lamar's idea of a small circle of bungee around the tank neck. I feed the reg through this loop. When I am done with the reg, I pull the hose through the keepers and this circle keeps the reg from flopping all around with absolutely no clips. I just set up a 30cf deco rig using some ideas I got from Jill Heinerth's and Jeff Loflin's Sidemount video and this loop just makes it work nice! I hate danglies and I also hate overly complicated systems. This keeps things smooth and streamlined.

 

[darkmagician]

NetDoc thank you for the very detailed post. I am planning a trip to the Soccorros on the Nautilus Belle Amie and I really want to go sidemount. Your post helped a lot. Can you say a bit more about how you entered the water from the zodiac ("like a somersault"? I am using a Hollis SMS 100 and I am concerned that the BCD may be too big and clunky for the boat.

 

[The Chairman]

We just did the Belle Amie, and I found their set up a bit different albeit easier. Your tanks stay on the zodiacs between dives. I was in one of the military style zodiacs and was set up in the back on the raised platform over the engine which made it nice. I entered and exited the zodiac fully kitted, save tanks, fins and mask. We motored to the site and when he asked us to kit up, I clipped in the left tank, then the right sorting out hoses as I went. I then sat with the butts of the tanks just hanging off the side of the zodiac but mostly resting on it. Leaning in a bit keeps you from going over and the tank rack in the back is a nice support to hold onto. I slid over a bit so the skipper could help me on with my fins and on the count, I merely leaned back and let the weight of the tanks pull me into the ocean on my back. Since we have strong surface currents there, I just arched my back and continued the backwards roll so that my head was pointed down and I swam/sunk quickly to the bottom. It was very easy and smooth and much like a backwards somersault once I was in the water. At the end of the dive, you'll love the nice ladders on their zodiacs. Much easier to get up and they had no problem keeping my tanks in the back where it was easier to kit up. As the zodiac approaced, I unclipped the bottoms of my tanks and stowed the hoses, including the inflator hose. I use butterfly snaps on the neck of the tank to clip into large rings attached to the bungees that keep the tank where it's supposed to be so there's no worry about the tank slipping out. When the skipper was ready to take my tanks, I unclipped the neck and passed them up one at a time. Then I climbed up the ladder without passing up Weights or BC, just like I got on the boat. For what it's worth, I put weight pockets on the tank butts and slipped in four pounds on each tank. This took some of the weight off of me onto the tank and kept the butts from being so floaty at the end of the dive. This is especially nice on the surface as the tanks hang straight down and you don't have to fight them.

 

[darkmagician]

Thank you for your detailed response. I really appreciate it. I am new to sidemount but love it. I think I will follow your lead and put weight on the tanks. Did the Belle Amie crew put you in the back as you were using an SM setup or did you just place yourself there in order to make the setup easier? Also did you find the dive deck had ample space for you and your gear - did they give you 2 stations? Or did you find it cumbersome at all. I have seen the pictures of the Belle Amie and the dive deck looks quite spacious. I ask as I am wondering how set up they are for sidemount and if they are going to grumble when the see me coming. I know the Nautilus office folks said they are set up for SM divers on board but didn't really sound all that enthusiastic. Thanks again.

 

[The Chairman]

There's enough room on their dive deck to assemble and disassemble a battleship. I haven't needed two stations, and what they gave me was ample. This was their first trip with a side mounter (you're welcome) so the initial placement was happenstance on the zodiac, but they 'got it' once they saw me get ready. It really worked out nicely, though.

Now, just a note for your fellow passengers. I've seen some side mounters take an undue amount of time getting kitted up. If the waves are rocking the boat, this becomes a hardship on your team. Learn to be methodical and efficient. That means you should choreograph your kit in your head before you even get on the boat. I lean into clip the tank on my Bungee/BC, then I clip in the butt and sit. My necklace always stays with the left tank, so I pull some hose out and put it over my head. I breathe it twice and if my BC hooks to the left hose, like my SMS100, then I plug in the inflator hose at that time. Then I stand, clip in the right ring to the tank, clip in the butt and then sit down again. Since I dove my Dive Rite Nomad LTZ, my inflator is on the right. It's easier for me to plug this in first, then pull the second reg up and insert it into my double necklace. I use two five foot hoses on left/right regs with 120^o elbows so I never have a hose over my neck. I pull out the one I'm breathing on a bit, and pull back the one that is in waiting. They are almost in single file on my chest when I am in the water, with the one in waiting tucked up under my chin.

The point is: I have a methodical system. I try to only modify a single point of the system at a time and be sure it works before I modify another.

 

[Randy g]

As a new sm'r, I appreciate the time and patients you take to explain all of this. I did 3 days diving in Hatteras in sm and it is definately a learning experience, to say the least.