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Broken fins

Thread Status: Hello , There was no answer in this thread for more than 60 days.
It can take a long time to get an up-to-date response or contact with relevant users.

Bernt

Well-Known Member
Jul 30, 2003
52
7
48
I bought my first carbon fins 2 years ago. Omer (Valeri Grassi) hard. Had 20 diving days with them, treated them nice (in hand luggege flying etc). Jumped off a 1m high ledge and one of the fins snapped. 5 days later i managed to get a hold of a new pair of fins (the new omer variable ..), had 10 dives or so with them, and one day diving at 30 m or so, I turned around for the acent, kicked off (open water, no bottom or objects) and one of the fins broke right off. Almost had to drop my weights to get to the surface (packed a bit too much i guess). Wrote Omer about the last incident (understanding that dropping off feet first from 1 m is not reccomended), hoping for a replacement blade.

Are omer fins more fragile then most?
What should I expect of omer?

Just recieved new monofin (getting expensive this), Breier Maximum thrust, both as a "subjective variety bandaid of sorts" to my fin breakage incidents, as well as a result of hearing that monofins are more durable... Well are they? :)

Im 190 cm tall, and weigh 95 kilograms, so I am not abnormal in any way.
 
Bernt,

Welcome to Deeper Blue. Check out some fiberglass fins. OMER has fiber fins called the BAT fin, Waterway has powerblades that fit into OMER or Sporasub footpockets, Matrix fin by 20 Fathoms, and the fiberblade series from Sebak. These fins are similar to carbons in terms of their reactivity but are extremely durable. I got a pair of powerblades from Waterway and they are absolutely awesome. Lots of snap and very durable. Try doing a search in the freediving equipment section of the forum for these blades. There has been a lot of discussion about these fins lately.

Brad
 
Common, I just got my new Breier Carbon Monofin !!! :)
heh

Seriously, should carbon fins break that! easily?
 
Bernie,
I don’t really know your answers. There has been a whole of people on this board report breaking their carbon fins, Omer included. Since Omer themselves is saying their bat fins are more robust and performance is just as good or even better than carbon, I wouldn’t be surprised if they feel carbon isn’t working for them. They don’t have to replace many broken ones before their profit margin is gone.

I would think the brittleness of carbon would not be as much of a problem with a mono fin, because of the larger surface area. I hunt out of boats and pool practice. Both two highly abusive fin activities, so fragile fins are not an option for me.

Have you mastered the mono fin technique yet?
don
 
Only tried the monofin on in the shower to see if i could squeeze into the footpocket with socks on :)

I have been practicing undulation without fins in a pool for a while, and do have problems getting speed up. Same thing swimming butterfly, my legs seem to cut through the water more than propel me forward/ give me lift at an acceptable rate.

I live in Norway, and am going to my summer house in Spain in four days so I will have my chance at monofinning there for 10 days.

Have been working on a phd for the last year so I am a bit out of shape, so I expect sore unfamiliar muscles as a result of poor style monofinning with as few spectators as possible :)
 
a summer crib in Spain, eh? Need a new best friend? :D

Carbon fins, well actually carbon anything is a very stiff and strong single purpose item. The carbon encased in the resin, usually an epoxy, is very stiff in one direction, that being along the axis of the fibers. They'll be running along the length of the blade so the back and forth motion of the blades benefits from the stiffness that way. They'll be weak though in the other direction- across them so the engineers will add material in that direction. The result is though that all the twist and torque applied will generate a lot of pressure in that one weak area, wherver it is and SNAP!! For that reason, carbon blades are or should be used in areas where they won't be subject to dinging on the bottom, kelp or boats. And for chrissakes, don't go leaping into the briny with them on!! Put them on in the water and steer clear of anything or anyone excepting maybe the downline if you're into that sort of stuff. But after all that, what good are they?:head Again, for some applications and users they're the best things going.

The fiberglass or other composite fins are getting a lot of press and yakking for this reason and I've got a couple pairs here for review. In the meanwhile, yeah, nut up the leg muscles as the Waterway mono's are going to really give you an enjoyable workout.
 
I have an old set of sporasub pures. They have been hammered. They are even de laminating at the point of most flexion. They have gouges and chips out of the tips. They are scratched deeply in places.
But they are still whole ? Perhaps you get carbon and carbon ?
perhaps its in the process of laminating and autoclaving etc..?

But I dont favour carbon because i have never found them to be stiff enough for me.
Fiberglass or fiberplastic etc seems the way to go for all good things.

Skin
 
Just came back from a 10 day dive trip to spain. Have used the Breier Maximum Thrust Monofin (medium) and am very satisfied. Even if i have a hell of a time on the surface getting out to and back from the deep blue, I found monofinning fairly easy to adapt to. Did not dive deeper than 25 meters as I had some problems getting my pulse rate down on the surface (big waves and mono = bad combo for me), but i seem to shoot down and up like a rocket :). Also had a hard time undulating smoothly with 8kg of lead around my waist, so I mostly went in a speedo (gets chilly down there).

I got a reply from Omer, and they are replacing my blades with the new Bat model. Gotta love a company that takes care of its customers :)
 
And 4 days later they have sent them UPS to me. Gotta say WHOW.. dont know if they are 20s 30s or 40s though. Getting them tomorrow. This is the best customer care I have experienced from any company to date :)
 
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