Fins like they used to be

[Lazuli]

I have the modern version of the Voit Duckfeet. Got them at Ebodyboard.com. They are the fin of choice for big wave body surfers. I have not had any issues with chafing etc. Wear them barefoot for pool workouts and with a 4mm sock otherwise. Very comfortable. I like them better than my Cressi 2000's or Picassos for comfortable fit. Lots of power.

hey bilgeh20 cheers for the info. I've just ordered a new pair from vintagescuba. Can't wait to try them out. I've read stuff on the net regarding Greg Deets, the bloke who rescued the molds and started knocking UDTs out again. Remarkable story and it seems that the new rubber compounds have really created a fanbase within the big wave body surfing community like you say.

 

[DRW]

The Greg Deets story is told here:
AllAboutSurf.com - An Interactive Surf Magazine
The discovery of the UDT Duck Feet fin moulds is indeed quite a tale and I won't spoil it by retelling it here. However, I will comment on the resurrection of the UDT fins: "All (the moulds) are purchased, and the first run in years kicks off in Corona, California, October 2002." The Corona reference suggests that Pacific Molding Inc of Corona, California, was the company tasked with the manufacture of the fins. There's a YouTube video of the process of manufacturing Oceanways full-foot fins and Scubapro Jet Fins, both made from traditional natural rubber, at the Pacific Molding plant:

Here are further still images of the factory on the company website at pacificmolding.com, showing the processing, trimming and packing of swim fins made from rubber and other materials:

The Pacific Molding facility may be the only location in the United States where traditional rubber swim fins continue to be manufactured. Unless anybody knows different...

 

[DRW]

Returning to the subject of traditional all-rubber full-foot long-bladed fins still being manufactured nowadays, I've just chanced upon a model to rival the Turkish-made Adalilar Kauçuk Concorde. It's the Sopras Sub Rubber Full Foot Fin, illustrated below:

Although Sopras Sub appears to be an Italian company, the fins are mostly retailed in Eastern Europe, if Google is anything to go by. The image above derives from the website of the online store of an Estonian spearfishing club at

http://merehunt.ee/index.php?page=shop.product_details&flypage=flypage-ask.tpl&product_id=104&category_id=42&option=com_virtuemart&Itemid=55〈=en

I love the currency name - EEK - short for the Estonian Kroon. The price of the fins - 1300 Kroon - converts to EUR 83.37, US$113.11 or £72.53.

A little online research leads first to Sopras Sub's own web page on the fins

at

~SOPRASsub~

The blurb there reads: "Rubber fins with full foot to be used with bare feet or socks suitable also for Apnea". The fins are offered in three sizes: M, L, XL, without elaborating on what these sizes actually mean in terms of European, US or UK shoe sizing.

Fortunately, the Taiwanese original equipment manufacturer, Lung Win International Co., is a little more forthcoming with sizing data for the fin, product-coded LW 802:

M: US 7-9, EU 40-42, JP 25-27.
L: US 9-11, EU 42-44, JP 27-29.
XL: US 11-13, EU 44-46, JP 29-31.

LUNG WIN INTERNATIONAL.CO., LTD.

The same fins put in an appearance, product-coded F307, on another Taiwanese original equipment manufacturer's website, Gaw Shiuan Diving Equipment Inc, at

GAW-SHIUAN DIVING EQUIPMENT INC. Website

Hope the above is of interest to somebody.
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[3sportbob]

DRW - Ever come across some old sears Ted Williams diving gear?

I remeber spending my hard earned lawn mowing money on a mask, fins, and snorkel with the Ted Williams name on em from the local sears and roebuck.

That was when I fell in love with diving.

 

[DRW]

DRW - Ever come across some old sears Ted Williams diving gear? I remeber spending my hard earned lawn mowing money on a mask, fins, and snorkel with the Ted Williams name on em from the local sears and roebuck. That was when I fell in love with diving.

Although I was aware that Sears Roebuck marketed diving gear at one time

Vintage Scuba Diving Community Forum - Rarest US Divers Mistral - Blue with White Label

As a Brit, I hadn't come across the name Ted Williams until now:

Though a baseball player, I see from his Wikipedia article that he endorsed products in other sports:

Williams reached an extensive deal with Sears, lending his name and talent toward marketing, developing, and endorsing a line of in-house sports equipment - specifically fishing, hunting and baseball equipment.

[ame="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ted_Williams"]Ted Williams - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia[/ame]


Any idea whose diving gear he endorsed? Or any chance of a picture? I suppose Ted William's underwater equipment endorsement came under the aegis of "hunting" or "fishing".

Speaking of diving fin endorsements, although Lloyd Bridges of "Sea Hunt" fame dived with Voit gear, he also endorsed Tarpon full-foots and King Neptune Marlin open-heels, both manufactured in England, where I live, by Haffenden-Richborough of Sandwich, Kent. Both fins had Bridges' picture embossed on them! There's a pair of King Neptune Marlins currently on eBay:

I owned a similar pair in the early 1960s, when my lifelong passion for snorkelling began. I was amazed how fast I could swim with them and their soft rubber foot pockets were so comfortable. The fins had the name "Britmarine Clipper" embossed on them here in the UK. Haffenden-Richborough used to make fins and masks for other retailers, including Woolworths, which sold them under the "Speedswim" name.

 

[Lazuli]

Hey DRW, hope you don't mind me adding these pics to your excellent thread.

My new UDT Duckfeet "Extreme Propulsion Fins" arrived today.

These are Super XL sized and seem to be nice and comfortable with fin socks and the heel pads I've added. Interestingly the upper foot pocket and heel strap are soft rubber. Somewhat similar in form to some monofin heel straps. Blade, spars and lower foot pocket are stiffer rubber. Even so, they appear surprisingly flexible for such a robustly reinforced blade.

The box states that the performance has been enhanced through a new 'biomimetic material regime'.

They have 'U.D.T. Model', 'Made In Malaysia', 'Super', and the number 01346 embossed on each fin. Two drainage holes are present on the underside of each footpocket.

A very interesting fin. I will report back once I've given them a trip to the sea.
Laz

 

[DRW]

What a great buy, Laz! You've got a classic design there which is more than half a century old. Interesting that the current manufacturers have done something to make the foot pockets kinder to the feet. I'd be very interested to know whether they pass muster in the water. I'm on several vintage diving forums where many contributors speak fondly of their memories of using Duck Feet.

DRW

 

[3sportbob]

Any idea whose diving gear he endorsed? Or any chance of a picture? I suppose Ted William's underwater equipment endorsement came under the aegis of "hunting" or "fishing".

I'm not sure wwho made the stuff but everything in sears at that time had the TW name on it. I may be remembering wrong as it was a very long time ago. I wonder if it was some AMF - Voit stuff or if they had some other manufacturer they used.
I have been searching the net but can't find any pics. Maybe the mind is playing tricks.

 

[Claudio]

If you guys like these type of fins I think you can still get the Cobra Sub's Rondine and Spinta all-rubber models in Brazil.

Cobra bought the molds for these fins from Cressi back in the 70s and begun producing these in Brazil using natural rubber from the Amazon. I used to use them when I was young and they were very nice back then. I think I would still prefer one of these over any other more modern short fin.

Cobra Sub also used to make an all-natural-rubber long blade fin called Jumbo, but I cannot find a photo of that model anywhere on the Internet. I never dove with those, but would love to own one of those nowadays just for kicks.

Cheers,
Claudio

 

[DRW]

If you guys like these type of fins I think you can still get the Cobra Sub's Rondine and Spinta all-rubber models in Brazil.

Cobra bought the molds for these fins from Cressi back in the 70s and begun producing these in Brazil using natural rubber from the Amazon. I used to use them when I was young and they were very nice back then. I think I would still prefer one of these over any other more modern short fin.

Cobra Sub also used to make an all-natural-rubber long blade fin but I cannot find a photo of that model on the Internet. I never dove with those, but would love to own one of those nowadays just for kicks.

Cheers,
Claudio

I'm very grateful for this information, Claudio. I've been researching the world supply of all-rubber full-foot fins for a while, so I'm already familiar with Cobra Sub's Rondine and Spinta fins from my online searches. You've provided confirmation, though, that the moulds came from Cressi itself rather than being one of the many imitations. That's useful and valuable information which I didn't know.

Brazil isn't the only Latin American country where this type of fin is produced. Mexico has its all-rubber Escualo Sports Clasica fin, which comes with a longish blade. I believe there's also a South American company called Pino Sub which had its own version of the Cressi Rondine, which is now only obtainable on Mercadolibre, the Latin American equivalent of eBay. Thanks again.

 

[DRW]

I'm not sure wwho made the stuff but everything in sears at that time had the TW name on it. I may be remembering wrong as it was a very long time ago. I wonder if it was some AMF - Voit stuff or if they had some other manufacturer they used.
I have been searching the net but can't find any pics. Maybe the mind is playing tricks.

I've been checking online too, but coming up empty. Voit, I understand, also sold its goods via department stores, so I suppose it's quite possible they made the fins you had in mind. It's interesting to read about an American sportsman endorsing everything in sight in the way of sporting goods. I can't think of anything similar happening on this side of the Atlantic.

 

[Lazuli]

I remember using a pair of black rubber full foot fins in the late 80s which were of Greek manufacture and had a large circular octopus logo embossed on the top of the foot pocket. I remember them being really comfy and powerful. For the life of me I can't remember the make but I think they were fairly widespread around the med.

 

[DRW]

I remember using a pair of black rubber full foot fins in the late 80s which were of greek manufacture and had a large circular octopus logo embossed on the top of the foot pocket. I remember them being really comfy and powerful. For the life of me I can't remember the make but I think they were fairly widespread around the med.

The three main manufacturers of rubber fins in Greece were, and to some extent still are, Balco (now Eurobal Diving Company), Glaros Sub and Majorca Sub (Majorca Sub), although there might have been others, such as Florida, which only makes plastic fins nowadays. I agree about how comfortable Greek-made rubber full-foot fins can be. Balco Sprint fins are often used in Germany and Scandinavia for swim-training purposes and they're very comfortable indeed:

No octopus embossed on the top, though, just the company logo!

 

[DRW]

Earlier in this thread the topic of fins made by the diving equipment company Gull in Japan was raised. It has just been brought to my attention that Gull Hard Mew fins

are being marketed from the end of this month, with the option of worldwide shipping, by the CanAm underwater hockey gear website at

Gull Mew Hard Fin | CanAm Underwater Hockey Gear

This fin is considered by this website, and New Zealand underwater hockey dealers, to be an appropriate all-rubber replacement for Technisub Alas, which are getting hard to source outside eBay.

 

[salibandy]

I use the Mew Hards. They are short, soft, and oh so wonderful for underwater hockey. Requires a short fast flutter kick to work properly, and the (extremely) short length works for curling. Had no idea Steve was selling them.

 

[DRW]

I love my Hard Mews too and happily use them when snorkelling in the North Sea, which never gets warm even in summertime. Personally, I pay no attention to that tired mantra about open-heel fins being mandatory wear in cold water. The Hard Mews fit perfectly well over my exposure suit feet. Until now Gull Hard Mews have been unobtainable outside East Asia and New Zealand, and CanAm appear to be selling them only from the end of March, so I hope there won't be a supply problem for people in the Western hemisphere, where the big diving equipment companies are determined to manufacture all their fins out of oil derivatives. I'm just glad that there's still a place for fins made from traditional natural rubber in other parts of the world and that they are now being exported to the West, thanks to distributors such as CanAm.

 

[DRW]

In message #43 of this thread I wrote about a long-bladed all-rubber fin, coded LW 702:

Well, Seemann Sub now markets these fins as "Stream Fins" under their new "Gear Sub" trademark. Their product description reads:

Ideal for beginners of this trend sport
Special Apnea fin with long fin blade and comfortable foot pocket, compounded of solid rubber. Its a light weight apnea fin, perfect for easy descent and beginning or recreational free-divers. The long blade gives extra power and control.
Blade length: 44 cm (size M), 46 cm (L), 47 cm (XL)

You can download an illustrated Seemann Sub catalogue from their website at
SUBGEAR | experience the difference

In the UK, the fins are sold online by Simply Snorkel at
http://www.simplysnorkel.com/products/SubGear/StreamFin.aspx
I've just treated myself to a pair and am looking forward to trying them out in the North Sea some time in the near future when the weather's a little better. Though a little narrow-fitting for my liking, the soft foot pockets match my UK size 11 feet very well length-wise. I will let you know how they perform in the water.

 

[a shark tooth]

I love my Hard Mews too and happily use them when snorkelling in the North Sea, which never gets warm even in summertime. Personally, I pay no attention to that tired mantra about open-heel fins being mandatory wear in cold water. The Hard Mews fit perfectly well over my exposure suit feet. Until now Gull Hard Mews have been unobtainable outside East Asia and New Zealand, and CanAm appear to be selling them only from the end of March, so I hope there won't be a supply problem for people in the Western hemisphere, where the big diving equipment companies are determined to manufacture all their fins out of oil derivatives. I'm just glad that there's still a place for fins made from traditional natural rubber in other parts of the world and that they are now being exported to the West, thanks to distributors such as CanAm.

They are marketed as Technisub Ala successors, which they are very well NOT.

 

[DRW]

Sorry to read about your experience with those Gull Hard Mews. Gull's "Soft" and regular Mews come with more flexible blades but they aren't easily sourced here in the West. You've told us how the Hard Mews compare with your HPs and Quattros, which are composite fins. How do you think they compare with Technisub Alas, which aren't?

 

[a shark tooth]

The Gull Mew Fins are nothing like the Technisub Ala's. Ala's are soft, wide, and light. They are extremely efficient. Hard Mew fins are stiff, narrow, shorter than Ala's, and heavy. They are only similar to Ala's in that they have a little insignia on the foot pocket. Not a good substitute at all.