It's good to see the Lunocet 2015 getting its own thread, though I must say that I'll miss the previous one a bit. The Lunocet 2014 thread was very interesting - we saw news about the development of the fin there as we discussed it, gave advice to each other and vented frustrations. Great to see some of the regulars here, Noa, Chipswim and ApneaAddict, whose postings were prolific and insightful, not only for those of us who were curious about this topic, but were useful to Ted, who took the feedback on that thread seriously. I occasionally had a few things to say, though hopefully, in this new thread more of us will be reporting upon our experiences with the 2015 model in the water. In the meanwhile, I've resolved to just train and wait for it to come to me in its good time.
I'm glad to see this thread starting with posts about training and technique, because without these you really can't get the most out of any monofin, the Lunocet included, no matter how well Ted designs it. The video posted by Marco is excellent, showing an experienced finswimmer demonstrating both good and bad techniques. Kars gives great advice on pool training and is absolutely right in suggesting that someone make a video of you swimming with a monofin in your best form so that you can correct your errors.
Good technique is not just something for the athletes, it makes the experience of using a monofin more enjoyable whatever you use it for. In apnea, when you are holding your breath and clearing your mind, your body wants to do things that come naturally to it, so good training is also about motions that we are less conscious of, or in other words, good training techniques can also be a way of replacing counter-productive automatisms with productive ones.
For those wanting to improve their technique by pool training, I suggest getting your hands on the book Learn the Monofin by Mike Maric, Valter Mazzei and Stefano Figini. Aside from giving a fascinating history of the monofin and a detailed, though accessible, analysis of techniques, most of the book is a training manual with instructions and photos. The book has been very useful to me, not only helping me to improve my own technique, but in training other freedivers - from beginners to competitive ones. The three-day monofin workshops given by Mike Maric to our apnea club here in Montreal in 2013 and last spring showed many of us the value of these exercises, and we continue to practice them.
The book takes a lot of the guesswork out of training and techniques, which tends to proliferate online, and when followed right it can make champions. Stefano Figini is a decorated finswimming legend in Europe and Ilaria Bonin, who is coached by Mike Maric, continues to break world records in women's DYN (237.8 metres!) with an intense training regime that includes these techniques. Even some of our own "mutants," as we have nicknamed some of the athletes who train with us, are putting up some impressive numbers in Canadian competitions after having taken part in Mike's workshops and incorporating his book into their regimens.
I've discussed this book before in the Lunocet 2014 thread, so I hope that some of you guys will forgive me for what must seem like shameless promotion, but I think it's worth a look to anyone who wants to improve their experience of any kind of dolphin-inspired swimming gear. This is more "sharing" than "commercializing" in any case, and as the 2015 lunocet pros start hitting the water, I just wanted to let some of those who will be checking out this new thread aware of it.
