Sidemount or backmount – is there a wrong way to start technical diving? The answer is no. There is no such thing as wasted tech diving training. However, there are a few caveats.
Where Does The Question Come From?
The question came from a recent sidemount course graduate. Having completed the course and a few additional dives, the diver was looking at getting more experience or qualify further or do a bit of both. As they researched course options, they found that much tech diving training focuses on twinset diving.
This made them wonder whether the sidemount training had been the wrong choice. Luckily, there is no such thing.
What Transitioning To Tech Diving Is All About
Transitioning to technical diving is different for every diver. Your environment has some influence: where can you dive? Where do you want to dive? Where can you train? The answers to these questions were different before the pandemic.
Your current diving experience is another factor. Dive numbers are one thing but they don’t tell the whole story. If you were trained well during your initial courses, Open Water and beyond, then 25 dives may be a good foundation.
However, if your training was rushed or perhaps you never did reach a great level of comfort, things will be different. In those circumstances, even 75 or 100 dives may not provide a great foundation.
Why Transitional Courses For Tech Diving Matter
Ensuring that you have that solid foundation before starting decompression diving courses is what foundational courses or transition courses are all about. Sidemount, Intro to Tech and RAID Deco 40 (coming soon) give you the foundations from which to progress further.
These courses have a few things in common: they sharpen buoyancy skills, work on developing propulsion skills, and familiarise students with new equipment. (Yes, some of them can be taught in a single tank and a stage tank, but we recommend other options more often.)
Buoyancy
Of course, buoyancy skills are part of any diver’s basic training. But there is a difference between passing the hovering or neutral buoyancy performance requirements for most agencies’ entry level courses and developing true control.
Personally, I find students struggle with stopping and just holding position. So, this is one of the areas Dark Horizon Diving’s transition courses work on. Why? Because no student can follow a demonstration of a more complex skill when they are busy adjusting themselves.
Propulsion Techniques
Propulsion techniques are another area where foundations are required. Divers don’t need to be heading for tiny caves to understand the benefits of being able to backkick. Foundation courses are a great time to add to your toolbox of propulsion techniques. You gain control at the same time. This is just as important when you’re drifting past a reef as it is when you try to navigate restrictions.
Equipment Configuration
Getting to know your configuration inside out is quite possibly the biggest benefit of foundational or transitional courses. Granted, some divers have been around techies for a while and maybe chatted to them on the boat or had a ‘tour’ of the equipment. They will progress faster through their foundational training.
However, those who have not spent the past year browsing sidemount or tech diving groups on social media, truly benefit from taking things a little more slowly. Switching between regulators takes time to get used to. So does reaching behind you to identify the correct valve to close.
Having to master this whilst at the same time trying to wrap your head around runtimes, deco tanks and a whole host of new hand signals makes for a tough week or so. Yes, you could call it a steep learning curve, but I would argue that there are better ways to learn.
Which Transitional Course Should I Choose?
Ask yourself which one you are more interested in – sidemount or backmount / twinsets / doubles.
Then consider the diving you want to transition to: if you know that tiny caves is what you are really interested in, sidemount may be the better choice. If you are looking at diving wrecks in heavy seas, then backmount could be the more suitable option.
Next, take a look at what options are available for training: twinsets / doubles are not available in every location.
All that aside – you cannot lose! The skills you learn on a sidemount course will stand you in good stead when crossing them over to twins / doubles. And vice versa: you don’t suddenly lose your backkicking ability just because your tanks are now on your side rather than your back.
One final consideration: choose a quality course. This does not necessarily mean choosing one agency over another. Choose your instructor. Ask them questions – the more, the better. Try to see whether you ‘click’. Technical diving, as well as the transition into it, is challenging. You will be pushed to the edge of your comfort zone and then some. Best to do that with someone you have built a rapport with.