Spearos: long fins what for?

[spaghetti]

I'm a long time spearo (started in 1988) but I'm still wandreing if we really need long fins when we hunt less than 12/15 meters deep?
Me I almost always use longfins and even carbon blades, but my question is: are we sure it's the proper gear for shallow water spearfishing?
Many things say it isnt':
-bigger blades make more splashing, vibrations and noise: an alarm signal for the fish
-bigger blades are more likely to hit and scratch rocks
-bigger blades require more physical effort to kick (and when you hunt in shallow you do lots of surface swimming).
So what do you think?

[spaghetti]

Well it all starts from this: I had a pair of fantastic Omer Rekord carbon fins, but they were stolen from my bag on the beach so I'm in search of new fins and don't want to buy the wrong ones.
Considering that due to equalization problems I rarely break the 20 meters mark now, I'm tempted to say good bye to longfins and switch to some short fins available on the market: Omer Bat Short (fiber, 70cm blade), Cressi Reaction Pro (plastic, 68cm blade), Top Sub V Raptor (carbon, 70cm blade), Mat Mas ST (carbon, 70cm blade).
All short but thrusty...
so again my friends what do you think?

[Fondueset]

I love my Omer Ice fins. They are soft enough for decent surface swimming but still good for 20 meter dives and maneuverable enough for photography.
They definitely don't alarm the fish as much as my black millenium runners.

My last pair of normal sized fins were Dacor Longblades - I barely remember what they were like! It might be interesting to try them again.

[covert]

Which ever finns your comfortable in are the right ones. And i think the two meter human attached to the fins scare the fish more than the actaul fins :P not to mention the big ass guns we carry.

I have immersion carbons, and find them alot better than the shorter versions.

[rslomkow]

I have never speared fish in the Med. (only Northing California and was never that great) but here are my thoughts to be taken with a grain of salt. Though I have been working on photo technique.

Originally Posted by spaghetti

-bigger blades make more splashing, vibrations and noise: an alarm signal for the fish
-bigger blades are more likely to hit and scratch rocks
-bigger blades require more physical effort to kick (and when you hunt in shallow you do lots of surface swimming).
So what do you think?

I wonder if these are true.

1. bigger bladss make more splashing and turbulance on the surface, but I suspect the same blades make less turbulance underwater. The reason being that you have lower frequency kick.
2. This one I agree with, when lying at the bottom, or in nooks around rocks long fins are more likely to hit things and stir up sand
3. Again more physical effort on the surface, less underwater and not all long fins are equal. I found this to be a far greater problem with my Sproasub HR Desault's than my Cressi Gara's. It made me mostly just want to recover on the surface and swim out by going underwater. The Cressi's are much harder, but have less thrust because of noticably smaller blade surface area.

My thoughts would be that you would want a moderate sized, stiff fin. Cressi Gara 2000 HF comes to mind.

1) They swim decently on the surface, because they are narrow and you get plent of force early on in the stroke from them being so stiff.

2) They get excellent acceleration and a reasonable speed to reposition yourself or check to see if you really did see what you thought you saw. Or pulling something heavy up from the bottom (stiffness and length)

3) They are still long enough that you can do a very wide kick with decent speed, which startles fish less, when you try to come up along side them. (length)

again my suspicion is that low frequency kicks are less startling to fish.

What happens underwater is more important than the surface, even if only diving to 5m.

Covert is probably right though, the more comfortable the better, and the rest of the body is far more important that the fins.

[beamjoel]

Spaghetti,

I will change my fins according to the type of diving. When around shallower reef and sandy bottom hunting I will use my very short and stiff fins I use for bodysurfing made by a US company named Viper. They are easy to power and very nice for tight areas in depths around 10-15ft. When I am out in the kelp or open water I use my picasso team black long blades. But I guess you should really wear what feels and works well.

good luck

joel

[cdavis]

Hi Spagetti

There definately is a place for short fins spearing in shallow water. How shallow and how short will depend on you and the type of spearing you do.

The posted arguments about vibration, splashing, effort are mostly technique questions. Longfins do make more noise on the surface, but good technique with either soft blades or angled blades can eliminate this

I use jetfins for years. Down to 10-13 m they were fine, good on the surface, good surface dive, great acceleration. Then I went to soft longfins, great on efficiency, average speed, and all day drive, terrible on acceleration, so so on the surface and annoying for surface diving. I stayed with longfins and found harder ones that had decent acceleration. Overall, I would pick longfins, but for shallow water, there is a good argument the other way.

Connor

[Scorp]

Ciao Spaghetti,
I asked this question to myself too, and actually I tried it once to use a normal snorkeling fin for shallow water hunting (to about 5 - 6 m). That time I used a 5mm wetsuit and 8 or 9kg of weights. Well, I gave that up immediately. I had to paddle so much compared to diving with long fins that I didnt reach the same relaxed and slow motion mood that I normally have when underwater with long fins.

I think short fins dont give u enough propulsion when u are quite heavy weighted, which is often the case when u dive shallow, especially in the colder seasons. The other way round - if you are heavy weighted for shallow diving, with long fins u can easily do some deeper dives in between without taking off weights cause your fins bring u readily back to the surface even if u feel quite like a rock when starting the ascent.

Originally Posted by spaghetti
-bigger blades make more splashing, vibrations and noise: an alarm signal for the fish
-bigger blades are more likely to hit and scratch rocks
-bigger blades require more physical effort to kick (and when you hunt in shallow you do lots of surface swimming).

- I dont think bigger blades make more splashing. If I am lightweighted, then with long blades a smooth and narrow kick on the surface is enough to swim along; with heavy weights, my legs are more immersed in the water on the surface and I can use a wider amplitude stroke, again without splashing.

- your second argument could be true, but just under very special circumstances. I know such a diving spot in Croatia. Shallow water, max. 3m, full of crevices, deep little valleys almost too narrow to fit in, going criss cross in every direction. That was the only time I wished I had some very short fins (and very short gun too, 90cm was far too long), cause I couldnt move through this labyrinth without hitting the rocks continously with my long blades. But for the rest I think you will not hit too many rocks if you move slowly, carefully and fluently when proceeding on the bottom.

- your third argument ("more physical effort to kick required with long fins") seems to me just the opposit of what all freedivers tend to believe their long fins are good for: to save precious oxygen . Maybe one stroke with the same amplitude requires more effort with a long blade than with a short one, but if u need just half the number of strokes to cover the same distance at the end longer blades are less energy consuming.

But I guess u know all that better then me . Not without reason you had a nice pair of omer record fins in your bag, and you should have used them instead of leaving them on the beach

One argument against long fins could be their bad camouflage factor. But there are the Omer Ice, and many long blades with different camu patterns.

So, my opinion is clear. If I use (bi)fins, I use long ones (the only exception are the small rubber fins for mono training ). For me they are better in every way.

But why dont u try out a normal snorkel fin? Cressi has quite a nice one, the Pro Star model, in Italy u get it for 30 €. If I was to try shallow spearing with small fins, I would maybe get this fin to check it out.

Ciao, e comprati anche le Mustang ,

Ivo

[Ron S]

When I started abalone diving on the NorCal coast I struggled a great deal, (like most middle age guys that take up this sport...), and a friend convinced me that I needed long blade fins. I bought the Gara 3000's and love them. However, a fair amount of my dive areas are only about 3 meters deep at most, and with the rocky/kelpy shore entries, I'm thinking shorter fins might be a good move. My old scuba fins had staps and buckles that caught badly in the kelp, so I've been looking at full foot scuba/snorkel fins lately...
Ron.