interchangeable footpockets

[w3ac]

Got another question. I found out that Picasso carbon fins come glued to the foot pocket and are not interchangable with the black team blades. Is there any other moderately stiff blade carbon, stiff plastic, and interchangable foot pocket combo that I could get my hands on for a reasonable price? Thanks for your input gang.

Brad

[Jon]

Try and get your hands on a pair of Sporasub footpockets and you'll be ready for anything.

You could put plastic SPorasub blades on them or C4 carbon blades. You could even try out a new pair of those fiber blades that Waterways is coming out with.

Jon

[w3ac]

Thanks for the input Jon. Have you heard anything about the Sporasub Pure carbons? They seem kinda soft in the water but I know a few divers that absolutely love them. How do these compare to the C4? I assume that the Sporasub pocket would be compatable with the OMER millenium blades. Thanks again.

Brad

[Jon]

Brad,

I have had a pair of Sporasub Pures for over a year and I like them a lot.
They are softer than the Picasso black Teams that I had been using for a few years before I got them. They kick nice and smooth and it almost feels like I don't have naything on at times. The first time I tried them I though that I broke them because they kicked with such little effort I couldn't believe it.

I just bought a pair of C4's last month. They came with Spetton foot pockets.
I can tell that the fins are stiffer and narrower than the Pure's, but I still can't give an honest opinion because of the footpockets-they are too big for my feet and the heel cup is too loose compared to a Sporasub pocket. I am not a big fan of the Spetton foot pockets.
I should have a new pair of Sporasub foot pockets to put on them by next week- thanks rigdvr!
At that point I can give a better opinion on how much I like them. So far they seem pretty darn nice.

I think that Bill has used them all and has commented on them before on this list. He would be a much better person to ask.

The new Waterway fiber blades sound pretty interesting too.

It's too bad we can't have a freedivng demo day at some lake, or Ocean, to try out all of the new toys to see which one we like best. Fins are too subjective to just pick out one.

I know that DUI drysuits have demo days all over the U.S. to let divers "try before they buy". Maybe DB can arrange something similar?

I could see everyone decending upon ther Key's Kraze to test out the lates masks, monfins, fluid goggles, spearguns, ect.

Well, it could happen.

Jon

[andrsn]

Originally posted by Jon
I could see everyone decending upon ther Key's Kraze to test out the lates masks, monfins, fluid goggles, spearguns, ect.

Well, it could happen.

Jon

I think we actually will have a quite a variety of equipment there. I know for sure that I'm going to give sven's gun a go round.

Brad, I think the best advice I can offer.. and Jon kinda stabbed at this in his post.. find a footpocket that fits your foot. I don't care how great the blade is, it won't be worth a darn if your footpockets don't fit well. I think the ones you can choose from, that I know about, are sporasub, OMER, picasso and beauchat.

Good luck,
Anderson

[Jon]

Maybe I rambled too much in my last post, but I know that there are others on here who can comment on fins better than I can.

Last night I switched my Spetton footpockets over to my Radiacal blades and swam some laps with my 5mm socks on. These are going to be my new winter freediving fins. After 1/2 an hour I decided a few things about footpockets.

For me I:

1.Like the Sporasub pockets best of all. They fit snug in all of the correct places and aren't too tight.

2. Also like my Picasso pockets because they give firm support to my arch and don't flex.

3. Decided that the Spetton's don't fit my foot. They are tight across the ball of my foot and VERY loose at the heel. I had a pair of fin-keepers on with them and my heel still slipped around quite a bit.

4. Esclapez, Cressi-sub, and Mares footpockets don't have enough foot support. The back half of the foot pocket is all rubber and has no stiffness. This causes my arches to ache.

As far as the blades go, I am not sure what is best. Ted described my Pure's as being "smooth as butter" when he tried them. He also liked the C4's because the were stiffer than the Pures, seemed to have a better arc to them when kicked, and were narrower than the Pures. This was important to him because he had a tendency to knock the fins into each other if they were too wide.

I am waiting for Anderson to pop for a new pair of those Fiber fins from Waterway and tell us how he likes them My bank account won't let me "test" anymore on my own for a while.


Jon

[andrsn]

Jon, I'm not sure if I could provide a decent evaluation of them if I got them. I think the sporasub pures are way too stiff for me as well as the cressi gara HF's. I think, and I've realized from reading a lot of posts, that my kicking style is quite a bit different from most people. Plus, I dolphin kick coming up from depth(even w/ a speargun or camera). I think I'd give out mixed signals. But, that sure as hell doesn't mean I don't want to try them!

[Jon]

Which ones are you leaning towards? With 5 different stiffnesses to choose from I am lost.

If I hadn't just picked up the C4's I might have given them a shot first. They are certainly a better price than the C4's. I think that Ted is thinking about making a jump to them this summer, after he gets his gun and a new suit.

I switch between all kinds of kicks. Sometimes when I'm out freediving on the charter boat i get a bit seasick and will even throw on a tank to get below the waves and settle my stomach a bit. that means I have had a chance to try them out scuba diving as well. I can tell you that a monofin doesn't work out the best while on scuba.

Jon

[andrsn]

I think I'm leaning on either the #2 or #3. Not sure. Might be a while though. I'm still going back and forth w/ sebak on theirs, too.

Later,
Anderson

[unirdna]

You must have weird kick anderson because you are a much bigger dude than I. I'd be curious to see your stlye . You must save lots of energy/O2.

.....don't mind me...just eavesdropping as usual .

[andrsn]

185cm, 84kg's

I've tried quite a few different types of blade stiffnesses in the pool. I've been judging how well I like the blades/fins by how tired I am at the other end of the pool and how quickly I got there. I'm not trying to dink around either. I'm trying to put some pace on it.

I first thought that speed was a result of stiff blades and strong legs, but w/ that combo I was wasted after 2 laps of dynamic(but then again, I'm 1600m above sea level ). Plus, my open water diving gave me little bottom time. I think it was at last year's keys kraze that I used aquiles' gara LD's for a day and noticed my bottom time was pretty significant and w/ quicker recoveries at the surface.

My conclusion is that I'm privvy to a blade that's light and snappy. The LD's are great, but Aquiles reclaimed them from me and Cressi no longer makes them. So, I modified my HF's and I like them better than the LD's now. Lynn, one of the members here, had been timing me on 2 lap dynamics in the pool and the results were quite intriguing. I have 2 sets of HF's, one modified and the other "as is". My modified HF's produced times about 5 seconds quicker and I was much less exhausted after each set.

What has happened is that my kicks have shortened in amplitude quite significantly. Almost in half. What I like so much about the mono is that you're using a lot more muscles, but you're using more muscles less intensely than the few you use when "standard flutter kicking." I'm learning to incorporate my hips and back into my kicks, which is taking a lot of stress out of my quads. It kinda looks like I'm twisting/wiggling a bit through the water. Anyhow, it's cut down my oxygen consumption significantly and I'm now able to match my mono dynamic distance w/ my flutter kick distance.

So... something's telling me I'm doing something right. Now, I'm just afraid to try something else when I've optimized my current gear.

Sorry for the long post.


Anderson

[Jon]

Getting that mono kick right is my goal for this season- and the next, and the next, and the.....

The main thing that I have been using my new camera for is to film Ted and I with the monofin and compare techniques.

I have tried the big kick and have worked on the "worm" that Peter S. has described in his article. I am not sure which works best, but I'll keep on trying.

In the pool I think that I can almost equal my distance with my small plastic hockey fins as with any of my long blades. Going for depth isn't the same. I can get much deeper with the big fins- unlike Martin who can do 70m with little fins.


Jon

[andrsn]

Originally posted by Jon
I have tried the big kick and have worked on the "worm" that Peter S. has described in his article. I am not sure which works best, but I'll keep on trying. Jon

I've noticed that the bigger undulations work better for going slow and the tighter faster ones are for, well obviously, going fast. When I'm goofing around on the reef w/o a gun, I traverse w/ this huge undulation (bi fins, by the way). It feels like I'm using gravity and momentum to help in my propulsion. Anyway, I feel like I can go for miles doing this. Pretty cool feeling.

Jon, maybe you and Ted should consider Keys Kraze.

Anderson

[Jon]

I'd love to come to Keys Kraze, but my wife and I are expecting our first at the end of March.
Maybe I could swing it in a year.

Jon

[unirdna]

Anderson,

Of course I'm interested. It'd be nice if Jon could join me, but he's got to think about others for now. Not me though, since I don't have a wife or any expectorant puppies, I can be as selfish as I want.....and will . Does your website have a link? How do I learn more? I'll only have "little" guns...is there good short-range hunting?