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 :)

Hey, great to bring you Episode #80 Stephen Fordyce - "Seconds from Death" with the support of our sponsor XDEEP and the patrons of Speaking Sidemount. Huge thanks to both for their support, which makes this podcast possible.   The title refers to Australian Tech Diver of the Year, Stephen Fordyce reliving his harrowing, near-death experience where he had a laryngospasm at over 50m while on a push cave exploration dive in Tasmania Australia. To say this was harrowing is an understatement but Stephen's story of survival and subsequently what he has learned about the incident is as compelling as it is terrifying.   In addition to recalling the near-death experience, Stephen relates some on his diving background, we talk about how he combines his engineering business with diving, we discuss what it takes to be a cave explorer and then, he shares on his exploration efforts in Tasmania Australia.   Image Credit & Thanks to Liz Rogers & Stewart Donn.   OzTek Presentations - https://oztek.com.au/ondemand   #stephenfordyce #CDAA #OzTek #Stevedavis #Sidemountpros #cavediving #Caveexploration

Hi, here's episode #79 Rannvá Jørmundsson - "Becoming an Explorer" brought to you by our brilliant sponsor XDEEP and the patrons of Speaking Sidemount. Huge thanks to both for their support that makes everything you are about to listen to possible.

One of the enduring themes of Speaking Sidemount is to shine a light on the applications of sidemount diving. I am a strong believer and practitioner in diving sidemount in nearly any application or environment but there's no doubt that if you dive overheads, and in particular caves, sooner or later you are going to find a space that is too small for backmount diving. Or you will need to lug gear far enough or over terrain where you'll want to break it down into smaller parts. This, of course, is where sidemount really shines and is the reason this podcast features many, many great cave divers.

I'd also add, that cave diving demands the highest levels of sidemount skills… buoyancy control, trim, and balance - what I call relaxed static stability... meaning the ability to be still in a confined space, and effective propulsion techniques including frog kick and the back kick. No other type of diving is as demanding in these aspects.

I draw a strong distinction between cave diving and cave exploration. Exploration requires and builds upon a strong foundation of cave diving skills and experience. But it requires much more. Aspects such as… searching for prospective caves, dealing with landowners, camping in remote locations, and complex access skills like single rope technique. Then there's the diving… preparation and planning, working in teams, reading a cave, line laying for survey, surveying the cave itself, passing unknown restrictions, and self-reliance or solo diving. Add to that the mindset and discipline required and it is quite a leap from your average cave dive.

I've often thought about how you get started and what it takes to become an explorer. There is no doubt that leaning on the experience of other explorers is the best way to go. By way of example, you may remember my discussion with Tamara May back in episode 60 released a couple of years ago now where Tamara talked about Project Xunaan in Tulum Mexico where Robbie Schmittner, one of the world's leading cave explorers had pulled together a team of six female divers to continue his exploration in that area. Along the way, he would teach and mentor them on what, for most of them, was their first genuine exploration project.

While COVID delayed this project, it also gave the team the opportunity to build on the initial plan including working with sponsors to support their efforts and filming the project. The result was a super interesting view into becoming an explorer and in this episode, I catch up with another of the Xunnan Ha team members…. Rannva Joermundsson. I had the pleasure of meeting Rannva at this year's OzTek conference in Melbourne Australia where Rannva along with her exploration partner Maria Bollerup gave two compelling presentations… the first on project Xunnan Ha and the second on their next project Expedition Buteng in Sulawesi Indonesia.

In this episode, I ask Rannva to share how she got into diving and progressed to cave diving. We talk about how she combines her passion for diving with her career working for two of my absolute favourite dive brands, Fourth Element and Shearwater. And then Rannva tells us about the amazing project Xunnan Ha. We talk about the planning, how they worked on the project, and what she has taken away from the experience.

Building on this we lean into her next project Expedition Buteng where Rannva is working with Robin Cuesta my new dive buddy and guest on Episode 71 "Caves of Sulawesi". Rannva discusses her partnership with Maria Bollerup on this project, the impressive team they have assembled, and the goals for the project including exploration, scientific, and community benefits.

We close by talking about some of the project preparation including KISS Sidewinder training in Mexico… enjoy :)!!

Steve

This episode is brought to you by our brilliant sponsor XDEEP and by the patrons of Speaking Sidemount, huge thanks to both for their support.

Speaking Sidemount has featured many of the top cave diving regions of the world… I'm thinking Mexico, Florida, UK, the Bahamas, and Sardinia. But it's been awesome to also dig deeper into regions not well known for caves… places like Sweden, Indonesia, Australia, and Canada.

Now along these lines… I've known for a while that many of the Pacific Islands have cave systems and also of course I get asked a lot about the caves of New Zealand.

So when I saw a post from Bruce Clulow, a  well-known and very active cave explorer here in New Zealand talking about his exploration in the Cook Islands, I thought this would be a great opportunity to learn more and share with you all about the caves in what is loosely my back yard.

Bruce is a commercial airline pilot flying for my favourite airline… Air New Zealand. As you'll learn, this is just a  cover for a hugely passionate and capable cave explorer… who is part of the Group known as the Kaarst Monkeys… yep we'll get into that too…

In this episode, Bruce talks about how he got into diving and cave exploration. He shares some really valuable insights into Human factors for diving leaning on his experience and application of this discipline from his aviation career. We talk about his cave exploration in the Cooks before he shares a fantastic story of bumping into Robert Thomas my guest in Episode # while on a tourist excursion to Wookey Hole in the UK. I ask Bruce to share about the Caves of New Zealand and what it takes to dive the caves here. We talk about cave rescue and recovery before he shares on his upcoming exploration projects.

All this and much more in this episode of… Speaking Sidemount.

This episode is brought to you by  XDEEP and by the patrons of Speaking Sidemount, huge thanks to both for their support.

 

In this episode, Alessandra shares her inspiring story of the events that led to her moving to Mexico to pursue diving. How she started her cave diving journey under the tutelage of legendary cave explorer Bil Phillips. She relates how she built her experience diving with friends before doing her cave instructor training in Florida. We contrast cave diving in Florida and Mexico before talking about Alessandra's philosophies regarding teaching diving at her business, Cave Training Mexico. I ask her what makes her training unique and she shares stories from her courses and the friendships that she has developed with both her mentors and her students.

 

We finish by talking about the incredibly concerning Tren Maya project to run a train track straight over the top of some of the most phenomenal cave systems on our planet between Playa Del Carmen and Tulum on the Yucatan Peninsula. Alessandra shares a wealth of resources on this issue and her thoughts on what we can do to support the local opposition to this project. Look out for more on the Speaking Sidemount Facebook page.

 

Enjoy

Steve

Hey, welcome to Episode #76 Looking Back - The Best of Speaking Sidemount brought to by XDEEP with the support of the patrons of Speaking Sidemount. Huge thanks to both!!!

This episode looks back over the first 75 episodes with me handpicking some of my very favourite segments. This was such a challenging task and what I find remarkable now that it's done, is just how much great material I have left out... maybe a part 2?? Let me know if you'd like to hear that.

Listen in as I talk with Michur about what it takes to achieve his extraordinary skill level. Steve Bogaerts shares on the modern history of sidemount and how to build comfort in the water. Edd Sorenson talks about cave diving rescues and recoveries before we relive the fantastic story of the Thai Cave rescue with Richard "Harry" Harris and Chris Jewell. Jill Heinerth speaks on dealing with fear in cave diving and her beginnings in Sidemount. I reconnected with Audrey Cudel to talk about the key aspects of refining your sidemount setup, Nat Gibb shares about her passion for caves and what it takes to dive the caves of Mexico.

Huge thanks to Gold Patron Justin Enzmann for suggesting this episode. It was awesome to catch up with Justin on the show and chat about his diving and we've even arranged to meet later this year when we are both in Mexico.

This episode is brought to you by our amazing sponsor XDEEP and the patrons of Speaking Sidemount. Thanks so much to both for their support that makes this podcast possible.

Tom Crisp hails from my home New Zealand and is undoubtedly one of our finest cave explorers and I'll use the term, adventurers. Tom has based himself in Alberta, Canada to allow him to discover and explore the caves of that region.

You may recall Tom and I spoke way back in Episode #15 and in this, episode #75 we catch up on what we've been up to over the past three and a half years. Tom talks about why he has based himself in Canada, his work and training with the Alberta Parks and how this supports his exploration projects.

Tom shares how he shapes his life to support his exploration, the sacrifices and the rewards that come from this "calling". We chat about the active exploration projects Tom is working on in Canada and the geology of these caves before we talk at length about what it takes to dive in 2-degree water and access caves in sub-zero surface conditions.

We cover Tom's sump diving set-up, before a fascinating exchange on knowing when to pull back when you encounter a stressful situation on a dive and we finish with Tom sharing some of the cave exploration projects he had to leave behind and pass on to other explorers here in NZ.

All this and much, much more in this episode of…. Speaking Sidemount!!

This episode is brought to you by our brilliant sponsor XDEEP and the patrons of Speaking Sidemount. Huge thanks to both for your support.

Sanne Volja is a cave diver and ISE instructor from Belgium and if you haven't seen her social media then you've been missing out on a real treat. Sanne combines her huge passion for diving with a unique style that makes for some of the best and most compelling stories and reels anywhere on Facebook and Instagram.

 

Sanne has only been diving for a few years but diving has become a seven day a week passion allowing her to build a huge skillset and experience base in a short period of time. Despite her considerable skills and passion, however, as a young woman, it hasn’t always been easy for Sanne to be taken seriously and included by some. Sadly, barriers for women still exist in many male-dominated domains and diving is no exception.

 

In this episode Sanne shares, how she got into diving and technical diving. How she manages her business and life to allow her to dive several times per week. We talk about the importance of mentors and how she was supported into technical diving and becoming a dive instructor. Sanne has deep empathy for the students she is teaching and she shares how she takes the stress and pressure out of her courses by allowing her students time after their course to build some dives before coming back for certification.

 

Sanne and I have a pretty deep conversation about the barriers that women face as technical divers and what can be done to make things easier and more inclusive. And then she shares on the formation of the Cavettes… three women who share a passion for cave diving who met through Instagram and are now blazing a trail for women technical divers… role modelling, sharing information and creating women-only events where they can dive, share their passion and knowledge.

 

A conversation with Sanne isn’t complete without us sharing our experiences on the KISS Sidewinder.

 

We end with Sanne sharing her plans for the year ahead and I accidentally let it out of the bag that I'll be in Mexico this November. More to come on that for sure!!

 

 

This episode is brought to you by our brilliant sponsor XDEEP and the patrons of Speaking Sidemount. Huge thanks to both for your support.

In this episode I catch up with Edmund Yiu. Edmund hails from Hong Kong and is a Tec Diving instructor to trimix levels on both open circuit and closed-circuit rebreathers. He also teaches cave diving, is Greater China Regional Head for the RAID Dive agency, and he's a Divesoft Liberty instructor and a member of their Ambassador team.

In addition to teaching diving Edmund also runs a dive equipment distribution business throughout Asia representing some of the absolute primo brands in diving such as XDEEP, Seacraft, Divesoft and Ammonite.

Pre-pandemic Edmund has travelled the world with diving and has been regular at many conferences and dive events.

In this episode, Edmund and I get into… the diving and teaching that he does and the diving scene in Asia. We talk about his involvement with dive agency RAID and some of the really cool initiatives they are implementing to shake up the dive industry.

Edmund shares with us some on the Divesoft Liberty sidemount rebreather and what in his mind makes it special. We then talk a lot about the business of diving as Edmund describes his successful dive equipment distribution business. This is Speaking Sidemount so I ask Edmund to share some tips on what it takes to be a good sidemount diver before in a similar vein, we discuss where sidemount sits in the hierarchy of dive courses and what it takes to be a good sidemount instructor.

Enjoy :)!!

This episode is brought to you with the support of our brilliant Sponsor XDEEP and the patrons of Speaking Sidemount. Huge thanks to both for their support.

I'm really happy to be able to bring you another episode featuring Stratis Kas. In addition to being a stellar cave diver and instructor who in his own words, is as passionate about sidemount diving as I am… he also seems to be constantly involved in super interesting projects from his book "Close Calls" to his recently released video feature "Infinite Liquid" to co-organising the FLOW Sardinia Sidemount Event.

 Stratis is also a passionate sidemount rebreather diver who puts a massive amount of thought and work into everything that he does.

In this episode, Stratis and I catch up on what he's been doing since he last featured in Speaking Sidemount Episode #38 released in 2019. We go deep into his "must-have" book Close Calls including sharing our own experiences regarding our specific near miss but also our motivation for sharing our stories along with our favourites from other divers featured in the book.

 We can’t help but muse on how the sidemount configuration actually helped some of the divers work their way out of trouble and what would a chat with Stratis be without us talking some on the KISS Sidewinder and the recent acquisition of KISS Rebreathers by the Blackwater Group which also operates XDEEP and Seal Drysuits.

Stratis then tells us more about Project Infinite Liquid which documents the exploration of several Greek Caves and then we close by chatting about our upcoming plans… All this and much more in this episode of Speaking Sidemount…