Sidemount 101 | Philosophy & Equipment
From Speaking Sidemount by Steve Davis
June 2, 2026 · 46 min · Season 2026 · Episode 120
About this episode
Steve Davis discusses the philosophy and equipment necessary for exceptional sidemount diving.
Have you ever watched really good sidemount divers underwater and wondered how they make it look so effortless?Meanwhile, your cylinders float, your trim feels unstable, hoses are everywhere, and it feels like you’re constantly fighting your equipment?In episode 120 of Speaking Sidemount, Steve Davis breaks down the complete philosophy and equipment foundation behind exceptional sidemount diving after: 13 years diving sidemount exclusively 10 years teaching sidemount professionally Nearly 2,000 sidemount dives Training with Tom Steiner, Edd Sorenson, and Patrick Widmann Interviews with many of the world’s best sidemount divers, cave explorers, and instructors.This is not another random gear video.This episode explains WHY good sidemount works — and how the right equipment platform combined with strong diving fundamentals creates calm, efficient, streamlined diving.Steve walks through his complete modern sidemount philosophy including:✅ Why sidemount over backmount✅ The XDEEP Stealth 2.0 setup philosophy✅ Loop bungees explained✅ Sliding D-rings explained✅ Cylinder selection for different environments✅ Steel vs aluminium sidemount cylinders✅ Proper sidemount cylinder rigging✅ Valve…
People in this episode
Host: Steve Davis
Topics covered
- sidemount diving
- diving philosophy
- equipment setup
- diving fundamentals
- cylinder selection
- streamlining
Keywords
- sidemount
- diving equipment
- trim
- cylinder rigging
- hose routing
- diving mistakes
- XDEEP Stealth 2.0
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