Los Angeles or California finswimming club?

[monofin_diva]

here i go with one of my many questions.. but here goes.

are there any finswimming clubs or whatever in the LA area? i'm contemplating to start one. i would like to connect with other monofinners in the LA area but i'm having no luck.

there has to be a group of finswimmers that want to get together and just swim.. i'm also having an impossible time finding finswimming coaches.. each place i contact regarding instruction is falling empty, nor do they know where i could find a coach.

there is a finswimming team in texas but that's the only one i've found.. i'm amazed how "unpopular" finswimming is in the US

any help would be GREATLY appreciated.

this forum is a huge help to me though.. the archives and the willingness of people to help..thanks..

ps.. i almost forgot.. if anyone is interested in starting a club.. let me know

 

[Merlin]

Did you try searching in the "find a buddy section"? perhaps you can find at least a dive buddy if not a club. But I understand your frustration, our currently "unofficial" Georgia Tech club is now 3 member in size :duh (but with a lot of heart )

 

[monofin_diva]

i've read through the archives.. nothing for finswimming LA.. or similar searches.

i did find one and ONLY one monofin swimming 'group' on tribes.net

i may join just so i can get some people together.. but alas.. there are only 8 people in ttere and they're all up north.

no coaches.. no teams.. no clubs.. no NOTHING.. also no information hardly on the US olympic finswimming team.

i'm so frustrated

but in your defense.. 3 people is more than i have right now.. too bad i'm so far away.. i will be in ATL in august.. but i'd love to find a local group to swim with. my neighbours are all curious after seeing me swim with my fin.. but they've tried and can't swim in it after i let them borrow it (and these are good swimmers)

at this point i'd love a dive/finswimming partner. i have a scuba partner and he hates that i prefer to free dive while he scubas and we buddy breathe. i just want a local finswimming partner that loves the fin as much as i do.

good luck with your club.. keep me posted

 

[Merlin]

i will be in ATL in august..

Cool, let me know if you have time to hit the pool while you are here. We have some beautiful facilities at school from the 1996 Olympics.
Aquatic Center

 

[monofin_diva]

wow.. what a nice pool.. i have an olympic pool down the street from me, but they wont let me into the pool anymore with my monofin because it "disturbs the other swimmers".. i guess because of my wake.. they also werent too keen on the hypoxic swimming.

i'm glad i have my own personal pool.. but its only about 20 metres long.. so i have to make turns in order to get a near 50m lap in.. it sucks.

i'll be in atl for a photo shoot around 5-8 august.. i'd LOVE to swim that pool.. do they let you use the monofin there?.. some public pools arent too keen on monofin swimmers.. it really disturbs the water and people complain that its too choppy when a finswimmer is in the water..lol my answer.. have them put on a great fin too!

hehe..

thanks for the invite.. i may just take you up on it.

 

[Merlin]

Yeah, we can use monofins and pretty much anything we want. I take my waterway and cressi gara all the time. If anything swimmers disturb us! if I have to share a lane with someone swimming it causes my fin to go all over the place which makes me lose my rythm and concentration. But we do not have any problems here in fact you get a lot of interest in them. The olympic pool is set up for 50m swimming during the summer which is awesome for monofining.

 

[monofin_diva]

i find that other swimmers in my pool here really throws off my undulations.. also i have to generally avoid hitting them. they do show a lot of interest and i've lent my monofin to them to swim.. they just automatically sink and can't recover their stroke.

it would be cool to meet up with another finswimmer while i'm in atlanta.

when you say you have to share a lane.. does that mean they swim behind or in front of you? i've never swam with someone in my lane before.. i could imagine that would be very hard in a monofin because we travel so quickly through the water

 

[Merlin]

Dont worry about sharing lanes that's only when the pool is somewhat full which usually only happens in the evening.

But if you are really interested when that happens I just tell the swimmer to stay on one side of the lane and I stay on the other. Since the 50m pool is fairly deep (11ft) you can swim deeper and not be bothered by them.

 

[monofin_diva]

i'll let you know my precise schedule for august.. i really want to finswim with someone else.. i haven't done so yet. i'm the only one i know that uses a fin.. most of my friends are scuba divers and they are sorta anti monofin i've noticed. i think it's just because they haven't found a good fin that they can use while doing a constant weight dive.

maybe we can exchange emails or something so i can let you know when i'm in ATl.. i'm not the worlds best finswimmer but i do love it.. so that has to count for something

i'd love to learn by watching other finswimmers and their technique

thanks for your response to my thread.. sometimes when you post it sorta feels like you're posting to the ether and HOPING someone responds..

 

[iceselkie]

Hey Diva! Sounds like you have a lot in common with me! I just moved to the west coast- just three hours from Vancouver. I found one finswimming club online in Port Coquitlam:
http://members.shaw.ca/fscdolphin/
I emailed last week, but didn't get any reply. I'm also a lifeguard, love monofinning and want to start something up here too. The recent National Lifeguard competition shows me just how many people out there compete using fins, so it shouldn't be too much of a leap! Just gotta find or somehow become a trainer.
PM me if you want!

 

[Merlin]

maybe we can exchange emails or something so i can let you know when i'm in ATl.. i'm not the worlds best finswimmer but i do love it.. so that has to count for something

Diva,

my email is gte681w@mail.gatech.edu, I'm lucky to have Greg (commonerg here) who has taught me a lot and has been practicing longer. If you do come then hopefully he can join us that day and you can check out different finning styles in person.

Oh yeah if you use AIM or yahoo my name is MerlinGT1 (AIM) and merlingt1@yahoo.com (on yahoo)

 

[Merlin]

By the way out of curiosity which monofin do you use?

 

[monofin_diva]

hi selkie..

i tried to email the texas monofin team and no reply..lol so don't feel bad.. i also emailed and called waterways (no response to my email.. a curt response to my call).. so at this point.. i'm just clutching at straws.. any help i get is appreciated..lol there doesnt seem to be a WHOLE lot of clubs or info there.

that club you put the link up for looks just like what i'm looking for.. too bad its in canada.. darn.

i do get up to canada but definitely not often enough to go there for swimming :hmm

it's still a great link though.. too bad you arent in CA.. hehe

 

[monofin_diva]

merlin.. i IMed you on yahoo.. maybe we can chat a bit tomorrow.. i got a finis fin about 3 weeks ago and i fell in love with it.. i called waterways today to ask some questions about their fins and the guy i spoke to was really rude to be a bit honest. either way i still want one of their fins..

i'm not too keen on the finis fin to be frank. it's good to get your feet wet (which i have).. but it does leave you wanting more.. it's more of a pre-fin monofin i would say.. and i dont even have that much experience with finning but i have enough sense to know that. (no offense to anyone that loves finis fins.. i just found they arent for me.. but i LOVE the fin i have.. i just need a bit more from a fin)

i have my eye on a sebak fin (perhaps for open ocean sorta diving).. and a waterways fin for more finswimming sort of practice. don't get me wrong.. i don't hate my finis fin and if you only want to use it for fitness or something it's good.. but in my opinion.. i need something a wee bit stiffer. i never took to bi-fins much but i have this huge mermaid fetish of sorts..lol so i just had to try a monofin. i took to it really naturally.. but i really look at my finis fin as training wheels. the blade is way soft and when i get deep in my pool (its 9 feet deep) its like nearly impossible to rise to the surface.. the blade bends SO much..

maybe something a wee bit stiffer would work. also those emergency release sort of things really get on my nerves.. they keep releasing at the most inopportune times. in two weeks i'll make my decision if i will get the waterway fin or the sebak one. eventually i want both.. but for now i want something i can use for open ocean sorta diving.. long distance surface and maybe some constant weight stuff.. maybe a medium stiffness blade..

what is your opinion about the fins you have?

 

[Merlin]

I think I have seen the finis fin that you are using. There is a guy at our pool who uses it and I agree they are very soft. I got started with a monofin that I made which turned out to be ideal for learning because it was really soft and easy to develop technique. I now use a Waterway model 2, medium stiffness and I absolutely love it. The only thing bad about the fin is that the footpockets are painful when you use them for a while. So I use the waterway exclusively for trainning and my cressi-gara 3000 for recreation (although I also train with the garas doing dolphin kick). You could give my fins a try although the foot pockets may be large.

I added you to my yahoo IM list.

 

[monofin_diva]

i've been reading through the archives and it seems that the only bad thing people generally have to say about their fin is that the foot pockets can be atrocious on some of them. i sometimes get a cramp in my foot if i dont cram my foot into the pocket deep enough. i'm sure there has to be a fin that has an entirely comfortable footpocket AND can be used for training.

from what i've noticed.. it seems that the finswimming fins are the ones that have a more uncomfortable foot pocket and i think it's because they really aren't meant for being worn any length of time.. primarily for sprinting, but i'm not sure. i really want one of those sebak fins.. right now they're having a KILLER damn sale.

for 398 euro you get:

Freediving Monofin Coloured (for open water)
Freediving Monofin Dolphin (for pool events)
Monofin Bag (stows 2 pairs)
2 Name & Flag Stickers

that's not a bad deal. 2 monofin and a bag for 398.. i may take up that offer.

talk to you on yahoo

-diva

 

[iceselkie]

Hey diva if you're into IM then IM "iceselkie" on yahoo. I have a fibreplastic sprint fin which is very stiff (kinda like the sebak dolphin)and has mat-mas pockets, which are heavy, but feel awesome with a pair of 3mm socks. . I've heard nothing but good feedback on the Waterway monos and the Sebaks. (if you wanna see a really pretty mono check out breier, not too sure about the footpockets). My bi-fins are Waterway, and I had a fairly easy time getting them from Peter, and he was quite helpful (it was getting footpockets that was the tricky part).

 

[monofin_diva]

i checked out the brier fin.. rather nice. i have pretty much settled into the fact that i will probably need at least two good monofins. i think people get disappointed because they want one fin that will do everything. but reality is just all fins arent created equally.. i would just love to be able to try them out beforehand.

 

[commonerg]

Iceselkie- I love your avatar icon. Bill Murray is classic.

Monofin_diva- Keep us posted on your trip to atlanta. We would love to have you to come train with us.