The End of Independent Doubles in Side Mount Diving and Why That Is a Good Thing
- Room: Show Floor — Booth #2549
Saturday, November 04, 2017: 11:00 AM – 11:45 AM
Description
Independent doubles in side mount diving was initially created for solo explorers who in an emergency had no one to donate gas to. So it was okay to dive with inconsistent gear configurations, swapping tanks and regulators when you wanted to. However, with the continued advancement of “team diving” in all areas of exploration, the concept of diving without consistent gear and without an ability to immediately donate a working regulator to a teammate has become obsolete and irresponsible. Side mount diving is now reaching all corners of the dive community, from deep explorers to shallow recreational warm water divers. Now a donatable gas source has become a mandatory part of any side mount scuba system. Side mount must be compatible with all other forms of diving: back mount singles, back mount doubles and rebreathers. The development of the UTD low pressure isolator manifold accomplishes just that. Fully scaleable side mount diving with one, two, three, four or more cylinders, all in a consistent gear configuration and compatible with every other gear configuration, is now easily available. Even if you are solo diving, you still have a responsibility to immediately provide gas to a diver in need regardless of whether he/she is your teammate.
Presented by Jeff Seckendorf