E082 Jake Bulman - Aspiring to Excellence

This episode is brought to you with the support of our brilliant sponsor XDEEP and the patrons of Speaking Sidemount. Huge thanks to both. A few weeks back I received a message from Patrick Widmann asking if I had seen the efforts of Skanda Coffield... and for sure I had seen him featured in a couple of Phillip Lehman's Somos Los Cenotes videos most notably the Blue Abyss dive which was just stunning... If you haven't seen it... Check it out on the DRLocal YouTube channel - Somos Los Cenotes Episode 10. Patrick related that Skanda had knocked out over 700 hours of exploration on the KISS Sidewinder in the last 18 months and is one of the most active cave explorers on the planet... He had me at Sidewinder... So I reached out to Skanda and we got into it... so much so that we have two episodes of amazing material for you all. In this the first... Skanda and I discussed... His background in diving, how he came to base himself in Mexico, his work at Protec Tulum, and then we dive deep into his exploration projects how he uses the KISS Sidewinder to go places no human has been before. To round it all out, Skanda shares his best and worst moments in diving... All this and much more... Image credit and thanks to - Joram Mennes and Alvaro Herrero. Become a Patron - https://www.patreon.com/speakingsidemount Speaking Sidemount - https://www.facebook.com/speakingsidemount #xdeep #sidemountpros #sidemountdiving #cavdiving #skandacoffield #protectulum

13 Juli 202154min

This episode is brought to you with the support of our sponsor XDEEP and the patrons of Speaking Sidemount. Huge thanks to both :)!! Late last year I was honoured to be invited to speak at the FLOW Sidemount event in Cala Gonone, Sardinia. The event was originally slated for June this year but moved to October due to COVID. Conceived and organised by Stratis Kas my guest way back in episode #38 along with Daniele Pontis and Mariona Yepes Daviu from Bluforia Diving Centre, this event will be a must-attend for sidemount divers based in Europe and the UK and definitely also for anyone wishing and able to attend from other parts of the world given COVID travel restrictions. You may remember, I travelled to Sardinia back in 2019 and caught up with Thorsten Toddy Waelde and Brian Starnes for some brilliant cave diving so I can recommend Cala Gonone from personal experience as a top cave diving destination and an awesome place to stay. To our knowledge, this is the first Sidemount specialist event in Europe and it's intended to cover the full gambit of sidemount from recreational diving open water through to tech diving in open water, wrecks and of course caves. Cala Gonone, Sardinia is an absolutely ideal location for such an event and it is no surprise that XDEEP is onboard to support the show. Speakers include and I am sorry if I miss anyone but I can't wait to meet and learn from the former guests on Speaking Sidemount including Garry Dallas, Mikko Paasi, and Christina Zenato add to that amazing list... the man who coined the term Technical Diving, Michael Menduno, and TV personality, author and explorer, Andy Torbet. So with all FLOW Sardinia in front of me, I thought it would be a great opportunity to catch up with Daniele Pontis to learn more about his diving, Bluforia dive centre, how he set it up and the diving they do, his philosophy teaching sidemount diving... And then given Daniele is an Instructor Trainer on the KISS Sidewinder, I asked him more about this amazing Sidemount CCR including somewhat selfishly for me, the transition from Open Water Air diluent level to Cave CCR and Normoxic trimix. Daniele and I both feature in Stratis Kas' book Close Calls so I asked Daniele to relive his near-miss, share what he learned, and how he applies this in his own diving and interactions with his students on courses. And of course, we talk about FLOW and what you can expect if you come to meet us and attend this event... Cheers Steve

16 Juni 202144min

Awesome to be able to share Episode #64 - Mikko Paasi brought to you with the support of XDEEP and the patrons of Speaking Sidemount. Huge thanks to both for their support. By now the name Mikko Paasi is, or should be well known to all of us as a key member of the support diver team that contributed massively to the positive outcome of the Thai Cave rescue. Hailing from Finland, Mikko owns Kho Tao Divers in Thailand and beyond his exploits in the rescue, Mikko is a cave diver and dedicated wreck explorer. In particular, he is involved in a number of awesome shipwreck exploration projects in SE Asia under the auspices of Bottomline projects. In this episode, Mikko shares on his background in diving, how he ended up in Thailand and of course his reflection on the Thai Cave Rescue nearly three years later. Mikko tells us about his experiences returning to the Tham Luang cave system and seeing the passages dry after the floodwaters had receded. We talk about his new venture in Malta and then cover plenty on sidemount diving, sidemount rebreathers including the SF2 and KISS Sidewinder and then look forward to meeting up at the FLOW Sidemount event to be held in Sardinia later this year... Thanks again for your support :)! Cheers Steve

18 Maj 202152min

Welcome to the 2021 season of Speaking Sidemount brought to you with the support of XDEEP and our patrons. In this episode, I catch up with renowned cave diving photographer, Laurent Miroult. Huge thanks to Stratis Kas for the introduction. Laurent and I dive into... his background and how he got into sidemount and cave diving, how he balances his career as a doctor with diving, and his training and mentoring with Rob Neto. We learn more about how Laurent captures his amazing images... his equipment, his photographic process, the importance of safety, and his advice for aspiring cave photographers. We talk a bit about COVID and vaccines and muse on goals for older divers, before Laurent and I share our favourite caves we have dived and the locations that we are itching to get to once we are able to travel again. Enjoy!!  Steve

14 Apr 202150min

It's awesome to be able to bring you with the support of XDEEP, another great episode from the Speaking Sidemount Patreon vault.  In this episode, I catch up with my old friend Matt Jevon, just a few months into the COVID-19 pandemic. I first met Matt Jevon back in late 2015 when I was being taught and mentored by Tom Steiner at Gozo Technical Diving. Matt and I teamed up on a bunch of awesome dives and also did our fair share of après-diving at a few of the great restaurants on Gozo. Matt is the founder/instructor at South West Technical Diving in Kinsale Ireland where teaches the full gambit of tech courses including sidemount, cave, and rebreather courses. He is also a sports psychologist, rugby and conditioning coach and consults to businesses on strategy at senior management and board levels. As you'll soon hear, Matt was seriously infected with COVID-19 a few months back which included a period of hospitalisation. Matt shares his first-hand knowledge of the virus and also what he has learned during his recovery and his research into the longer-term impacts for divers. We also discuss our time at Gozo Technical and what we learned being part of and observing dive training there. Matt tells us about the diving in Ireland including the Lusitania and the wrecks of Malin head. We get into Matt's thoughts on sidemount in a variety of environments, sidemount CCR and his work with the Divesoft Liberty. We close with a discussion using Matt's knowledge and experience as a psychologist on how to best deal with the current pandemic and its effect on our lives.

23 Mars 20211h 6min

As our summer hiatus continues, it's awesome to be able to bring you with the support of XDEEP, another great episode from the Speaking Sidemount Patreon vault. This time I catch up with PJ Prinsloo. PJ is a technical diving instructor trainer and the Director, Technical Diving for RAID South Africa. As you'll hear, he is passionate about the benefits of sidemount and has a wealth of knowledge from the perspective of a sidemount diver, instructor, instructor trainer, and in his role at RAID. Last year PJ was inducted into the prestigious Explorers Club and in this episode, we go deep into his involvement in the stunning exploration of the Phoenician Wreck in Xlendi Bay off the island of Gozo, Malta. As you know, I spent two amazing seasons at Gozo Technical Diving and this is definitely a place very close to my heart. The exploration dives were at depths over 110m with 3-4 hour dive runtimes which took an immense amount of planning and attention to detail to execute safely. We also discuss sidemount diving and continue our voyage into the state of sidemount diving and instruction. We talk about what it takes to be a great sidemount instructor, the economic argument for focussing on smaller class sizes and more attention to course quality, PJ's thoughts on optimising your sidemount setup, sliding d-rings. We continue discussing sidemount CCR and how he sees this through the students that come on his courses. We finish reminiscing about our trips to Chuuk and the wrecks of Truk Lagoon.

18 Feb 202150min

I'm super excited to publicly release Episode #50 with Chris Jewell. Previously this episode was only available to Patrons of Speaking Sidemount and is brought to you with the support of XDEEP. Chris is a member of the British Cave Diving Group and was part of the team involved in the acclaimed Thai Cave rescue. Chris took part in the actual extraction dives of the rescue and in doing so became part of history as a key part of one of the greatest rescues of modern times. Awards, accolades and numerous TV and speaking appearances followed and so it was awesome nearly 2 years later to catch up with Chris and ask him about how he got into cave diving, his experience in training and becoming part of the CDG, the importance of mentoring to the CDG training process. Chris reflects on his experience in Thailand some two years after the rescue, and he shares more on his terrifying lost line episode while extracting one of the boys from the cave. Chris and I discuss the distinctions between sump diving and traditional cave diving, how this then drives decisions about your equipment configuration. We dive into detail on Chris' UK sump diving sidemount set up, we talk conceptually about carrying a long hose, gas sharing scenarios, and some of Chris' favourite cave exploration projects. Enjoy, Steve

5 Feb 202157min

Hey all, Happy New Year. I hope that wherever you are, that you are well and doing OK. Excited to provide the first episode of 2021 brought to you by XDEEP and the patrons of Speaking Sidemount. Thanks so much to both for their support. In this episode, I catch up with Florida based, cave instructor, explorer and author, Rob Neto,  Rob has just released the 2nd edition of his book "Sidemount Diving, The Almost Comprehensive Guide". Despite the title, this is, without doubt, the most complete written work on sidemount diving with over 300 pages of how-to and the whys behind all of it. In this episode, Rob and I get into the book, chat some on different aspects of sidemount before he shares on his cave exploration exploits in Cozumel. He has graciously shared a discount code for all of you which is valid until the end of Feb. Just go to his website at https://bit.ly/38XOK1Q and use the coupon code speakingsidemount for a $15 discount. Cheers Steve

26 Jan 202157min