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Gara 3000
- Thread starterDevonDiver
- Start date
Thread Status: Hello
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Not yet man. The deeper water is still cold and i have finals now. Yesterday i dived at 10 feet and i felt the cold. I am not using wetsuit or weight belt. When i am diving, I go all the way down with fins, also all the way up.:duh I dunno if there is special name for that kind of dive (may be idiot diving
) Actually people saying me that you can use weight belt without wetsuit but i don't fell confident to use it. But i know i have to use it if i want to reach deeper. I saw new OMER Glide jacket which you can add weight on your back but this jacket seems very dangerous to me coz it has 3 or 4 straps infront of it which none of them is quick realase like weight belt. In the case of emergency every second, you will be more close to death.
Hi Murat,
The Gara 3000 sink if you let them go, so it must be a matter of getting used to them for your kick not to break the surface on the upstroke. At the beginning this used to happen to me, but not any more. I also place my weights low on the hips and that helps too. Also the change from a 5 mm full wetsuit to a 3mm shortie helps keep the fins lower.
Personally I find the dolphin kick much easier and smoother than the flutter for doing dynamics with the garas. Doing a series of tests in the pool to see how many flutter kicks would get me to the other side of the pool versus dolphin kicks, the dolphin won out every time. So on the surface for distance I use a pretty normal flutter and for going under I use the dolphin.
Adrian
The Gara 3000 sink if you let them go, so it must be a matter of getting used to them for your kick not to break the surface on the upstroke. At the beginning this used to happen to me, but not any more. I also place my weights low on the hips and that helps too. Also the change from a 5 mm full wetsuit to a 3mm shortie helps keep the fins lower.
Personally I find the dolphin kick much easier and smoother than the flutter for doing dynamics with the garas. Doing a series of tests in the pool to see how many flutter kicks would get me to the other side of the pool versus dolphin kicks, the dolphin won out every time. So on the surface for distance I use a pretty normal flutter and for going under I use the dolphin.
Adrian
So you mean when i push them down i will not let them to surface??? But i noticed when i just float on the surface they outomatically surface?? Do i suppossed to do what you said without all these wetsuit and weight stuff? I am real skindiver (except my bathing costume)
You said it sink if i let it go but when i let it go they always want to float except when i cahnged my psition of the body. When i higher my chest and head away from surface they sink.
But anyway if you say it sink i will try until do it. It just matter of time.Any more help will apreciate.
My fault Murat,
I meant that if you put them in the water to see if they float or sink, you'll find that they sink.
I do have to angle my body a bit to make sure that the upstroke doesn't break the surface. I tried your bicycle idea too, but found it more work. My normal flutter kick works well now but it took some time.
Adrian
I meant that if you put them in the water to see if they float or sink, you'll find that they sink.
I do have to angle my body a bit to make sure that the upstroke doesn't break the surface. I tried your bicycle idea too, but found it more work. My normal flutter kick works well now but it took some time.
Adrian
Yeah, I put them before wearing and observed they immediately sink but when i wear them they float. This may becouse of my body's bouyancy. So must i wear weight belt to neglect my bouyancy or there are other ways to do it without weightbelt.
As you mentioned when i angle body they sink but this position is very disturbing and useless because you have to higher your head also which mean you won't see underwater anymore.
Its cold for only this year coz the summer came late here this year but up to this year sun start to shining from march.Some years we have 6 month summer. At the begining of the diving sesion air temperature be easily over 45 degree celcius with all that moustiure. And the places that i dive pretty hot. But if i want to dive deeper waters i should wear. I am guessing there must be cold no matter how hot is the water.
Gara 3000
Came back from work, and there they were....! Been waiting impatiently for almost a week for my stuff from Scubastore.
Bought the Gara 3000, I will try to have a little swim with them tonight. The only thing I have to compare with is my current "normal" fin, Mares Avati Tre. My first impression is that the Garas are quite a bit stiffer. Guess It will take a couple of dives to get used to that.
I'll be back after my first dive.
Came back from work, and there they were....! Been waiting impatiently for almost a week for my stuff from Scubastore.
Bought the Gara 3000, I will try to have a little swim with them tonight. The only thing I have to compare with is my current "normal" fin, Mares Avati Tre. My first impression is that the Garas are quite a bit stiffer. Guess It will take a couple of dives to get used to that.
I'll be back after my first dive.
Pezman said:
excellent question ! I have never swom with Gara 3000, but know very well the 2000 HF...
The GARA 2000 HF is a very stiff blade especially designed for deep diving... but it is very bad for surface swimming (too stiff and tends to flap above the water - ankle weights help then)...
GARA 3000 was supposed to "correct" a little bit the drawbacks of 2000 HF but it mainly remains a fin for deep diving... it is a little more supple than 2000 HF...
they created 3000 LD (long distance) especially for surface swimming...
I now use a more polyvalent fin Sporasub Comp Variant...
I find the GARA 3000 to be difficult for surface swimming- they keep breaking the water, but I haven't had them long. I like the dolphin kick in them though. And underwater they're great.
I bought a pair of gara 3000 this week, before I only had some crappy noname snorkeling fins (I'm a newbie..) but as I used those for about 4 years, I really got used to them and I like them a lot for surface swimming. however, I wanted to try these long blade fins, so I bought the garas. Well, my first experience was VERY bad ( I'm sure it's my fault, but they completely ruined my day, I couldn't concentrate on hunting at all, I was struggling with my fins all the time. I was simply unable to surface swim with them correctly, and even underwater they were uncomfortably stiff for me (ok I know they are soft compared to other long blade fins, but as I said I had a very soft and short snorkelling fin before, and this sudden switch was.. well.. painful to say the least. I just can't seem to be able to handle these fins.. I have no idea how to kick with them, especially on the surface, after about two hours my ankles hurt like hell (now was the first time I realized I had no idea how to hold my ankles when kicking - with the soft snorkel fins I never had this problem...) so please help me with some advices SOS, how to get accustomed to these fins which are completely different from anything I ever used before. Please give me even the most basic advices which would be possibly obvious for most ppl here, as I'm an absolute newbie. Thx.
( I'm sure it's my fault, but they completely ruined my day, I couldn't concentrate on hunting at all, I was struggling with my fins all the time. I was simply unable to surface swim with them correctly, and even underwater they were uncomfortably stiff for me (ok I know they are soft compared to other long blade fins, but as I said I had a very soft and short snorkelling fin before, and this sudden switch was.. well.. painful to say the least. I just can't seem to be able to handle these fins.. I have no idea how to kick with them, especially on the surface, after about two hours my ankles hurt like hell (now was the first time I realized I had no idea how to hold my ankles when kicking - with the soft snorkel fins I never had this problem...) so please help me with some advices SOS, how to get accustomed to these fins which are completely different from anything I ever used before. Please give me even the most basic advices which would be possibly obvious for most ppl here, as I'm an absolute newbie. Thx.Long fins are hard to get used to. Just keep swimming with them and your muscles will adapt. Practice with a kick board and do 40 min every other day. Before you know it you will wonder why you were messing around with those tiny fins.
When people ask me how I like my long fins I tell them that it is like driving a nail with a hammer. Little snorkel fins are like the hammers from a kids toy box and long fins are like useing a 21oz framing hammer. Bamm and you are down.
Also make sure the fin fits on your foot properly. Not wobbly. I use a regular ankle high sock, then wrap my ankle with a bit of athletic tape then put on a neoprene sock over that. Might sound like a lot but it cuts down on your fin rubbing a hole in your achelies tendon and you have a little extra support for when the current kicks up.
Good luck and dive safe,
Jay
When people ask me how I like my long fins I tell them that it is like driving a nail with a hammer. Little snorkel fins are like the hammers from a kids toy box and long fins are like useing a 21oz framing hammer. Bamm and you are down.
Also make sure the fin fits on your foot properly. Not wobbly. I use a regular ankle high sock, then wrap my ankle with a bit of athletic tape then put on a neoprene sock over that. Might sound like a lot but it cuts down on your fin rubbing a hole in your achelies tendon and you have a little extra support for when the current kicks up.
Good luck and dive safe,
Jay
Keep using them. They will loosen up significantly after a little usage. Go swim a couple miles in them. Your feet and ankles will hurt the first time only. After that they loosen up a ton. (almost too much)
I got a pair of them a month a go, they are my first APNEA fins. I'm realy happy with them, but as you, for me was hard to get used to them. What i'm doing to get more confortable is training dynamic on a pool.
1rst Week
.- 200mts surface
.- 200mts backward surface
.- 200mts dolphin
It was painful at first, but at the end i could finish without pain. Then I started to add 50mts for each. Now i'm doing 500mts in a confortable way...
By the way, I think the fins are great!!!
Sigi...
1rst Week
.- 200mts surface
.- 200mts backward surface
.- 200mts dolphin
It was painful at first, but at the end i could finish without pain. Then I started to add 50mts for each. Now i'm doing 500mts in a confortable way...
By the way, I think the fins are great!!!
Sigi...
Don't know the garas but generally for long fins:
Kick from the thighs and not from the knees. Use a slow broad kick.
For surface swimming I prefer doing one push with both legs then glide, Repeat. Sonetimes with hands about my head. I'm not sure it'll work if you're towing something though.
I alternate that with spreading my legs while the fines are parallel to the surface and then closing them while pushing water between the fins backwards (feet facing eachother). I didn't notice being faster or slower than other people and I don't tire my legs as much as finning normaly on the surface.
There are other methods probably, try them all and see what works.
Kick from the thighs and not from the knees. Use a slow broad kick.
For surface swimming I prefer doing one push with both legs then glide, Repeat. Sonetimes with hands about my head. I'm not sure it'll work if you're towing something though.
I alternate that with spreading my legs while the fines are parallel to the surface and then closing them while pushing water between the fins backwards (feet facing eachother). I didn't notice being faster or slower than other people and I don't tire my legs as much as finning normaly on the surface.
There are other methods probably, try them all and see what works.