Advanced monofins

[BennyB]

Peter Pederson's hyperfin is quite buoyant and he uses no weight on CW dives.

To confuse things, a guy was telling me Will Winram has the same fin (buoyant as well) and has added a pound of weight for CW. They are both diving around 70-80m I believe.

Cheers,
Ben

 

[Stavros]

Hi Ben, Will is now using a Russian mono - up until a couple of months ago he was using a standard WW as far as I remember. If I remember when he first tried it he felt a bit heavy at the bottom but got used to it... I am still waiting for my fin from Russia. It is ready and waiting in Moscow for someone to bring it down to Greece with them.

I might have to wait for the W.Ch. to meet up with the russian team...
There wouldn't happen to be anyone from Russia coming to Greece or Cyprus any time soon would they?

(I have been told that they rather not ship the fin via courier as they tend to get damaged so we are looking for someone to actually bring it down with them)

Cheers Stavros

 

[BennyB]

Hi Stavros,

I've heard similar stories about postage from Russia. My fin was sent from the Ukraine through EMS couriers. It arrived in London in about a week and there was no damage. It wasn't packed particularly well - just some cardboard around the corners, some styrofoam and wrapped up in some cloth, but seemed to be fine when it got here.

Did you go for a russian Hyperfin? I suspect Will Winram has one of these (they are russian made) - a friend of mine has recently seen Will's fin as well as Ant Williams' fin and said they were the same. Ant Williams (I think) got one from Natalia Molchanova, who also helped the Danish guys (Peter P, Stig, Henning etc) get theirs. A guy I train with in London went and trained with the Molchanova's and bought a fin there (a Hyperfin) which is the same as Peter P's.

Maybe I have spent too much time thinking about this...

In any case, you'll love that fin. I tried it and loved it, I still think it's a little better than my Kershkov, which I love.

Cheers,
Ben

 

[Kars]

Hi people,


I was very fortunate to be able to briefly try out a Leaderfins 'Freediving Monofin "Hyper" in Belgium a week ago.

I tested it in a 25m pool, where I was for the Apneafun competition.

In all I swam a 150m with it, so this is just a very little and personal peek into the fin.

Currently I'm swimming with the regular WW fins, model 2 middle D, and model 1 long distance. I've tried out for short distances, Onewing, WW Glide, Leaderfins Specialfins monfin Dolphin, Specialfins Hybrid PRO (a whole deepdive session), Leaderfins Flyer Professional.

I found the Hyper a heavy fin, and though it was supposed to be for a 43 sized foot my bare foot was not rigedly secured. Perhabs due to my 'flat' feet it was not closing tight just below the ankle. I think this could be solved by cutting out some exessive material and glue, like someone did before on DB.

Fitting footpockets are very important to a fin, one looses a lot of energy control and feel when the don't fit. It made the rest of the fin hard to judge. I'll make a small attempt but be sure to take it with a jar of salt ;-)

As afformentioned the fin is heavy, has solid rubber wings, and 'Andronov' shaped footpockets. I liked the angle, the trust, the looks. I did not like the weight, the slow reaction, the turns. I swam both speedy and slow lanes under water, but did not manage to find the optimal speed or stroke for this fin.
The E 259 is a nice push into a lower price category but for me too hard to judge if it is a good buy.

My momentairy conclusion is that I'm still looking for my ideal monofin.
I've made some drawings and I plan on making my own fin next month.

Things I'm looking for are:

- Angle,
- Energy efficient,
- lightweight,
- Nutral at all depths,
- Stable in al directions,
- Supportive fitting footpockets,
- Durable, good looking.
- Simple and cheap.

Let's see what happens, it's in anyway nice to design and construct. How many of you have already build your own neckweights anyway?

I'll see to it that I'll post some pictures of the constructionproces, and write a smal report.

In the mean time, post away people!

Love, peace and water!

Kars

 

[gianpaoloc]

Dear Kars (and all of you who tried the Freediving Monofin "Hyper" from leaderfins),
I am really interested in that monofin but I wonder how stiff is it. I tried a WW model 1 long distance and I found it very stiff. Much stiffer than my MatMas (a mixed carbon fin, marked 8Kgs). So my question for you is: Which version (stiffness) of the mono you tried? How it compares to the WW model 1 LD?

Thanks in advance for your reply
G.

 

[Zaboez]

Hi all!
Is there the one particular method to define stiffness of the monofin blade?

I tried out some monofins from Leaderfins and found one stiffness for different stiffness level that were declared by Leaderfins. (medium carbon wings = hard hiper)

 

[Kars]

Gianpaoloc, I cannot remember wich stiffness the blade was supposed to be, but the force I needed felt compareble to my WW model 2 middle D. Though this is and entire different fin with different caracteristics, the blade it was bigger and softer than my WW md 2 MD, and the fin was havier and much slower in reaction, much less quick snap feel like my WW fin does.

Anyway try to find a person to try one out, my observations are really incomplete and too brief to be of any serious good use.

Good luck with your search, I hope that you and otheres keep posting comparisons, for it's the only way to form an impression of what we may get buying a different fin.

Kars

 

[Waterenthusiast]

Hi everyone,
i don't know if anybody already noticed, but Guidone is also producing a new angled monofin with with wings called Megaptera (http://palmes.guidone.neuf.fr/page5.html) . It seems that the rubber he is using for the wings is almost neutral (density: 1,09).
Breier also has a new footpocket concept which is very similar to the andronov monofins, but i dont have more information on this one. Perhaps the other french DB members have more information on these new fins

Ciao,
Christophe

 

[PoseidonSv]

What russian fin is it that you people are buying?

Some fins the russians use look very much like the ones made by leaderfins orsold by polyorg.

 

[wes]

I just ordered two Wings Nemo Mono Fin by Waterway for my wife and I thru the Performance Freediving Online store. These are wing monofins with angled blades and Omer footpockets. They should be pretty efficient (these are what Mandy-Rae wears now) though not quite as efficient as the fully hand foot pocket shaped much more expensive (and sometimes uncomfortable). I will let you know how long it takes and how they perform when they arrive. We also ordered 2 at once so Mandy only charged us one time shipping whick makes the monofins less than $250 including shipping to your door in the US though make sure you e-mail Mandy if you want to order two at once as mandy said it would not work thru the automatic website order that way. Cheers Wes

 

[H.Balázs]

Hello,

I ordered this monofin yesterday. It is a Zolotov gipper type monofin, and it will arrive in february (I hope). The price is 300 euro, correct I think...I'm longing for it so much!!!

 

[PoseidonSv]

How did you order size on footpockets and will you use it with neoprene socks also?

 

[Jon]

I don't know if these fall under the "advanced" level or not, but I certainly found them to be very different than any thing else I've seen so far.

Don't ask me where to buy one as I was just surfing through the Goggle images and found this under "monofin diving". the web site wasin some kind of script I can't read so I couldn't even give you a language- although I would guess Chinese.

Jon

 

[trux]

I don't know if these fall under the "advanced" level or not, but I certainly found them to be very different than any thing else I've seen so far.

Don't ask me where to buy one as I was just surfing through the Goggle images and found this under "monofin diving". the web site wasin some kind of script I can't read so I couldn't even give you a language- although I would guess Chinese.

Thanks, Jon. Interesting. I'll certanly add it to my [ame="http://forums.deeperblue.net/showthread.php?t=67558"]Collection of Weird Fins[/ame] (with your kind permission). Can you post the URL?

 

[Jon]

http://www.tcn.co.jp/diving/trye/index.htm

 

[jome]

although I would guess Chinese.

Looks like japanese

 

[Tbird]

Jome/Wal/ BennyB and anyone else with a Russian Fin

I am trying to find a solution to the extra bouyancy shift in my Hyperfin.

I bought it from Russia (the same one I think that some of the Molchanovas use, though not the original Andronov). It is terrific for dynamic and pretty bouyant too. I am thinking of getting them to make a neutrally bouyant fin for constant weight with less compressible rubber in the wing and footpockets.

They are happy and willing to make it but as they come from a finswimming background, are not too familiar with the right materials for Constant Weight diving at pressure.

Have you guys any idea what is the right kind of non-compressible rubber to use?

I have used similar Russian Andronov-type fins for constant and they all tend to get a little soft coming off the bottom, losing the advantage of the wings. It would be nice to be able to find a solution to this problem.

Theo.

 

[rafacuatic]

Hi Theo.
I think there is no solution to this problem,the way is dissasemble all the mono and made it with solid rubber.
Keep your mono for DYN and buy one for CW.I am using a leaderfins Flyer with no compresion wings and pockets.The rubber is like the one used in the bifins footpockets.
Rafa

 

[wes]

Here is a mini review of my new Wings Nemo Monofin by Water Way. It is the middle stiffness. It's my first Mono so don't know how it is compared to other Monos. I like it alot and its very fun and compelling as I learn new technique tips each session it seems like. Before I swam with Cressi Gara 2000 fins and could do at my best 2x25m on 90 second intervals continuously for up to 60 minuites at a time. Now I can just do that again after 6 weeks of practice averaging 2-3 times per week so a pretty steep learning curve. I am sure this mono is not as streamlined as the more expensive and "advanced" monos as it has the regular Nemo foot pockets. I am at about the same level now as I was before with my old fins though am sure there is room to imporve more as many times I have very "good" laps and then try to do them again and they feel bad from some subtle thing being off. I would buy the Wings Nemo again as its not too expensive and has shown no signs of wear at all and seems to be quite strudy. It also came very quickly in only 3 weeks and was easy to order (I ordered it thru the PFI store). The only downside was that I got a few small blisters on my feet and toes the first few times I used it and just ignored them and they have now gone away.

 

[BennyB]

I received my new monofin last week and had my first pool session with it tonight. I decided to go for a Hyperfin as i'd tried a few of them and loved them, and in fact I would have got one originally but I couldn't get in touch with the manufacturer, but did get a response from Kershkov.

The ordering process was relatively easy, since a mate had one of these fins I used it a couple of times and wanted one that was a little bit stiffer and a little bit tighter around the footpockets. The guy knew straight away what I wanted and it was made in around a week. Bladewise I asked for harder than an 800m fin, but not a 400m - roughly half way between the two but closer to the 800m. If that makes sense...

When I received it at first I was a little disappointed with the build quality, as the surfaces of the rubber seemed a bit rough where they had been glued, and in fact a 2 inch section of the wing had become unglued. I've come to the conclusion that althought they make fantastic fins, the russian finmakers don't really care too much for finishing touches. The area which became unglued can easily be fixed though, which i'll do in a couple of days. The footpockets looked suspiciously small, I always get a bit paranoid about them being too small before I try a fin. Finally, the type of fiberglass looked different from what I was expecting. It also felt a little soft so this got me a bit worried too.

Anyway off to the pool tonight and all my fears were unwarranted. The footpockets were a perfect size. My feet were very sore after about 20 minutes, but this is par for the course for a well-fitting footpocket. In any case the rubber does mold to the foot after a while and your feet toughen up.

Performance-wise, the Hyperfin is very similar to the Kershkov. There's a lot of thrust for relatively little effort, and a fantastic glide thanks to the heavily angled footpockets. Having not used a monofin for many weeks, it didn't take long to slip into my old technique again. Did I mention that glide???

Constant weight I expect will be similar in nature to the Kershkov. I've taken both the Kershkov and a Hyperfin down past 50m and noticed no significant change in behaviour related to fin compression. Although i'm told this does occur in the floating fins from 60m+. Come to think of it i've been told it's good to 80m too so make up your own minds there.... in any case it's irrelevent to me for the moment

All in all i'm very happy with the fin, it's certainly one of the top ones on the market. I do miss the Kershkov, but when I win the lottery i'll pick up one of them again. And maybe an Andronov, and a Chen Bin.......

Cheers,
Ben