Hey great to bring you Episode #81 Chris Godlewski - "Sidemount Society", with the support of our brilliant sponsor XDEEP and the patrons of Speaking Sidemount. Huge thanks to both for their support.
Looking back over the 80 episodes I've produced for Speaking Sidemount, there is a massive slant towards cave diving and exploration. I guess it goes without saying that this is as it should be, with Cave Diving and the exploits of cave explorers being the pinnacle of the application of the sidemount configuration in diving.
In the early days of sidemount, it was indeed cave divers who were looking for a method of managing their equipment that made it easier for them to get to remote dive sites or through dry cave passages and even more importantly opened up the possibilities of passing restrictions and extending the explored limits of caves.
But in the past 10 years, this has changed. Yes, cave divers are still learning sidemount however there is a large and growing segment learning sidemount on their way to cave diving or to gain the many benefits and flexibility that sidemount offers for open water, wreck diving, and mine diving.
So I am really pleased to be able to bring you an episode where we go back to our roots and talk about sidemount as a configuration for many environments and also get into some of the detail as to how to set up your sidemount system and then put it in the water.
Chris Godlewski is a Polish sidemount instructor who has been a resident of the UK for many years. He came to my attention through a glowing review by one of his students and then the work he has been doing with his wife Chloe where under the banner of "Sidemount Society" they have been travelling the world diving sidemount. Most recently they have been in the Philippines and if you haven't seen their social media, do yourself a favour and check it out. Not only are the imagery and videography top shelf but they are demonstrating a very high standard of diving and acting as awesome role models for sidemount in general.
In this episode, Chris shares how he got into diving and sidemount. We learn about some of his early struggles with the configuration and how they overcame them to get better. I ask Chris about his and Chloe's amazing decision to leave their work lives behind to travel the world and dive!! We talk about Sidemount Society what it is and what they hope to achieve. Chris and I go back and forth a bit on what it takes to be good in sidemount. We talk about the hows and whys of sidemount equipment set up and then we discuss putting it in the water. Everything from donning and doffing to entries and exits, to how to achieve trim and stability along with tips on executing skills including the dreaded "long-hose stow". I find out more about Chris and Chloe's plans for their travel and also their hopes for setting up a sidemount-specific dive operation in the future.
Enjoy :)
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