Sidemount vs backmount - in practice

Mrs Caveman and the Caveman did a pair of drift dives from a boat in the Thousand Islands today - with backmount doubles. Both dives were very enjoyable - the current was ripping and the viz was pretty good. Lots of up and down drafts, with some interesting eddies. But, dang, those 100 pound+ doubles are a pain in the proverbial to hoist around. Good thing the Caveman and the Mrs are gym creatures during the week. One thing the dives really hammered home was that sidemount was a heck of a lot more stable than backmount. Sidemount, you have to work really hard to come off the horizontal plane. Its naturally stable like you wouldn't believe, once you got the rig tuned properly. Backmount, no matter how well tuned, at some point that mass of steel on your back is gonna want to make you go turtle - basic physics.

Only problem with sidemount is that it's a tad awkward on a boat, but some day I'll try it anyways, even if it's just to spare my aging back and knees the joy of lifting doubles off the bench multiple times during an outing.

That being said, the autumn cave country trip is fast approaching, so I think it'll be the last backmount doubles dive before hitting the crystal clear waters of Northern Florida springs.

Dang, but sidemount does rock, and not only because it spares the old knees and back, and is inherently more stable than backmount. Accessorizing with a cool helmet, complete with helmet-mounted light, is one of the neat things you can do once you break out of the relatively inflexible gear configuration paradigms peddled by some. That would be the divers who laugh at helmet-clad sidemounters but who couldn't, no matter how much they tried, get into a hockey-sock full of cave tunnels without damaging the cave. And damaging cave isn't just uncool, it isn't doing it right.