Buying gear instead of practicing – why that backfires in sidemount
Why gadgets don’t fix skill problems — and what actually helps in sidemount.
It’s a pattern that repeats itself over and over. Someone does their first sidemount dive, comes back to shore, and discovers a problem. What happens next? Exactly: they google. Then they post. Then they buy something. Then they realize it doesn’t work — and they’re back to square one. Yet the solution would almost always have been the same: practice.
“Welcome to the rabbit hole of ‘equipment fixes for skillset problems.’”
The core issue: buying is easier and feels better than practicing
People don’t like hearing that effort and motivation are required. It’s simply more pleasant to solve a problem seemingly instantly with a credit card — because everyone loves shopping for dive gear.
But in sidemount it’s especially tricky. Sidemount is a configuration built on a very specific skillset — and no gadget in the world can replace that skillset.
Example 1: You can’t read the SPG — so you buy a transmitter?
You dive sidemount for the first time, the tank is lying next to you, and suddenly you notice: you can barely see your SPG. Your hand position is wrong, the angle is off, you twist yourself around and still see nothing useful.
The typical reaction in forums and Facebook groups:
“Which transmitter do you recommend? Ideally Shearwater‑compatible.”
This is not an SPG problem. It’s a hand‑position problem.
Reading the SPG is one of the fundamental skills in sidemount — and there is a correct technique for it. If your arm angle is wrong, if your elbow is misplaced, if the movement isn’t ingrained yet, you simply won’t see anything. But that changes dramatically after a few repetitions in shallow water.
A transmitter, on the other hand, costs several hundred euros, adds a new point of failure — and leaves the real problem untouched.
Example 2: Grabbing the bungees — a Three‑Act Drama
Anyone learning sidemount knows this: the loop bungees on the tank are supposed to be grabbed quickly and securely. At the beginning, that doesn’t work. Your fingers don’t find the bungee, you pull the wrong one, you can’t get it over the valve, or it disappears behind your back.
What some people make out of this is impressive in its creativity: bungee on bungee, 3D‑printed pull tabs, modified buckles, homemade loops, custom DIY hardware from the local store.
But many of these tips on social media and in dive forums are nothing more than equipment solutions for skill problems.
Grabbing the bungee is a motor skill. Everyone struggles with it at first. And everyone who practices consistently eventually stops having issues. It’s simply repetition.
Example 3: Trim and buoyancy are off — so you change your weight setup?
A classic: the tank pulls forward, backward, the diver is tilted, can’t get horizontal. Immediately the suggestions roll in: different weight positions, extra weights on a weight holder on the waist strap, or even lead pieces on the tanks.
Sometimes that’s the solution. Most of the time it isn’t.
One of the main challenges in sidemount is weight distribution, which can lead to buoyancy and trim issues — but for most divers this resolves through practice and refined body awareness, not through adding more metal.
Deliberate practice time is not the same as just going diving.
Deliberate practice means focused skill training in shallow water, repetition, immediate feedback — and that has a profound effect on a diver’s overall competence.
Example 4: Gloves and fine motor skills
Another common scenario: the course went great in a heated pool without gloves. Now, during the first cold‑water dive with dry gloves, nothing works anymore. Boltsnaps, valves, bungees — everything feels foreign.
Here it helps to transfer the skills you already learned to the new equipment. Many of these sub‑skills can be trained dry at home: putting on gloves, opening and closing boltsnaps, operating valves, finding bungees.
It sounds unspectacular — but it works.
The principle behind it: skill beats gadget
In sidemount, everything makes a difference — bungee length and strength, tank band position, cord length, your body size, the size of the boltsnap. And: less is more.
Anyone who tries to solve every problem with another piece of equipment ends up with a system that is more complicated, more error‑prone, more expensive — and still not dialed in.
A good sidemount diver is defined by having the fundamental skills so deeply internalized that they become second nature. They dive with nearly perfect buoyancy and trim, move efficiently, and have minimal impact on their environment.
No transmitter and no 3D‑printed bungee grab aid can achieve that.
Only consistent, honest practice can.
So what should you do instead?
A few concrete recommendations:
DON’T UNDERESTIMATE POOL TRAINING
Shallow water, no distractions, full focus on the skill.
Boring? Yes.
Effective? Absolutely.
DRY RUNS AT HOME
Put on your harness, go through the movements, repeat the hand positions.
Sounds strange, but it’s worth gold — especially before your first cold‑water dive.
ASK BEFORE YOU BUY
Before spending money: find a good instructor. Ask someone experienced who actually sees you underwater. Not the forum, not social media — they don’t know you.
SEE PROBLEMS AS SKILL MARKERS
If something doesn’t work, it’s not a sign of bad equipment — it’s a hint at which skill isn’t solid yet. That’s good. That’s information.
Sidemount is one of the most beautiful and efficient ways to dive. But it has a learning curve. You can’t buy your way around that curve. You have to go through it — with patience, repetition, and the willingness to practice in shallow water even when others are already heading deeper.
The bungee you can’t grab today won’t bother you in three months. Promise.
Trydives and sidemount courses (SDI & TDI) with Christof Müller. Base: Deepstop Schwetzingen. All info and contact at thinking-diver.com.