The Who’s Who of Sidemount

Piotr Czernik

Piotr Czernik is the CEO and lead designer at Darkwater Group, an umbrella corporation that encompasses several diving brands including; XDEEP, KISS Rebreathers, SEAL Drysuits, and Ariadna Tech. His primary passion lies in product design, and throughout his career, he has taken on the role of lead designer in numerous cutting-edge projects within the telecommunications, information technology, and home automation industries. 

In 2010, Piotr founded XDEEP to combine his product design skills with his love for diving. In 2015, Piotr joined the Finnish start-up ARIADNA as a consultant and investor, and eventually becoming the Chief Technology Officer (CTO) and project leader in 2021. ARIADNA aims to develop the world’s first AI and machine learning-based inertial underwater navigation system. In 2020, Piotr finalized the acquisition of KISS Rebreathers and initiated a scientific project to design and implement a patented CO₂scrubber and modular Closed Circuit Rebreather (CCR) known as “Sidewinder 2.” Other notable products that he has designed include STEALTH 2.0 sidemount system created with Patrick Widmann, and the groundbreaking XDEEP NX Series bolt snaps. To date, Piotr created 15 patented and patent-pending inventions of diving gear. 

What is sidemount to you?

Good question. As a designer, sidemount gives me a lot of freedom to implement new ideas. When sidemount became popular, its users were definitely way less conservative in terms of equipment configuration than backmount divers at that time. It opened the market for something completely new. As a diver, I think the configuration should be suited for the specific dive, so it’s one of the configurations I use.

What can be improved in sidemount in general?

Since the sidemount “left” the caves, it has evolved dramatically. What we have now is a mature and versatile configuration. We can change minor things in both equipment and procedures and make them more suitable for our needs, but it’s hard to vastly improve the foundation. I think the main area for improvement is sidemount rebreathers. The CCRs are a great tool, but still have a lot of “backmount genes” and, in my opinion, still aren’t ideally suited to the sidemount configuration.  

Was there an epiphany moment for you with sidemount?

I won’t differ here from many other divers. It was my first dive with sidemount – the feeling of freedom and lightness was so intense that I was just amazed and didn’t even bother with all the “wrongs” of my configuration.

What is the future of sidemount manufacturing? Is there room for evolution?

Definitely, many things can be done better. Sidemount configuration is very “close” to the diver’s body; thus, a big part of the user’s comfort depends on the equipment design and configuration. Seemingly small changes in design can have a big impact on ergonomics, so I think we still can do a lot to improve the ease of use without drastic changes to the whole concept.

Is sidemount a diving fashion trend? When do you think is not the ideal choice?

I think when sidemount got popularized in open water, till some point, it was definitely a trend. For many divers, who were a bit bored with diving in Hogarthian configuration, the sidemount was something fresh and exciting. Then it turned out that also in open water diving has several advantages, e.g., it can help divers with mobility issues. 

It’s hard to find areas where sidemount shouldn’t be used. Of course, there are some areas where the sidemount is more difficult to use than the backmount – a rib on the rough sea is a good example. But if someone has enough skills to handle it, why not?

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DIVE DEEPER

YouTube: XDeep interview with Piotr Czernik and Patrick Widmann at boot 2017

Spodwody.pl: From reel to underwater navigation system! – Piotr Czernik It was 2010, March, they and a notary. And a great business idea – a diving equipment company. The beginnings were modest, simple reels. Today, their offer would not fit in our section. Anyone who dives has heard the name XDEEP. We invite you to listen to a conversation with Piotr Czernik, co-founder of XDEEP.