Intro to Sidemount

Posted on May 11, 2024  •  2 minutes  • 335 words

This is the moment when diving stopped being just a hobby and started becoming a passion…

This was the point where we started looking at diving in a completely different way. Like many divers, we disappeared down the rabbit hole of YouTube videos, searching for tips, techniques, and better ways to dive. One video led to another, and before we knew it, we had landed on sidemounting.com

Behind the site were Steve Martin and Vas Proud, two highly experienced sidemount instructors. What immediately caught our attention wasn’t just their skills, but the way they taught. They had a no-nonsense approach that focused on doing things properly, safely, and for the right reasons. It wasn’t about collecting certifications. It was about understanding what you were doing underwater and becoming a better diver.

Needless to say, we were hooked.

We got in touch to ask about training. Steve wasn’t available to run any courses at the time, but he recommended his friend Vas Proud , which turned out to be a perfect match for us. As drysuit divers ourselves, it was reassuring to work with someone who had extensive experience diving in the same environment and conditions.

During our conversations with Vas, we explained our diving background and our concerns. We had only been diving for a little over a year, and we weren’t sure whether we were the right candidates for a five-day Sidemount Essentials course. Vas was very reassuring. In fact, he explained several times that teaching divers with fewer dives can sometimes be easier than teaching someone with hundreds of dives in backmount. Newer divers often arrive with fewer ingrained habits, meaning there is less to unlearn and more opportunity to build good techniques from the start.

The more we talked, the more confident we became that this was the right step for us. Together with Vas, we planned a five-day Sidemount Essentials course, a decision that would have a much bigger impact on our diving than we could have imagined at the time.