Monofin Purchase advice

[Jon]

I found the NEMO to be much more comfortable than any Traditional style monofin that I owned. I was able to get 5mm socks in it without a problem and that meant I was able to dive under the ice with it. I've owned a bunch of monofins and my current one is a Triton Hyperfin. It's a nice fin, but I can only wear it for hours on end if I go barefoot. Anything else and I can only wear it for about 30 minutes.

If you are just starting out the NEMO would be a good choice. You can always upgrade to a Hyperfin later on, but still use the NEMO for cold water diving. Just make sure to get it in a Soft, or medium, version. Starting out the softer the better.

I've dove Seattle and kayaked off Victoria. The water was more full of life than many Caribbean reefs I've dove. I know it's cold, but with a good wetsuit you can dive year round. I bet there are some mountain lakes by you that would be worth a shot as well- if for no other reason than that no one else is diving there and you could find all kinds of junk.

Jon

 

[REVAN]

I've dove Seattle and kayaked off Victoria. The water was more full of life than many Caribbean reefs I've dove. I know it's cold, but with a good wetsuit you can dive year round. I bet there are some mountain lakes by you that would be worth a shot as well- if for no other reason than that no one else is diving there and you could find all kinds of junk.
Jon

I grew up in Seattle and learned to dive there. When the diving is good, it is awesome. But, I've also been in 1 meter visibility right after a big storm. That was not awesome. That said, I'll third the point that the sound and inland passage between Victoria and the mainland can be some of the best diving in the world. I've even seen it a gorgeous blue with 25+ meters visibility, but green is a more common color there.

I also started a new sport that I had dubbed "Alpine Freediving" when I lived there. It combined two of my favorite things, hiking and freediving. The Cascades have some beautiful alpine lakes with really good visibility that are freezing cold, but sooo inviting after a long hike up into the mountains on a hot summer day. I highly recommend it to any freedivers in an area with good hiking and alpine lakes.

 

[welljim]

Hmm, that's weird, highly praised Alex from Starfins just got back to me recommending a Starfin Hyper! I guess that goes against everything that you guys have been saying.. Here's the details that I provided to him, any thoughts? Isn't Stafins Hyper a high-performance "pro" model?

- I am a beginner and don't dive very often, will not dive very often in the future either
- The maximum depth that I have achieved so far is just 30m, which was in easy pool conditions during my **AIDA training (I haven’t dove ever since, I hope I can improve)
- I have tried a monofin and really liked the feeling, but do not have experience with a particular type or brand
- I prefer a fin that is optimized for CWT freediving and recreational playing in sea , not dynamic or pool work
- I have big strong legs (I snowboard all winter, only dive a little during the summer)
- I would like to be able to spend a few hours in the sea without getting blisters (i.e., comfort is important )
- I would like the most high-performance fin that I can comfortably use (i.e., can I use a hyper-type fin, comfortably?)
- I will not be using socks most of the time, just a 3mm suite, sometimes no suite at all
- My feet size seems to be: L = 27cm, W = 11cm+, H = 7cm (please look at photos for correct measurements )
- I have no experience in blade preference, do not know if I would prefer soft or hard, or what material (please advise)
- I am 1.76m tall, and I weigh 78kg

 

[Fondueset]

If you got the beanage - follow his advice.

 

[welljim]

400EUR ($560) for a non-carbon fiber fin, is that normal? I'm guessing it's not c/f, the blade looks yellow in the sample picture I received.

 

[Fondueset]

yup, normal

 

[efattah]

WellJim, BC has the best diving anywhere, and you are so close it. The diving in Greece sucks in comparison!! I guess I'm confused as to why you choose only to dive in Greece where the diving is really not great in my opinion. When we have spots like Mozino point, Graham's wall, Race Rocks, Browning Pass, Steep Island, etc., which blow Greece out of the water.

 

[welljim]

Apologies, I didn't elaborate enough on this because I thought it was kinda off topic. Here's what I think anyway.. I've already explained the reason why I wouldn't choose to drive all the way to the ocean on a regular basis. But you are asking why I choose Greece over BC when I do dive, which is a different question.

I think it is not very meaningful to talk about how good a diving site is, unless one defines the type of diving of interest. I'm not claiming to be an experienced diver in terms of time in the water, but I'm well travelled and have visited many spots around the world, some of them multiple times. One of my personal favorites for CWT (which this thread relates to), is Greece. The reason is that the water is warm, and so crystal clear that makes you want to drink it! Swim a bit far out and start diving there, and you are surrounded by a blue of incredible colour depth, you can see the sun rays penetrating the environment around you, you look down and you see an abyss.. it's just a beautiful environment to "deep" dive, that you can actually see and feel its hugeness! Not sure if I can convey the message across, it's probably impossible for one to fully appreciate what I'm trying to describe, unless they've been at such spots.

http://static.panoramio.com/photos/original/11994738.jpg
Cliff, boats and blue sea, Zante, Ionian Islands, Greece | Itchyfeet Photography

Compared to this environment, BC waters feel cold and murky - there are no colors, no sun-ray reflections, no abyss; just a cloud surrounding your far (and sometimes near) vision.

Now, is there any fish to look at? Is there any life down there? NO! If you are not concentrating on your CWT and wonna go underwater sightseeing, Greece (and the Med in general) sucks! In fact, for that purpose it's one of the most boring places that I can think of.

So that's my rationale. If we were talking about SCUBA diving in this thread, then yeah, I would be talking about all my favorite places in the Indian Ocean and the Galapagos, and perhaps would give some little credit to BC too

 

[buddha]

I will travel to Zante next week! any remarkable freediving spot you wanna share?
I'll love to hear it!

 

[welljim]

Ha, Zante is beautiful, you'll love it no matter where you dive. Here are 2 places that I like in particular:

The Arches:
http://ih0.redbubble.net/work.5654106.1.flat,800x800,070,f.jpg

Blue Caves:
http://www.orfos-villas.gr/images/pics/location/bluecaves-xl.jpg

 

[Mullins]

I find the hyper style fins more comfortable than the basic ones. Just be warned, it's always a lottery getting a monofin made. Sometimes it's great, sometimes you end up with something unusable.

 

[efattah]

WellJim,

The visibility on the Sunshine Coast of BC is usually 30 metres (100 feet). I was at the Whyte Islets a couple of weeks ago and it was at least 30 metres. That is equal (and sometimes even more) than the visibility in the Med. When I was in France for the World Cup some years ago, the visibility in the Med there was only 15m-20m.

The water temp on the surface in the summer is 17-22C on the Sunshine Coast. Yes it is colder down deep, but that is better for the dive reflex anyway.

 

[Mullins]

Good spearfishing Eric?

 

[efattah]

The Whyte Islets are crawling with fish. I saw at least 200 greenling, rock fish and ling cod. However, normally, only greenling are legal based on the time of year. There were also about 20 giant sea lions there, mostly on the rocks, some in the water, and they were extremely aggressive since May/June is mating season. At one point I got out onto the rocks to adjust the DOL-Fin Orca, and as I was about to get back in, a huge sea lion breached out of the water 2m away from me and roared at me before plunging back in. Needless to say, I waited a few more minutes before going in. Suddenly my pole spear felt more like a defensive weapon, rather than an offensive one.

The sea lions also followed/surrounded my kayak when I first arrived. I had nightmare visions of Fritjoff Nansen's polar journey in eskimo kayaks where the walruses tried to overturn or break the kayaks....

 

[cdavis]

Jim, A suggestion from a monofin novice who has tried a fair number of fins. Get a mono with normal bifin foot pockets or something like the Dol-fin.

Like you, I fell in love with a mono the first time I used one. It had traditional open heal mono pockets and was unbelievable, blazing fast, but excruciating. I could not wear it more than a few minutes. Since then I've worn a couple of open heel monos, a couple with normal bifin foot pockets, Nemo was one, and the monoflap with Mustang, shoe like pockets. The open heel monos were painful, more normal pockets were not at all. The mustangs were totally comfy barefoot even during a long dive session. I suspect that some of the bifin pocket monos might hurt the feet some if you were pushing them.

As you can tell from some of the other comments, you might want to rethink your ideas on not diving in the NW. Like you, I normally have a very strong preference for warm clear water, mostly dive the Bahamas, 30-50 m vis, 83 F, lots of fish and decent coral if you go far enough out. However, I was lucky enough to dive Vancouver Island for a week, a few years back. The vis we had wasn't Bahamian, but it was plenty good enough and everything else was WOW! If it was me, I'd sure buy a fin I could use in both Greece and Canada.

Connor

 

[welljim]

Thanks, very interesting. That begs the question, what is it that makes open heal pockets necessary in high performance fins, and if that's what's causing the discomfort, would it not be possible to design them with traditional foot pockets?

 

[Fondueset]

Hey Connor - water temp is hovering around 60 - today it was 60-62. We swam out half a mile or so - same temp - maybe 3-5f colder down at 50 feet!
A little strange. I think we'll see the bay hit 78f again this summer.

Well Jim (hehee) Hyperfin footpockets contribute significantly to the flexion and organic feel of the fin - this comes at the cost of a snug fit and, to varying degrees, sacrifices in comfort. I just wore my Tropol for 3 hours - with a very long surface swim - at the end my toes were a bit numb, but I had no pain to speak of. In my starfins I might have been a bit less comfortable - because it is a tighter fit and the pockets are less deep. I can wear the Starfins for hours barefoot as well, but it puts a little more pressure on my toes. The Tropol has a long footpocket that my toes never reach the end of. Flip side is the Tropol is heavier, has a stiffer blade with an angle right around 20 degrees - good, but not as good for surface distance swimming as the lighter, softer 29 degree starfins. The Tropol is more of a depth fin.

It really depends on what you want to do with the fin. Will Trubridge, for example, has a very hard blade on his waterway - and the footpockets are 2 sizes smaller than would be normal for him. He wants perfect force transmission for constant weight competition and does not care in the least about comfort.

A recreational fin is going to have obvious compromises - broadly speaking - comfort comes at the cost of efficiency - with bifin style footpockets being the most comfortable, but least efficient (almost no participation in thrust from the pockets). To date I and quite a few other people would agree that Alex is the best we've found at very consistently finding the right balance with the Hyperfin design.

 

[REVAN]

400EUR ($560) for a non-carbon fiber fin, is that normal? I'm guessing it's not c/f, the blade looks yellow in the sample picture I received.

Personally, I would recommend that you stick with Fiberglass fins. I'm sure there are people out there you would argue with me on this, but I don't think carbon fiber fins are any better than fiberglass and I know that fiberglass is a more durable material for this application. Overall, I rate fiberglass as both better and less expensive than carbon. :martial

 

[welljim]

and it's more than I can afford anyway, Alex is charging $200 more for the upgrade :|

 

[Kars]

Alex's prices are very competitive with similar products by other brands. The difference in my view is he creates through his ability to deliver most exactly what customers truly need.

Since you're not appear to go to the pool and train, just for he occasional swim during vacations and summer, and you have some cash, a Starfins hyperfin would fit your bill.
Ask Alex for a comfortable fin you can wear for say 2 hours, he can do it. Are you aiming for CWT and or for deep recreational dives? For both I recommend a medium stiffness blade. With your limited time in the water you'll have years of fun and use, well worth the investment.

One more thing about footpockets. Just to be complete. You cannot have footpockets that are comfortable with 5mm socks AND are tight without socks too. The rubber used has to be well shaped and only a little stretchy to follow the shape of the foot. Trying to imagine me in your needs, I think asking for footpockets with space for 5mm socks wearable for 1,5 hours would do the job. Having 5 and 3 mm socks will both fit, and the 3 will give you close to endless hours. BTW having a good fitting suit helps a lot too, with a warm body core having a bit of cold feet is not bad at all.

I think your fin will turn out very nice, just what you need, just like many others have experienced with Alex's incredible precision and skill.

Love, Courage and Water,

Kars