Small fins v. long fins
This weekend, I managed to compare my small, bendy, 30 year old English fins & my new, stiffer Beuchat long fins.
LONG FINS:
Went out in 1m viz Sat. in relatively shallow water (actually mixed depth). Was generally tired, having got up early to drive down, I found the long fins were hard work as my calves were cramping (unusual for diving but often get them from driving) & with the mild chop it was not a great experience.
SHORT FINS:
I moved to Chesil beach (for shelter from the E. wind, 10+ft viz) later in the day & switched to my little fins - to give myself a break. This turned out to be suboptimal - but a good learning experience:
- the naturally higher kick cadence did indeed help loosen up my calves
- I saw a lot of fish (viz was much better but I think smaller fins may scare fish less too), most fish seem unphased by my presence & hung around (see trip report on Dorset 2006 thread). A garfish just kept circling me & pollock just ignored me.
However, Chesil is quite deep & finning down required an unusual flury of activity. Forget the graceful glide down facilitated by the big fins. Worse yet, finning up took a sustained flurry of leg kicks. However the kicks were small & frequent - which did not seem to disturb the fish much.
LONG FINS (again):
Switch back to long fins for Chesil the next day. Viz was down a bit,. perhaps due the northerly wind. The big fins were definitely better suited to this deep water. Getting up & down became a breeze again and the swim back (against current & wind) was strenuous but not overly so. Less fish about but saw several 2-4+lb - mainly (or entirely) wrasse.
CONCLUSION:
Horses for courses. The long fins offer clear advantages in deeper water when you need to get down & up. Also handy when swimming against the current/wind.
For shallow hunting, the smaller fins may offer some benefits: they seem less disturbing to fish, the higher kick rate keeps you warm & your legs get a chance to loosen up. Although I wonder if a medium size fin might offer a better compromise of features.
I plan to try my medium length, fairly stiff Speedo fins for comparison sometime this Summer.