Fin Lineup - Any Questions?

[Jon]

So far I would have to agree with Ted.

I have never had a problem with my Sporasub Picasso, or Esclapez foot pockets. While some ofhtese are stiffer than others none of them ate away at my foot.

Here's a shot of what an OMER pocket did to my foot. If someone has a trick to wear them in, and not wear my foot out, I would love to hear it.

Jon

 

[cdavis]

What a thread, feel like I died and went to fin info heaven. Thanks guys.

If anyone can shed some light on two questions, I would really appreciate it.

1. Will the old cressi rondine foot pocket fit either waterway or specialfins blades? I wore out the blades long ago but still have the pockets.

2. Do any of the fiberplastic blades have a greater, or at least equal, initial acceleration than Cressi 2000hfs (my current fin)? If so, how hard should I go? I shoot a sling and high initial acceleration is valuable to jump across the 5-15 feet from me to the fish. An empty kick makes me crazy. I would love to get the greater efficiency of fiberplastic, but don't want to give up any acceleration. Also, I couldn't handle a fin that works my legs any harder. I'm 6' 1" , 155 lbs, typically dive 4-5 hours in a day in 25 to 50 feet, do a little bit of deeper diving, 30 meters or there abouts.

Thanks in advance,

Connor

 

[fjohnson]

Quote from Conner
...."2. Do any of the fiberplastic blades have a greater, or at least equal, initial acceleration than Cressi 2000hfs (my current fin)? If so, how hard should I go? I shoot a sling and high initial acceleration is valuable to jump across the 5-15 feet from me to the fish......"

I remember when I used the speedometer certain fins definetly took longer to reach top speed but I was mainly paying attention to top speed and duration of it.. Remember.. kick style can make all the difference, so even if I ran tests to find what fin is the quickest off the line for me it may not necessarily be for you or anyone else. Just guessing but my belief is that with your gara 2000hf's you would be pushing the top for rapid acceleration and probably few fins will do better. Maybe I'll have to setup a measured distance and run the stop watch to see how long it takes to get from point A to B. Sounds like a good one for the pool later this winter.
Fred

 

[unirdna]

Fred's got a good point. I can talk stiffness to you with confidence, but acceleration is unique to how the diver makes use of the fin. My favorite/only fins are Specialfins Stero Pros; 'hard' stiffness. When these blades were in the omer pockets, they were a pretty close match to the stiffness of Gara HF's (I'd even go so far as to say they were a bit stiffer). In the spora pockets, the fins are much more flexible. Softer than HF's, C4 40's, Bat 30's, or Black Teams, but stiffer than H.Dessalts, Pure Carbons, or Radicals. In the simplest definition: a medium-stiff fin. Still, I'm quite certain I can accelerate much faster with my Stereopros, despite them being softer than the Garas. When I need a burst, I snap a frog-kick followed immediate by a 'dolphin' kick. Much faster than my cressis because I could never get em to 'snap' for me. Although, in truth, I may not have the nut :girlie to push the Garas, and that may be the reason I can zip around quicker with my Specialfins. Any how/who...hope you extracted something worthy from the rambling.

Ted

 

[ash]

Originally posted by unirdna
Any how/who...hope you extracted something worthy from the rambling.
Ted

Of course! This has been a great thread.

The best (and worst) part of it seems to be that the only way to see which fins work for me is to actually try them.

Ah well, there's always ebay for the gear that doesn't make the grade

Ash

 

[ivan]

hi

Jon nice chunk out of the foot

The first time I wore my omers without socks I had exactly the same happen except on my heel. I have never again wore them sockless I now use cressi 3mm socks and have yet to experience too much pain

cheers

 

[Bill]

"..........Softer than HF's, C4 40's, Bat 30's, or Black Teams, but stiffer than H.Dessalts, Pure Carbons, ........."
Ted

You're the second diver that rates the Pure as softer than the C4 so I must be the weirdo or maybe the two pair I used are mislabelled 50's.
Aloha
Bill
P.S. Good thread.

 

[icarus pacific]

Originally posted by unirdna
I can talk stiffness to you with confidence.
Ted

Uhh, pass. But I'm very happy for you Tedski. You're gonna love next months Contest.

On the breaking in the footpockets, and I'm talking OMER here, as my feet won't fit in anything else... after receiving a new pair of pockets, I'll take them to the TV in the evening and just work the rubber :hmm whilst I watch the news to see who we're bombing lately or the discovery channel. I'll put them to bed with a boot stretcher in them. I'll alternate throwing them against the wall after a good on-line arguement with more massage. Still, after a week of that, it's a few dives and I mean day long dives, before they'll let go.

The bummer here is that the temps mean 5 mil boots and I've yet to be able to work into a full footy and so smoothly strap on :hmm the open heeled Esclapez motors. Somebody comes up with a 52-54 size pocket, I'll talk stiffness with them!

 

[Jon]

Ivan,

I took the chunk out with my new monofin

The first day I got it I jumped into the lake, for over 3 hours, while wearing my 6mm OMER socks. It felt great and I had no foot problems.

The next day I took it to the pool and wore a pair of, very old and worn out, 3mm socks. After about 40 minutes I felt the top of my foot start to hurt. I swam for another 20 to get my workout in- big mistake. Now I am just using my bi-fins until my foot heals all the way. It is kind of amazing that I can still swim around for 5 hours in the lake, in my Sporasub foot pockets, with no problems, but a couple of minutes in those OMER foot pockets opens up the foot again.


Bill,

You must have some extra stiff PURe's, or I must have gotten a pair of flimsy seconds from Scuba Store. They are MUCH softer than my C4's.



Sven,

What kind of massage are you doing to those footpockets to get them broken in- Swedish, Shiatsu, Classic, Rolfing?


Jon

 

[unirdna]

Originally posted by icarus pacific
I'm talking OMER here, as my feet won't fit in anything else...

[sound of gears grinding...]

So you beat the crap out of a pair of 46-48's (the largest size?) Omer pockets?

When Jon first ordered his c4's last year, spora pockets were out of stock, so he went with the spenton pockets. He bought his usual size, but the pockets seemed to be 1/2 size larger than an equivalent pair of sporas. If 46-48 is the largest footpocket made, and spentons are all 1/2 size larger than the competitors, they would make the world's largest footpocket (which it seems you need :hmm). Ever try em?

 

[Erik]

Originally posted by Jon
Here's a shot of what an OMER pocket did to my foot. If someone has a trick to wear them in, and not wear my foot out, I would love to hear it.
Jon

Jon, I get the same thing from my monofin if I wear the wrong socks. The only thing that works is a 2-ply running sock. I wear the same sock in my hiking boots under the heavy sock too.
If you're getting the blister under a neo sock, then I would still try the 2-ply underneath it.
Cheers,
Erik Y.

 

[donmoore]

omer pockets

I bought my first size too small, thinking I was going to break them in so I could wear them barefooted or with a thin sock. It was a battle to see what would win, my feet or the pockets. By the end of the day my feet were bloody and I would change my style to using mostly arms and drag my feet behind me, because of the pain. This went on for several weeks, until I broke down and bought the next size up and used them with 3mm socks. What a relief!

Never thought about working them out with the hands. Even if the rubber ever did loosen up, my toes stuck out over the little hump and were uncomfortable. I’m better off with the larger size and sock.
don

 

[icarus pacific]

Nope you stiffy, never wore the Spenton pockets. If you have their access number I'll ring 'em up.

 

[cdavis]

Fred and Ted,

Thanks a lot!! Hard specialfin pros it is. Now I just got to find a dive store to try on Sporas and Omers. Nobody around here carries either one and my feet are pretty finiky. Great thread.

Good diving

Connor

 

[cdavis]

Fred,

Appreciate your results with the speedometer, I'll be very interested in any "immediate acceleration" tests.

To add to your thoughts, I once did some pretty carefull pool tests comparing the fins I was wearing at the time (jetfins) and the old cressi rondines with the hardest available blade (nearly identical to hfs). There did not seem to be any measurable difference in top speed, the jetfins got going faster, but the cressi's were far superior in the amount of effort it took to maintain a medium speed, more typical of the kind of diving I was doing at the time, using SCUBA strangely enough.

Thanks again for your help

Connor

 

[unirdna]

Sven,

Turns out those pockets that I thought were 1/2 size bigger, were......er.....1/2 size bigger. 43-45....they actually make that size :head. Still they were pretty spacious, especially in the heel. Not sure if it's worth taking a $100 chance on though. Lo Siento Amigo.

Ted

http://www.scubastore.com/shop.asp?id_familia=3&id_subfamilia=19

 

[fjohnson]

Jon,
Could you please snap me a good closeup pic of the OMER foot pockets and post it?
Fred

 

[Jon]

Fred,
I posted the pictures under another thread.

Jon

 

[Adrian]

This must be the ultimate fin thread!

Jon and Ted,

Any way you guys can get hold of a pair of Gara's 3000? Like Murat I have them, and also they are my first freediving fins. I'd love to hear your comments.

After using them over the summer I can do a couple of hours, around 2 -3 km or a little more of surface swimming but after that I notice fatigue on my feet.

Adrian

 

[icarus pacific]

and speaking of deals on fins...

Anyone here looking for blades, I have a backup pair of OMER Millenium Competition blades for sale. Officially endorsed by the Sultan of smooth hisself, yes they're black, show very, very light wear and for $45 US, you ain't gonna get a better set of motors for your feets.
See the For Sale area of the DB site and send me a PM or email...