Diving with a “Side-Monted” configuration is nothing new! However its recent practice, the “Modern Sidemount”, has opened up this technique to a wider variety of environments. Today, Sidemount is a light and minimalist configuration providing comfort, linked to simple and efficient procedures; it can be considered the most versatile and flexible way to dive at our disposal!
Ideal for travelling, comfortable for recreational diving, adapted for cave diving as well as ocean technical diving. A perfect redundancy, synonymous with safety, and an unparalleled ease of evolution! The sense of freedom found in freediving brought to SCUBA diving!
Sidemount diving deserves dedicated special training in order to achieve mastery of execution thereby reaping all its benefits, whether in sport diving with a single tank or in more complex levels of training in cave or multi-stage diving.
In open waters & in the ocean:
— Sidemount Open Water:
Open Water or equivalent; 25 dives beyond training.
. Duration: 3/4 days
. Content:Mastery of the configuration and its specific handling procedures; technical control of buoyancy, finning, and evolutionary skills. Configuration handling with 1 and 2 tanks.
(This course also allows for recreational Cenote diving)
— Combined: Basic Sidemount + Technical diving training:
.Pre-requisites:Same as those for corresponding Technical training.
.Duration: 2/3 days prior to the selected Technical courses
.Content: Mastery of the Sidemount configuration, procedures, and techniques necessary to confidently embark on the following desired courses.
In cave diving:
— Combined: Basic Sidemount + Cave diving training:
.Pre-requisites: as those for corresponding course (Cavern, Intro to Cave, Full Cave).
.Duration: 2/3 days prior to the selected Cave courses
.Content: Mastery of the Sidemount configuration, procedures, and techniques necessary to confidently embark on the following desired courses.
— Sidemount Cave:
.Pre-requisites: Cave Diver or equivalent
.Duration: 4 days
.Content: Sidemount configuration management, SM-specific procedures and safety techniques, adaptation and techniques for cave diving.
— Advanced Sidemount Cave – No Mount:
.Pre-requisites: Sidemount Cave Diver or Cave Diver completed in a Sidemount configuration (Basic SM + Cave); 25 cave dives with Sidemount configuration
.Duration: 4 days
.Content: Skill management in a restricted environment, major restrictions, and management of procedures and techniques in this environment, adaptation of the configuration.
— Sidemount Stage:
.Pre-requisites: Sidemount Cave Diver or Cave Diver completed in a Sidemount configuration (Basic SM + Cave); 25 cave dives with Sidemount configuration
.Duration: 4 days
.Content: Mastery of a multi-tank configuration; specific procedures; planning and execution of multi-stage dives.
IMPORTANT: Training does not guarantee certification! A course is a transmission of techniques, procedures, and attitude. I guarantee you the highest level of training and thorough preparation, where hours are not counted, in order to achieve the mastery required for the corresponding course. The certification, therefore, hinges only on you!