Tanks on the Side - Sportdiver.com

A couple of years ago, my exploration of a blue hole in the Bahamas was brought to an abrupt halt by a pillar of limestone that pinched a promising cave passage to a 15-inch width. Shining my light through this restriction, I could see the opening to a huge chamber just ahead, but there was no way to squeeze my body and a set of double tanks through the gap. Forget all those stories you may have heard about cave divers removing their tanks and shoving them ahead. I wasn't about to take that risk at the top of a vertical fissure that bottomed out somewhere beyond 300 feet. Instead, I retreated to the surface, but not before repeating the Terminator's famous warning: I'll be back. This year, I will be back, and I'll be wearing a new dive kit that will allow me to squeeze through that small opening and explore what lies beyond. This system is known as a side-mount rig, and it is a tank configuration that is becoming increasingly popular with advanced and technical divers. Side mounting, as the name suggests, places the diver's tanks at the side of the body and under the arms, thus reducing the diver's front-to-back profile to less than a foot. British sump divers were among the first to perfect side-mounting systems, but their reasons had more to do with logistics than with tight spaces. To reach the submerged portions of a cave, known as sumps, often requires wading or clambering over slick or jagged rock floors. Doing so while wearing a 100-pound pair of back-mounted double tanks would prove hazardous, if not impossible. Instead, sump divers and their support teams carry compact single tanks through the dry portions of the cave, then attach these tanks to the diver's weight belt at the beginning of the sump. The next evolution in side-mount technique came when American cave divers such as Woody Jasper used side-mounted tanks to squeeze into low or narrow underwater cave passages too confined for traditional double-tank rigs. For two decades, the side-mount fraternity remained a subculture within the cave community, with most enthusiasts creating their own specialized rigs from modified stabilizing jackets, horse-collar BCs, or modified technical diving harnesses. Now, a new system promises to bring side-mount diving out of the small, dark places and into the technical mainstream. The crew at Dive Rite manufacturing perfected this system, using their TransPac harness and other readily available components to create a standardized, simple method for wearing tanks on the side. Because this system allows for fast attachment and removal of the tanks, it is also finding uses beyond the small, dark places. Divers such as Dive Rite's Jim Fishback, who suffers from back problems and cannot wear double tanks, find it easier to transport single tanks to the dive site, then attach these tanks individually once in the water. Divers working from small boats find side mounting offers similar advantages when entering or exiting the water, and exploratory divers working in remote areas where double tanks are unavailable find side mounting provides the necessary combination of redundancy and range needed to push virgin cave passage or penetrate a new wreck. If you are interested in learning more about side-mount systems, start with Dive Rite's home page below.

	Paul Humann; he'd help me ID fish
	Cathy Church; she'd help me set up the perfect shot
	Alan Rebbe; we'd have the wildest dive adventures
	Teddy Tucker; I want to find treasure!
	Richie Kohler; wrecks are where it's at.

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