First Time Monofin - Got it!

[Fondueset]

This past Saturday a coworker and I were planning on going for a dive. He got onto it from seeing my pics and listening to me rave - I helped him order a suit, sold him my old fins and a mask and generally told him what he needs to avoid death.

Anyway - it's pretty cold here - Saturday was about 18 F with a stiff breeze bringing it down to about 8f. He called me to say he'd be late - had to run into work. Well, he showed up about 20 minutes later with my new monofin! It was delivered to work just as he was leaving. I tried it a little and it was fun, but really hurt my feet. Took it out again yesterday and after about fifteen minutes my feet were happy again. We swam out about 1/4 mile out along some old cooling pipes.

First impressions are - you don't seem to feel as much resistance as with regular fins. The end of the pipeline is only about 10 meters deep but I had very little sense of transit on the way down - I was pretty focused on making the fin work but it sure seems like you spend way less energy to get around.

Yesterday we had stunning visibility and a little sunshine - surface swimming is a problem I still need to solve but it was great fun jetting around in the clear water. Stronger wind yesterday though - so my gloves froze solid as did the water on my face if the wind hit it. Interestingly I was still pretty comfortable after an hour or so swimming with the mono. My buddy did well too - he's got an elios 5 mil titanium in/nlyon out and a henderson ice mask. One of his socks came off though...

I'm hoping this mono will help my bottom times - this is a great time of year to play with it because the water is extremely clear but the fish are out deep.

 

[Kars]

Cool story, very cool indeed!

kars

 

[demasoni]

Hey Fondueset,

Congrats on getting your mono! Which one did you get?

Any pics?

 

[Stavros]

Are you going to try fishing with a mono? This will be interesting... Herbert was telling me he has tried it with horrible results and I think Eric has also given it a go in Canada.

Have fun with your new toy

Cheers Stav

 

[Fondueset]

Eric and Brianna both fished with monofins at Telegraph Cove. No problems. In my brief experience with it so far I see no problem. I plan to do photography with mind and will let you know how it goes - since, if anything, that is more difficult than spearing. My primary method is aspetto, however. I think if you were fishing in close quarters - among rocks and reef where you need to change direction quickly it might be a little problematic.

I got the Waterway Wings Nemo in distance stiffness. I've only about an hour and a half in with it but I can say the footpockets are quite comfortable. Initially I had intense pain in my feet and ankles - but I think much of this resulted from a habitual tendancy to try and move my feet independantly. On my second dive foot discomfort completely vanished after 15 minutes. My technique was ghastly but I was much less aware of swimming down to get to the bottom and spent a lot more time jetting around and, seemingly, getting much less tired for the distance covered. I was not able to swim effectively on the surface (I've since gathered info on how this is done) and ended up using my arms more - but also covering most of the distance in a series of dives.

The footpockets have a lower heel than my Omers - they were also easier to put on but I had no sense of my feet slipping out of them.

 

[pelagicbeing]

Congratulations on your first Mono!

I also favour the 'aspetto' method (for filming / photographing)...and tend to lazily amble across the sea bed if any movement at all. I have found that body boarding webbed gloves make a huge difference with manouverability. (they also act like a hydro-plane with your arms extended above your head) I can highly recommend getting some....

Have fun!

pelagicbeing.

PS. have you named it yet?

 

[Fondueset]

Thanks for the glove idea! I'll have to wait for warmer weather though - this time of year its all about 3 finger mitts. My dive-buddy-in-training ws trying to take videos of me swimming with the monofin the other day and it reminded me of the learning curve involved in getting the camera right. Many of the better shots on my site were taken while I was falling over or even holding the camera out at some weird angle without even being able to look at the lcd display for fear of making corrections that would spook the fish. You have to kind of shift your center of gravity to the camera and position your body around it.

Today the air temp is supposed to get up to around 25 F!!! I hope to take the afternoon off and go swim around the ice floes that have blown in with a north wind.

 

[cdavis]

Pelagicbeing,

Could you expand a bit on the webbed gloves? I use them for body surfing and have had several pairs. They come in full finger, 3/4 finger, neopreme both sides and one side. Some are pretty floppy and some kind of stiff. What I have used seem like a lot of drag. What do you use?

Connor

 

[pelagicbeing]

Hey Connor,

The ones i use are 3mm full finger, nylon covered neoprene on the back of the glove, and rubber on the palm of the glove. They are quite soft, but you can obviously control the tension of the webbed parts by splaying your hands. You can also tuck the webs in should you want a more streamlined profile.

I only freedive recreationaly, and find these great for increased manouverability, i mostly use them in warmer climates. As soon as i can find a 5mm full finger webbed glove then i will use them over here in the UK year round.

I hope that helps....

Pelagicbeing

 

[PoseidonSv]

Congratulations on the new Mono, they have that monofin in the professional swimmers store here in my town and it looks decent.

I ordered a new waterway Glide fin now with long distance blade and big enough footpockets for me to feel comfortable weatring them for long time.

Will post more info on it when i get it and when I have tried it to compare with the medium hard glide fin with one size smaller footpockets.

I also say it is possible to relearn how to manouver and turn with a mono it is not that hard but the transition from bifins makes you have to relearn and try other methids to turn fast and easy even it still or slow in the water.

 

[Fondueset]

Excuse the lousy camera work on this - only my second dive with the mono. I think the carp approve.

Carp Kiss