long fins and turning (trying to) in the pool

[fjohnson]

Well, today I started training in the pool,, I see I have many things to learn and a long way to go to get back into shape. One thing that really impressed me was the efficiency of my sporusub carbons compared to my old fins. I knew they were better but in the pool I was able to do some real comparisons. There is NO comparison. But try as I may, and I did many times... I never found a good way to turn around under the water with the long fins. Does anyone know of a good technique to get turned around at the end of the pool in both the shallow (1m) and the deep end???

 

[freediver48]

Hi,

They are not really designed to turn in close quarters, but those marine mammals seem to do it, why not try bigger turns first and try not to stall the fin, only close down once you have an ability to enter, complete the trun , and smoothly exist the turn will you be like them.

Best wishes,

Freediver48

 

[Tom Lightfoot]

I always preferred to do a flip turn like you would do for competitive swimming. It works great with rubber underwater hockey fins but is *NOT* a good idea with carbon fins.

Kirk taught us a pool turn at a clinic early this year. I find it awkward and slow but I think it's the best option going if you want to protect your fins. I hope I can adequately describe this in words.

Start off heading towards the end of the pool, face down with your arms stretched out in front of you. Most pools have a T about 2m before the end. When you see the T, pull with your left arm and bend your body at the same time to the left. Touch the wall with your right hand off-center. Use the leverage to swing your body around with your body remaining level. At the same time, bend at the knees to get the fins up. Be sure to keep the blades edge-on to the water. If all goes well (takes some practice) you should end up facing the opposite end of the pool. I find that my fin tips end up just grazing the end of the pool as I start to kick again. Ideally they wouldn't touch at all.

Pushing off the side of the pool with big fins is bad for two reasons: First of all the abrasion and stress is bad for the fin. Secondly, the large surface area of the fin will cause it to stick to the wall, causing a lot of stress on the fin and giving you a slower push off than you'd expect.

Another bit of advice: Keep your expensive fins away from rough concrete or marcite pool bottoms. And make sure you have someone spotting you.

Tom Lightfoot

 

[fjohnson]

Tom,
Thanks for your reply... the next time I'm in the pool I will work on the method you described. I think I got it. I'd already taped up the fin tips with vinyl to protect them while snorkeling...I think it really helped for the few times I nicked the pool bottom. When I took the old fins off today after a comparison I realized I won't be using anything but the carbons from now on. 'Course I haven't tried the mono fin........

Fred

 

[bruno]

I have sporasub Foot +72cm blade (long ones), and with these i always make flip turns. I found the info at
I pay attention to : being very close to the wall(head +:- 20cm
If you turn too soon, fins will slow you down
and you'll end up too far from the wall, not
being able to push off.

put my feet like charlie chaplin to push off,
so the fins don't stick to the wall. Don't push
too hard and try to "roll" the feet to the inside

after pushing off stay on your back till the
first kick.

I trained for hours an hours :head
first tried without fins, after that my cheap, small fins and at least
my spora's.

The small side off the pool is about 90cm deep , so there I surface to make my
turns and this has the advantage of turning faster ( your fins are out of the water so less resistance, pushing off with the heels on the upper side of the wall) . This turning can be quiet rough, so i would never use carbon blades.

good luck