The sidemount: for what?

You have most certainly crossed under the water lately or seen video or photos of strange divers without bottles on the back but arranged on the sides. Well the sidemount (SM) is this, finally it is not just the position of the blocks. The sidemount is a fully developed and fine technique, coming from the underground world but perfectly adapted to the diving lake or sea and that well practiced brings undeniable underwater. Conversely, if one does not understand one's subtleties, diving laterally may prove counterproductive. We will therefore never recommend enough to start the DM with an instructor with recognized skills or at minimum with a well-experienced diver. Just ask any insider by a sidemount practitioner to make sure there are benefits with this setup. First the sensation of gliding! This impression of slipping into the water as if you were in snorkeling is unrivaled in scuba diving. In an effective blow of palms (see article "The Frog Kick") you find yourself propelled several meters.

Second the stability! Associated with gliding comes stability, with a well-placed center of gravity and wide supports in the water column the sidemount offers a sharp control of its depth of evolution.

Third, fun! Diving SM is also very fun; It is possible to pass its bottles in front of you, behind it, which is very playful but especially very practical when you want to enter a restricted space as in a wreck or a gut. The modularity of the elements in this configuration makes it possible to carry separately the harness, the ballast, and the bottles which greatly relieves the back when it is necessary to wear its material of diving.

Fourthly the sidemount also relieves underwater! It is important to use the most suitable bottles because so after consuming a few tens of bars inside each of them their ass becomes positive and one feels like worn which removes any pressure on the lumbar. In sidemount one does not undergo his material, one simply makes only one with. The last advantage we want to put forward and probably the most important is the addition of security in SM. The easy access to the faucets allows to manage a leak very quickly and the redundancy when using two bottles provides a total autonomy in gas.