Hi Peter, All I can say is stick to what you are familiar with. I personally prefer sidemount over backmount but backmount does have it’s advantages too, especially if you’re prone to being seasick like me. I’d rather do backmount because it’s a lot simpler and faster for me to get into the water. I really can’t get into the zone with sidemount offshore, some people can easily use sidemount offshore, I can’t.