What's your entry look like?

[MXGratefulDiver]

I'm a pretty bad example, actually, for three reasons: 1) I've gotten spoiled with caves where I have all day to suit up, 2) I have a messed up back that prohibits some movements that would make it easier, and 3) I get incredibly seasick (didn't start until a few years ago....right as I got into diving more seriously).

However, I'd be plenty happy to try it with you. We could do a "dry run" at the dock to show you what I mean, go over little things, and get on the same page. Then we could try it for real. Next time I head down your way I'll shoot you a PM and we'll schedule a trip.

The two places I've had a lot of success with boat entry have been a local lake with a pontoon boat (water was glassy, tons of room) and in Mx (no room, 2ft waves, but no walk). In Jocassee I walked to the edge and started a negative ascent. In Mx, we did a negative entry on a wreck that was 92ft to the sand in high current. That boat was probably the easiest as I did a back-roll with an overhead bar to hoist myself up. My backroll was a flip in the water, and I started my descent the second I splashed (proper negative entry protocol).

Definitely depends on the boat. The one I was using in the Great Lakes last year, although it was nicely set up for backmount, was a PITA for sidemount, because you either had to backroll out of a fairly narrow area on the sides of the boat, or climb over a gear box in the stern to access the swim step. What I ultimately ended up doing was climbing out on the swim step sans tanks and having the crew assist me clipping my tanks on once I was in position. That's a PITA for all involved ... but because of the configuration of the boat it's what made the most sense.

Which is what it really boils down to ... how you gear up is going to depend, at least to some degree, on what the configuration of the boat allows you to do. It's really fun when you're diving out of a small RIB or something like a Whaler. Best way in that case is clip your tanks onto lanyards and drop them overboard, backroll into the water sans tanks, and clip them on once you're in.

... Bob (Grateful Diver)

 

[danvolker]

Definitely depends on the boat. The one I was using in the Great Lakes last year, although it was nicely set up for backmount, was a PITA for sidemount, because you either had to backroll out of a fairly narrow area on the sides of the boat, or climb over a gear box in the stern to access the swim step. What I ultimately ended up doing was climbing out on the swim step sans tanks and having the crew assist me clipping my tanks on once I was in position. That's a PITA for all involved ... but because of the configuration of the boat it's what made the most sense.

Which is what it really boils down to ... how you gear up is going to depend, at least to some degree, on what the configuration of the boat allows you to do. It's really fun when you're diving out of a small RIB or something like a Whaler. Best way in that case is clip your tanks onto lanyards and drop them overboard, backroll into the water sans tanks, and clip them on once you're in.

... Bob (Grateful Diver)

Which goes to the choice of which boat you are going to use being very important.... I have some very definite favorites, such as that Wet Temptations boat pictured already--tons of room....easy on and off the boat....and most important for me---NO Diesel smell--it is almost like an electric boat! Not sure how they do it, but with this complete lack of fumes, rough days ( 5 to 8 foot days) that used to get me on the "edge of ill", are usually a non-issue without the diesel fumes magnifying the seasickeness issue...For that matter, even on glass flat days I love being on a boat with NO fumes!

And...the captain needs to be great at drops.....and it is nice to find a boat with a crew that knows how to grab your camera correctly, or do anything you need without asking....there are boats like this, and they are like choosing a Dive Buddy--a key piece of gear!

 

[victorzamora]

It absolutely depends on the type of boat. I've dove off of Keys-type boats, similar to what Dan Volker in the Keys and NC, I've done the pangas in Mx as well as a bigger Mx panga-type dive boat, and I've done pontoons. I'm excited about trying different types of boats. However, the "Wet Temptations" Dan was referencing looks DEAD-SIMPLE to dive off of in SM.

Dan, about your agency vs operator things: I like diving multiple tanks for triple digit depths. It's not an agency thing at all, and it's not a requirement, but I always feel safer with the redundancy. However, I always come up with the single tank divers. I also only breathe 1250psi out of each tank before surfacing (or a little more if I know that the second dive is going to be super shallow). However, in the worst-case scenario I can get geared up anywhere that a single tank diver could with two tanks.....and if I'm diving alu tanks I'll have a much easier time than most single-tank divers.

Also, with alu tanks I can choose to SM one or two tanks at the very last second.

 

[MXGratefulDiver]

Which goes to the choice of which boat you are going to use being very important.... I have some very definite favorites, such as that Wet Temptations boat pictured already--tons of room....easy on and off the boat....and most important for me---NO Diesel smell--it is almost like an electric boat! Not sure how they do it, but with this complete lack of fumes, rough days ( 5 to 8 foot days) that used to get me on the "edge of ill", are usually a non-issue without the diesel fumes magnifying the seasickeness issue...For that matter, even on glass flat days I love being on a boat with NO fumes!

And...the captain needs to be great at drops.....and it is nice to find a boat with a crew that knows how to grab your camera correctly, or do anything you need without asking....there are boats like this, and they are like choosing a Dive Buddy--a key piece of gear!

... some of the places I dive you don't have a choice, unless you're planning to bring your own boat. It pays at times to be flexible ...

... Bob (Grateful Diver)

 

[victorzamora]

It pays at times to be flexible ...

... Bob (Grateful Diver)

Absolutely. SM is really good for that, especially with alu tanks as you can dive 1 or 2 and they're really light. Most importantly, flexibility comes with experience.

 

[shoredivr]

Are you saying you do this while sitting on the bench, one tank on each side of you, or are you standing on the floor of the boat with the tanks on a bench in front of you at about knee height?

Yes, this is how I do it.

 

[MXGratefulDiver]

Absolutely. SM is really good for that, especially with alu tanks as you can dive 1 or 2 and they're really light. Most importantly, flexibility comes with experience.

... but it can still be a PITA at times. Unfortunately, age and usage have caught up with me, and back-mounted doubles are no longer an option. If I want to do a dive that requires more than one tank, sidemount is the way I need to go ...

... Bob (Grateful Diver)

 

[shoredivr]

So if you were on a charter boat like this one in South florida.....how would you get in the water quickly from being at the bench sitting, to being told to move to the platform with 3 to 4 other divers in a wave being dropped....say with there being 3 waves that would get separate drops to the same bottom site....and when your wave of divers is up, you each move up to the platform, and then jump in on the DIVE, DIVe DIVE command....You might be standing on the platform for 20 seconds to 2 minutes, as the boat runs a course to provide you with the perfect drop point for you trajectory to the bottom site desired. When the Dive command is given, a GOOD diver is in the water the instant the Word is out of the captain's mouth.....and should be 20 feet down and moving down at a good pace in a couple of seconds from the command being given....ideally, you are already swimming down, the moment you hit the water....Easy if you can dive in with your chin tucked, or if you do a giant stride with a 180 degree twist to back flop on entry, then with negative entry you can be swimming down from instant one after impact with water. Bad form, is any kind of giant stride where you pop back up after impact with the water, then need to do ANYTHING on the surface other than get head down and feet pushing you down
See View attachment 179046

Only thing I'd change is the ladders. Up here we are spoiled with the X-mas tree style ladders, a central post with cross bars, so you can just walk up with your fins on, way easier.

 

[SanDiegoSidemount]

I don't envy you guys who have to do the really fast negative entries.

If I absolutely had to jump with tanks already on, then I like the idea of saving the bungee part for in the water, like I believe @canadianoid is doing here :

View attachment 178836

Seems like keeping the tanks un-bungeed would make it easier to stay low, squatting and/or seated until right before your entry.

But I would pick dropping my tanks on a clip-line every time, unless it just wasn't a practical option. Especially on smaller, more crowded or cramped boats. (Like mine.)

I also agree more of this should be discussed in SM courses. Managing your gear efficiently is a big issue and learning curve (for any gear configuration, really, not just SM) and not often taught to entry level students. Boats just make a diver's shortcomings in this area that much more obvious.

 

[MXGratefulDiver]

I don't envy you guys who have to do the really fast negative entries.

If I absolutely had to jump with tanks already on, then I like the idea of saving the bungee part for in the water, like I believe @canadianoid is doing here :

View attachment 178836

Seems like keeping the tanks un-bungeed would make it easier to stay low, squatting and/or seated until right before your entry.

But I would pick dropping my tanks on a clip-line every time, unless it just wasn't a practical option. Especially on smaller, more crowded or cramped boats. (Like mine.)

I also agree more of this should be discussed in SM courses. Managing your gear efficiently is a big issue and learning curve (for any gear configuration, really, not just SM) and not often taught to entry level students. Boats just make a diver's shortcomings in this area that much more obvious.

That was probably the only downside to taking my sidemount training in a cave ... there were no giant strides or backroll entries ...

... Bob (Grateful Diver)