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mono for openwater swimming

Thread Status: Hello , There was no answer in this thread for more than 60 days.
It can take a long time to get an up-to-date response or contact with relevant users.

Jon

Dairyland diver
Supporter
Apr 7, 2001
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There's this lake near my house which is a couple of miles long, but doesn't allow spearfishing or boat motors on it. It also has the best vis around, without driving for hours, and has some pretty warm surface temps 80(F).

So, I've decided to pull out my front mounted snorkel and just swim it from one end to the other for some exercise, and to work on my finswimming of course. Since there no boat traffic to speak of, and no spearguns allowed, this seemed like the best way to get wet.

I used my Specialfins mono with the OMER foot pockets on it and swam for about 2 1/2 hours on Tuesday. By the end of the swim the top of my feet were raw and some skin had started to rub off. I wear wetsuit socks with a nylon cycling sock underneath to reduce as much chafing as possible, and I wouldn't think of using my waterway fin since I can only stand to wear it for about 20 minutes. Still my feet were pretty beat up.

I've seen where they have 8 kilometer openwater monofin races and was wondering what kind of fins people are using for long distance surface swimming in these races? Will my OMER pocket fin work? Do I just need to toughen up my feet? Or, is there another type of fin/ foot pocket that works better for these long distance surface swims where you spend a lot of time in your fin?

I'd appreciate and feedback you can give me.

Jon
 
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Reactions: unirdna
I have no idea how the nylon cycling sock works in water but I've seen some people puting plastic bags over their feet before putting them in the mono foot pocket.
 
I've tried a bunch of different thigns with my monofin to make it more comfortable for longer swims- 5mm socks, 6mm socks, 3mm socks, running socks+3mm socks and thin cycing soocks under 3mm wetsuit socks. This seems to allow insulation for warmth, cushioning from the foot pocket and some resistance to blistering. Still haven't found the perfect combo.

I do know that if I am going easy, or just depth diving and not hard long distance surface swimming, that almost anything will work with that monofin/footpocket.

Jon
 
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Did you just over do it? I can't imagine an 8k swim going on for as long as you were swimming. Maybe you need to do 1/2 or 1/3 of the time and break it up so you do some in the morning and some in the afternoon. It's different than bifins, which would probably eat your feet as well, as there is considerably more force in the stroke, and less rest. If you were kick-glide-kicking your water time would be longer but I think after x kicks your feet will be fried no mater what. I can't grow calouses on the top of my feet.

I bet it was a fun swim though!
 
I've swam accross Puget Sound with my WaterWay M1 middle distance monofin.
That was 4.7 miles in 2h 18m. I have modified the hard rubber footpockets of the monon for this swim. I've cut the top out and replaced it with a double layer of 3mm neoprene. The neoprene formed a 2/3 tube inside the footpockt. I use a small, 3mm-thikness plastic sheet arround my feet to prevent chafing. Without the neoprene lining the footpockets were to tight. Long distance swims are hard on your feet. What I would sugest is first a half hour swim to warm up the foot, then two one hour swims with a 10 minute break in between. Do that for a week, then try a non-stop 2 or more hour swim.
 
Thanks for the reply Butch!

Would you have any pictures of your modifications that we can see? I have a Waterway LD #2 that I could go to work on.

Also, what kind of snorkel did you use? I am using a Finis front-mounted one, but am interested in some of the other long-distance models that are out there.

jon
 
waterway has a nice snorkel.. i'm happy with it. me and my 4 year old use the model 1. they have another design (model 3) that's supposed to be for long distances..

they're all front mounted

hope this helps

http://www.finswimming.ca/

check under products.. they're not expensive either.. only like $22 USD and they also make a pretty nice mask.
 
I Can't get my digital camera to upload pictures so I can't show you the modifications to the foot pockets of my mono. As for the snorkle, I made my own out of PVC, a Lane4 head band that's used for comercial front mounted snorkles, and a comercial snorkle mouth peice. The store bought snorkels flooded to easily and it was difficult to restrict the breathing. To make the snorkle I used two pieces of 3/4 inc pipe(one straight, one was a quarter circle), a 90 degree barb and a t-barb. One thing to watchout for when making your own snorkle is C02. The snorkle I made was longer then the store-bought one. I had to train with it in the pool for several months before using it in open water, because of the amount of C02 that accumulated. At first I could only swim a couple of laps before I had to take it of and breath normally. Another thing is that if you make your own snorkle, you can't use a mask that enclouses your nose. The reason being that periodically you have to breath in through the mouth and breath out through the nose to clear the CO2 accumulated in the pipe.
 
Hi - does anyonw know the relative stiffness between say a Special Fins 'soft' or 'medium' blade and a Waterway 'long distance'. Are they about the same or is one stiffer harder than the other - or is the WW LD similar to the SF 'medium'.
thanks
Simon
 
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