I enjoy visiting the monofin forum on Deeper Blue to see what new and interesting information I can learn, but for the past month we seem to be going through a bit of a dry spell. There just has not been enough fun stuff being posted to satisfy my cravings. Perhaps others have been feeling the same. Instead of sulking, I thought it’s time that I did something about it and open a new thread to discuss interesting monofin developments.
Monofins have been gaining popularity among freedivers, but I think they have shortcomings when applied to this sport and are not ideal devices to be used for freediving. Monofins originated with finswimming races, and as such were optimized for speed. To be fast, they had to be efficient, which is the one element that attracts freedivers. They have evolved slightly to make them more suited for freediving, incorporating a softer fin-blade and more angle between the blade and the foot, but I believe they still retain many aspects of their racing heritage that negatively impact their usefulness to freedivers. These aspects are acceptable or completely unimportant to racing, but can be a big deal to a freediver.
Among these are:
· The fin layout dictates a large torque integral about fin’s interface to the swimmer when the fin is stroked. Therefore, effective power transmission requires a tight fitting foot pocket and freedivers must try to strike a balance between comfort and efficiency. Evidence of freedivers trying to find the right compromise is all over this monofin forum.
· Streamlining for the swimmer’s foot, hyperfin-style, not only increases the length of the lever-arm which exacerbates the torque load problem, it loses the heal support to the foot for counteracting the torque, requiring the reaction forces to instead be carried through weaker bones of the foot. This is an uncomfortable price to pay for efficiency.
· Monofins don’t have much tolerance for accommodating environmental equipment. This is not an issue in a swimming pool where finswiming races are conducted, but freedivers sometimes swim where it is cold and a bare foot requirement is not acceptable.
· The fin blade oil-cans when it deflects. In addition to being noisy which scares off marine life and being distracting to the diver’s relaxation and enjoyment, the oil-caning is destructive to the fin itself and shortens its lifespan to an unacceptable duration for non-racing applications. (See Example - http://forums.deeperblue.com/monofins/85975-breaking-monofin.html)
· Monofins are large, fragile and sometimes heavy. These features make them challenging to travel with. Unless you happen to have an awesome diving location near your home such that you have no desire to travel with your monofin, this can be a really big deal to a freediver.
I’m sure this list can be added to, but these are the big ones that I can think of. Please feel free to respond regarding other aspects of monofins that you find are issues to freediving.
I think we can to better, and I have a plan. Quite simply, I’m evolving a freediving monofin that does not have a heritage to finswimming monofins. As such, I think it has the potential to evade these issues and become “the right stuff” for freediving technology. This is an ongoing project and I think the best way to introduce it is over a period of time as it develops. The Lunocet model of development in total isolation did not have a positive outcome when the product finally made it to the hands of freedivers and I don’t want to repeat their mistake. Furthermore, I think the Lonocet may have made some people a little tech-shy regarding monofins, and the best way to overcome that is through lively interaction and discussion.
I’ll be posting new material to this thread periodically and responding to comments and questions so check back often if this topic is interesting to you. Being a project in development, your interaction can have a positive effect to the outcome and final product’s development.
Thanks in advance,
Ron
Monofins have been gaining popularity among freedivers, but I think they have shortcomings when applied to this sport and are not ideal devices to be used for freediving. Monofins originated with finswimming races, and as such were optimized for speed. To be fast, they had to be efficient, which is the one element that attracts freedivers. They have evolved slightly to make them more suited for freediving, incorporating a softer fin-blade and more angle between the blade and the foot, but I believe they still retain many aspects of their racing heritage that negatively impact their usefulness to freedivers. These aspects are acceptable or completely unimportant to racing, but can be a big deal to a freediver.
Among these are:
· The fin layout dictates a large torque integral about fin’s interface to the swimmer when the fin is stroked. Therefore, effective power transmission requires a tight fitting foot pocket and freedivers must try to strike a balance between comfort and efficiency. Evidence of freedivers trying to find the right compromise is all over this monofin forum.
· Streamlining for the swimmer’s foot, hyperfin-style, not only increases the length of the lever-arm which exacerbates the torque load problem, it loses the heal support to the foot for counteracting the torque, requiring the reaction forces to instead be carried through weaker bones of the foot. This is an uncomfortable price to pay for efficiency.
· Monofins don’t have much tolerance for accommodating environmental equipment. This is not an issue in a swimming pool where finswiming races are conducted, but freedivers sometimes swim where it is cold and a bare foot requirement is not acceptable.
· The fin blade oil-cans when it deflects. In addition to being noisy which scares off marine life and being distracting to the diver’s relaxation and enjoyment, the oil-caning is destructive to the fin itself and shortens its lifespan to an unacceptable duration for non-racing applications. (See Example - http://forums.deeperblue.com/monofins/85975-breaking-monofin.html)
· Monofins are large, fragile and sometimes heavy. These features make them challenging to travel with. Unless you happen to have an awesome diving location near your home such that you have no desire to travel with your monofin, this can be a really big deal to a freediver.
I’m sure this list can be added to, but these are the big ones that I can think of. Please feel free to respond regarding other aspects of monofins that you find are issues to freediving.
I think we can to better, and I have a plan. Quite simply, I’m evolving a freediving monofin that does not have a heritage to finswimming monofins. As such, I think it has the potential to evade these issues and become “the right stuff” for freediving technology. This is an ongoing project and I think the best way to introduce it is over a period of time as it develops. The Lunocet model of development in total isolation did not have a positive outcome when the product finally made it to the hands of freedivers and I don’t want to repeat their mistake. Furthermore, I think the Lonocet may have made some people a little tech-shy regarding monofins, and the best way to overcome that is through lively interaction and discussion.
I’ll be posting new material to this thread periodically and responding to comments and questions so check back often if this topic is interesting to you. Being a project in development, your interaction can have a positive effect to the outcome and final product’s development.
Thanks in advance,
Ron
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