Quote:
Originally Posted by ADR
Jome - yes I have as I train 2-3 times a week with Ant Williams. Half a stroke per 25m difference consistently for me with Ant's Hyper fin compared to mine. 5 with mine and 4.5 with his. That's a 12.5 precent difference. In most sports anything above a couple of percent is worth serious attention.
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Ok, that's what I wanted to know. Although I don't think stroke count alone is a very definitive measure. It gives us a good estimate that there is a difference, but I'd still like to see comparsions of max dynamics and even more so from CW and sprint (different fins might require a little different style, but the max result might be very close in the end).
I mean the folding looks bad, yes, but are we talking "tolerable quality" or "utter crap"? Do the other properties of the fin outweigh the effect compared to a less advanced fin?
Also, what effect does technique have? Does the blade fold like that with every diver? I suspect that the already mentioned knee-issue might have some effect...Ie some divers (my self included) tend to spread the knees, which would put tension on the footpockets too. And on this type of fin, they are so protruding so far from the blade, even small tension could cause surprising effects? And I imagine a strong "leg kick" will only make things worse.
Anyway, from what I can gather, the problem does not seem to be so much for the type, but individual fins or batch. Some individuals of the same type/brand fold while others don't. For example my (very soft) Leaderfins Hyper does not, but I've seen fins of the same type that do (even stiffer ones).
I'm no hydrodynamic engineer, so I'd still like to hear Eric Fattah's comment since he's the only one who I've heard defend the v-flex - but he never told us why he thinks so...
