91m for 15mins. Sidemount Diving Record ???
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| During decompression stop |
I generally
like diving deep.
I was
already Trimix instructor when I get involved with sidemount diving and one of
my curiosities was if I will be able to do deep sidemount diving.
After I finished
my training I started conducting most of my courses on sidemount configuration
from the Open Water up to Tec 50.
The idea of
going deeper with this configuration was already in my mind.
I started
doing more fitness and more practice trying different cylinders, different
configurations and of course different emergency scenarios.
I worked a
lot on my SAC rate by doing more fitness so to have the ability to avoid using
large capacity cylinders.
I tested
the configuration with five cylinders in several depths simulating several emergency
procedures.
The next
Trimix course was a very nice opportunity.
We started the training dives starting from
the assessment dive, going to the first training dive at 10m, 27m at the 2nd
one and the others at 45m, 55m, 65m, 75m. The last two dives were the most
important. 80m and the certification dive at 90m!!
The plan
was to go to 90m for 15 minutes.
The student
divers used their 15 liters twinset with three S80s.
My setup
was two steel 12s long at 230bar, two S80 with a 50% NX and the travel gas in
the other one and an S40 with 190bar of Oxygen.
As you will
see in the video, the aluminums were placed on top of the main cylinders with
the bottom gas. This is now old school because the deco cylinders must be under
the main cylinders with the bottom gas. The third cylinder with the oxygen was
on a leash (DIR method).
A set of
deco gases was waiting for us in case of an emergency with our safety diver.
We were
about to go on the shipwreck Monrosa but as you will see, because of the bad
weather the down line ''went'' a few meters further. That is why you are seeing the
three of us in the middle of nowhere.
Some conclusions
There are
many people out there saying that sidemount for deep diving is not ideal because
the regulator exchange during the dive is ‘’Task Loading’’.
For sure
this is not an issue for a well trained sidemount diver that has done many
dives before with a technical setup, especially when the second stages are correct
placed in front of the diver and the rig is absolute balanced.
Your choice
must have to do with the safety and not the task loading. Task loading is
something that has to do with the brain. This is why a well trained diver in
combination with the practice, has no task loading issues. ‘’Task Loading’’ is
the nature of diving. We are diving by using the brain and not the muscles.
Really…
What about
the V-Drill in case of emergency???
We have
seen many divers that are not able to reach their valves and they open the
buckle of the BCD to push the cylinders up so to reach the valves. Isn ‘t it ‘’Task Loading’’???
Thanks for
watching and reading
Special thanks to my friend Mike...
Remember
that in case of you are interesting in Technical and Sidemount training, just
drop me an email at spyros@is-expl.com
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