All Roads Eventually Lead to a Backplate and Wing -

All Roads Eventually Lead to a Backplate and Wing

Article by Jessy Thompson, SDI Instructor

Pictures by Ricardo Castillo

What Does One Dive Family Mean to Me?

As I reflect on SDIs new rebranding to “One Dive Family,” I can’t help but think that sooner or later, all roads will eventually lead to a backplate and wing.

Here me out… As I enter my 10^th year as a dive instructor and my 20^th year as a professional educator, I’ve learned that education—like diving—is cyclical; however, quality instruction never goes out of style.

Now, I’m not exactly sure how “One Dive Family” will shape SDI’s branding, marketing, or instructional materials. But what excites me is the opportunity to have a real conversation with my open water students about the idea of “beginning with the end in mind” and how this ties into the concept of “keeping it all in the family.”

Before I go any further, let me acknowledge that there will be differing opinions about what I’m about to say, and I think that’s a good thing. Let’s have these discussions! There’s always something new to learn, whether it’s about training philosophies, techniques, or approaches.

My Evolution as an Instructor

When I first began my instructor journey, I was at the mercy of my local dive shops and the “expertise” they offered. After all, we don’t know what we don’t know. This is fine, but it has its limitations. When I moved away from the restrictions of dive shops who are often more dependent on income from gear sales than instruction, what I saw when I looked back was a whole lot of “equipment solutions to training problems.”

It is an interesting phenomenon that people will happily pay for equipment, but struggle to pay for training. I wish the model were flipped, but alas. In any event, as I transitioned into a private instructor, I found my ability to provide better instruction much easier outside of the confines of wearing, using, and selling shop gear designed for one particular type of student, which in most cases was the casual resort diver and a very limited market.

In fact, according to a recent Dive Industry Market Data Report, “About 2.7 million Americans went scuba diving at least once in 2022, which is less than 1% of the U.S. population.” This is not a lot of people.

Two Roads Diverged… I Could Not Travel Both

This brings me to my point. If the sport is going to grow, we need people to pursue it beyond the casual resort trip. And one way for this to happen is to accept that, eventually, all roads lead to a backplate/wing, longhouse, and necklace. So why not welcome people to this family in the first place?

Now, I do not think, nor am I suggesting that SDI’s rebranding is about this approach, but the training agency’s roots in technical diving cannot be ignored!

SDI is born out from the parent agency Technical Diving International. The largest and one of the most respected technical training agencies in the world. In the decades since its founding, TDI has managed to maintain widely held respect in the technical diving community and is an absolute leader in technical diver education at all levels. And because we should never be afraid to address difficult conversations or realities, we all know technical diving certifications are not equal across the board.

Time to Expand the Family

So what I love most about the “One Dive Family” branding is that I can have a conversation with each of my students about “beginning with the end in mind” and design their instruction to build the foundational skills that they will need for the rest of their diving career, not just their upcoming vacation.

Let’s consider two examples:

Student A wants to get certified as an Open Water diver, with no plans to go further than Advanced Open Water or Nitrox. However, I still teach them in a backplate and wing setup and ensure that they learn proper buoyancy, trim, propulsion, and procedures in a way that sets them up for any future class they may take. Should they later decide to take a technical diving course or move into more advanced areas, they’re already prepared. Moreover, they’re entering the family as a core member, not a distant cousin only seen around the holidays.

Compare to:

Student B who starts out with the same intentions but is limited to a more traditional BCD setup and procedures that are not rooted in “technical diving.” If Student B one day decides to take any course beyond Advanced Adventure diver, they’ll have to, in the words of Yoda, “Unlearn all that they have learned.”

So why not “begin with the end in mind” and welcome everyone to the family with open arms? With this approach, students do not have to view advanced classes and technical diving as some heavily guarded secret reserved for the chosen few, but rather as a goal in skills and knowledge that is available to more people than the industry has perhaps historically embraced.

Time to Expand the Family

It is time for the mystique of technical diving that discourages people from pursuing higher level courses and training to fade away. For years, there has been an unspoken (let’s be honest… and readily spoken) barrier that makes technical diving feel out of reach for most divers. It’s often portrayed as something reserved only for the “elite” or the “chosen few.” But in reality, technical diving is just a natural progression from solid, foundational sport diving experience.

And the reality is that new open water divers benefit just as much from technical diving concepts —like situational and team awareness, standardization of gear, and team protocols —even if they never pursue technical diving. These skills make diving safer for everyone, regardless of level. And, if the industry is to grow, we really need to think about some large family get-togethers beyond Thanksgiving and Christmas.

When I first started diving, I was content with the occasional trip to Cozumel or the Bahamas. But today, I’m diving the Great Lakes several months a year, taking regular cave trips to Florida and Mexico, and hosting weekly after-work dives for our growing number of CCR divers. My diving has expanded far beyond the resort-style trips I once thought of as the pinnacle, and a clear consequence of this is that my local dive shops are still benefiting from my more advanced needs—filling tanks, servicing gear, and supporting local charters.

The Road Home

So what does “One Dive Family” mean to me? It means that training, education, resources, and access have reached a level where the industry really needs to reconsider the separation of diving activities as “for some, but not others” and move to a model that says, “Yes, eventually you can learn how to do that and I can treat you like you’re capable from day one.” Afterall, it is all one family… just be forewarned, if this is the approach more instructors move toward, eventually all roads will lead to a backplate and wing!

5 replies

Marc Morale says:
June 11, 2025 at 7:58 am

Good logic here. Aside from old pictures and film, I’ve never seen someone actually dive a horse collar BC or stab jacket. I remember circa late 90s when the light bulb went off in my head about jacket style VS back lift. The difference was incredible. Then came weight belt VS weight integration. Kneeling on the bottom VS neutral buoyancy. Things change. Thank you for sharing this consideration for change.
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Marcus Ward says:
June 11, 2025 at 10:58 am

HEAR me out. Not “Here me out”. If you’re training in a backplate and wing setup, long hose and necklace, what happens when the casual diver goes to a resort and rents gear that’s a traditional rig? Isn’t that setting them up for a safety issue in an out of air situation?
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Michael Johnson says:
June 12, 2025 at 2:47 pm

Very good Jessy!

I enjoyed your article and have been appreciating your training philosophy. I have seen many instructors who focus on simply selling gear and getting as many students through as possible, with little regard for the students skill level. I have seen many students panic under water, shoot to the serface, or crash into the bottom and they all get a handshake and a card at the end of the dive.

I can only imagine that these types of student will end up severely hurting themselves or others. These student are also the type of students that end up lacking the confidence to dive and typically do not stay in this beautiful sport. Like you mentioned about traing with the end in mind; the basics of breathing and bouancy control should be core concepts in every training, not get on your knees to clear a mask or swim like a seahorse.

To be “one dive family” there needs to be safety trained into the students to allow them to be fully aware of their actions and possible outcomes. To train as a team or family that is capable of looking out for eachother and know that they are able to rely on their team mate under water to not leave them or kick them in the face. Or have their team mate not stir up the visibility because they have good bouancy control.

To dive with others who have poor dive training and skills is not enjoyable or safe. If we train so all levels of diving are like “one diving family” then the new open water dive will not dive like they have never been in a class before. They would be a prime example of the basics and they can continue to dive and develop their core training while diving with more experience divers. We would also be more willing to dive with new open water divers if we knew they had good foundational traing experience that focused with the end in mind.

I appreciate your DIR approach to training and your dedication to ensuring your students are becoming knowledgeable in their fields of study. Also it appears that all your photos are from Iceland, any reason? Or do you want to go!?

Thank you for this article,
Michael Johnson
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Michael Johnson says:
June 14, 2025 at 1:01 am

Very Good Jessy!

I very much enjoy your “End in Mind” approach to diving and the time you spend with student who are struggling to understand the training material. This type of DIR approach to diving allows divers to continue to build upon skills they have already learned with each additional class they take. The status quo in the industry of learning to dive in one particular way and then tare that down and learn a new style for your next class only builds bad habits and confusion latter on. It is difficult to develop muscle memory if your training is constantly changing styles.

I have seen some classes where the students are panicking under water, shooting to the surface, or crashing to the bottom. But at the end of their class the instructor always provides a handshake and a certification card. These divers usually do not have the confidence to continue diving and will eventually stop enjoying this beautiful sport. Others may continue diving and end up severely hurting themselves because they did not know what they did not know, these divers were never properly trained.

I have dived with many different divers and some of them were instructors that do not know how to dive in a team. As soon as you touch the water, everyone is on a solo dive. If “one dive family” is what we want to achieve then training every one with the end in mind will only place everyone of the same level. No, not everyone is going to become an explorer diver or a cave diver, they might never even have a doubles set on. However, if the industry trains with the end in mind then there would be more confident and experienced divers that will be continuing on with their educations and growing this sport. Knowing that open-water divers are being trained to a level of confidence, I feel most experienced divers would be willing to dive with open-water divers. Theses divers represent the most basic level of diving and should be the pinnacle for these basics. Imagine students being trained in proper weight, trim, with good buoyancy and finning techniques. I would defiantly enjoy diving with someone that was not going to destroy the visibility, or kick me in the face and be in a similar gear configuration. What if their mask floods in deep water, there is no place to drop to your knees to clear it.

It seem that good training and having a drive to learn will eventually lead you to a back plate and wing. I have been diving a single cylinder and backplate for awhile now and Jessy just got my into double after I found him. It may not appear like it but a back plate is more comfortable than the jackets that are being sold out there. There is less to go wrong on them and the unit can be upgraded without needing to completely replace it for a different type of diving. I have been diving for a while and it is a pleasure to find people who are focused on proper training and not selling the latest product to compensate for poor technique. Also could not help but notice all the Iceland photos. Do you want to go?

Thank you for this article,

Michael Johnson
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Jerry says:
June 30, 2025 at 3:12 pm

I’ve been diving/teaching for many, many years. When I dive recreationally, it’s always with a backplate/wing setup. However, I would NEVER use this rig when teaching, especially “early” students. I feel very strongly that the rig I wear when teaching is very similar to what the student is wearing. It only makes sense to me that they need to see me in a rig that resembles what they’re using — it will be less confusing for them.
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