Cave Sidemount

The TDI Sidemount Cave course is a unique specialty. Because it is a unique specialty, there are no TDI materials provided for this course. Instructors are provided the standard, which lists the required topics, and the instructor may use any additional materials they would like to use to help present those topics.

Who this course is for: This course is designed to teach certified cave divers how to safely utilize side-mounted primary cylinders as an alternative to the traditional back-mounted configuration.

Course prerequisites: Be a minimum age of eighteen. Have a minimum certification of TDI Full Cave Diver or equivalent.

What you can expect to learn:

The following topics must be covered during this course:

• Gas matching procedures to include dissimilar volumes.
• Gas management utilizing independent cylinders.
• Equipment considerations: Cylinder options, Regulator options, Buoyancy compensator / harness options, Reel options, Proper weighting, Equipment configurations.
• Communication: Hand signals, Light signals, Touch contact,
• Problem solving: Gas-sharing, Gas hemorrhages, Light failure, Loss of visibility, Entanglement, Self rescue
• Tight spaces, Conservation, Difficult water entries.
• S-Drills (specific to sidemount).

The student must perform the following in-water skills during cave dives:

• Demonstrate no-silting propulsion techniques (frog kick, modified frog kick, modified flutter, backwards kick, helicopter turns, and hand pulling if appropriate for the environment)
• Demonstrate adequate buoyancy control (ability to hover at fixed position in water column without moving hands or feet)
• Demonstrate adequate trim (ability to maintain proper position during the descent, bottom and ascent portion of the dive)
• Demonstrate the ability to perform the following exercises while maintaining trim and buoyancy in the water column: Unclipping and attaching sidemount cylinders, Perform gas switches with and without a mask.
• Demonstrate the ability to safely manage gas in independent cylinders.
• Demonstrate conservation, awareness, and back referencing techniques
• Laying a route in the cave using jumps, long penetration, using a stage to increase the gas supply. 

What’s in it for you: Upon successful completion of this course, graduates may engage in sidemount cave diving activities without direct supervision so long as the following limits are adhered to:

• Penetration is limited to the (1/3) air rule
• Forty (40) msw maximum depth.
• Planned dives do not exceed diver’s current certification level. 

How to take this course: Book a course from BaikalTek instructor Gennady Misan - IT Full Cave Evaluator TDI. Spare 2-3 days for diving under the instructor supervision. Academic classes, land training, shallow diving for skills and cave dives.

For professionals: you can get TDI Sidemount Cave Instructor qualifications. Please, contact us for more detail.

The cost of the courses TDI Sidemount Cave Diver is 21000 rubles.

The price includes: theory in the classroom, open water dives on Lake Baikal, certification for TDI Sidemount Cave Diver. Not included: cave diving (paid for the services of the local diving center), rental of personal equipment.