Sidemount - Terminology

Terminology

Sidemount diving

Sidemount diving is the, now increasingly formalized, approach towards conducting dives with 2 or more primary cylinders secured at the side of the body and in line with the torso – with no cylinders on the diver’s back. A common feature that defines sidemount configuration is the use of bungee cords to provide an upper attachment on the cylinder valve, normally routed from behind the diver’s upper back, whilst the lower cylinder is secured to the diver’s lower harness (butt-plate or waist D-rings) via bolt-snaps.

Sidemount staging

Sidemount staging is the practice of using sidemount configuration (bungee loops and/or buttplate rails) as a means for stowing stage/deco cylinders in a streamlined manner against the sides of the torso, when otherwise diving in back-mounted doubles or CCR.

Stage-only diving

Stage-only diving is the use of standard deco/stage cylinder configuration, without back-mounted cylinders, on an otherwise standard, or partially modified tec/rec BCD. The lower cylinder is attached to waist D-Rings and the upper cylinder to shoulder D-Rings, both via direct bolt-snap. Some divers (untrained in specific sidemount diving techniques) often incorrectly assume this approach to be sidemount diving. No bungee cord is utilised in the upper attachment, causing the cylinders to hang low beneath the diver and not in line (parallel) with their torso beneath their armpits. Without modification of the BCD design, the lack of back-mounted cylinders also causes taco’ing of wing designs and considerable instability.

Monkey diving

Monkey diving is the use of sidemount configuration/procedures, whilst only carrying a single cylinder. It is presented as an option on some recreational level sidemount courses (dependant on agency) and may also be a considered strategy for certain overhead-environment (cave/wreck) penetrations. The use of a single cylinder may require a strategy of counter-weighting to prevent diver instability in the water, depending on the buoyancy of the chosen cylinder.

No-mount diving

No-mount diving is a specialized overhead-environment strategy for dealing with particularly tight restrictions. This may involve divers wearing a very basic harness under their existing configuration, or simply hand-carrying cylinders. Upon reaching a restriction through which they couldn’t otherwise pass, they will ‘strip down’ out of their primary gear, hand-hold or attach a cylinder/s to their ‘no-mount’ harness and move forwards. A ‘no-mount’ harness can consist of nothing more than a weight-belt with several D-rings attached. The evolution of sidemount techniques and configurations has largely made this approach unnecessary, as a minimalist sidemount harness/BCD can be worn beneath back-mounted doubles, or even a CCR.

• Sidemount divers on the USS New York shipwreck, in Subic Bay, Philippines

• Divers wearing 3 tanks (2 primary/1 deco) on practice dives during a PADI Tec Sidemount training course

• Cylinders and equipment for a technical sidemount dive. 2 primary and 1 deco tank per diver. Sidemount BCD shown is a Hollis SMS50.

• Sidemount diver using an OMS Profile adapted wing BCD

• Sidemount diver on a wreck dive in the Philippines.