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question about long fins

Thread Status: Hello , There was no answer in this thread for more than 60 days.
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btweikel

New Member
Dec 15, 2001
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3
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How much differance do the long fins make? I only have standard size fins -- in which I can get to about 50 feet. How deep do you think I could expect to go with the long fins?
 
depth

When they first showed up, 30 yrs ago, everyone agreed it was about 10 ft of working depth. The new ones are better but, some of them require a different kick to get max performance.

Bill
 
Bill makes a good point, and one that is at the core of my freediving- that being working depth.

Long fins have helped me to get deeper and to get back quicker, always a good thing. They've helped to accelerate when firing at a fish and feel much more streamlined, which may or may not be actual.

They've also gotten snagged in cracks and crevices that my Jet Fins wouldn't have, if for no other eason they wouldn't have fit. They also oil can at the surface, and are next to useless wearing tanks and cameras.

I consider them a tool, and a special tool that like any other tool or piece of gear, yeah you can use them for other things and in different ways to get the jobs done, but their main purpose in my experience is to get you down and back, when you're wearing a minimum of crap, like when you're on the hunt for those tasty opakapaka, right billiam?:t

sven
 
opakapaka

I keep an eye out for dem now bro. Do you ever cross paths with Brian at BWH? Will he throw a wt belt at me if I mention your name? I have to tell the story to someone about the new name for the old sport.

Bill
 
Long fins..

To me the difference between my cressisub....I dont know how old scuba fins and sporasub radical carbon was HUGE the kicking didn't feel that much different but when underwater I was soooo much faster.. we did try some underwater racing with my friends and they had no chance what so ever when diving with normal scuba fins...
so yes the speed is the big difference.. I let one experienced scubadiver try my long fins and when he came up from the water he was one big smile and told that the difference is the same as driveing a old beetle or a new ferrari.... I agree..
 
what i dont get is why most bubble blowers havent caught on that the fins are so much faster and more efficent (sp)

i can understand the the tech (wreck and cave) divers that dont want to stirr up the bottom but for a reef dive they would be the sweetest thing, less air consumption more distance traveled and the like. or is there a fundamental problem with the minimal power that they provide (you couldnt go anywhere with them)
any explanation would be greatly appreciated

thanks
 
they're a tool...

...and like I said earlier, there are tools for different tasks.

I gave long fins a try while wearing my tanking gear and they just didn't provide the oomph that my 28 yr old Scubapro Jet fins did. And believe me, I gave them a few chances, seeing as how they did such a great job while going minimilist freediving. But by the time I strap on an 80 cu ft HP, regulator/console, BC jacket, and then haul out the camera housing with a couple of strobes, the conventional (?) fins just perform better. One easily understood reason is that when I'm shooting macro or have to do the tippy toe on the bottom or against a wall, the long fins just cracked, chipped and broke, whereas the rubber Jets just flexed and held up, though I will cop to having broken a few this way; but then you're not suppose to walk on the tips :naughty

Besides when I'm tanking, I like to have a more compact profile so I can do what needs doing without having another couple of feet of body to wind and curl while concentrating on that lobster that has no intentions of cooperating.

That said, naw, no experience with Brian, Bill. My time with BWH is limited to the shop in Santa Barbara that I guess is a branch of theirs- the old Underwater Sports on the wharf. I'm not real jazzed with them- they've got the obligatory shiny stuff and the photos, but the brain trust is a mite thin. The interest there is also connected to the old Divers Den in Goleta that is about the last place in town doing custom suits, and then there's a bunch of stories of cluster-humps! I had them alter my 7mm Picasso commercial for my newly trimmed waistline and add a low-pro knife pocket to the thigh. The alts were great but the knife pocket ended up on my ankle, upside down and big enough to hide a commercial legal red ab. Another friend of mine had a suit built by them and it was just a joke. Trouble is that their established and that's the usual M.O. I hear... Too bad as I'm hoping to move down there again, soon and want to be on good terms in case I need something, so I'll continue to go low profile w/ them :cool: and either get my stuff over the Net or at Stan's in San Jose from Steve. Steve also appreciates the taste of a pink snapper...:t

sven
 
Hi,

My experiences with BWH are similar to Svens. I ordered a suit, or thought I had ordered a suit, and started sending emails about the suit a couple of weeks later, they were not responded
to and when I finally got a response after six weeks they told me that they had not gotten the order. I was not a happy diver.

FD48
 
Blades

my 2 cents worth ....

I've been freediving / spearfishing with short fins for almost 10 years before I got my first set of long blades. I delayed it this long because I was wary of what difference it would make to performance etc.

Before I got my new blades (and before I started smoking) my pb was 37 meters - no suit, no belt, just short "scuba" flippers and goggles and knife. Needless to say, I was 'in my prime' at that time - diving non - stop 8 to 10 hours a day for almost 2 months .....

I've been diving with long blades for about a year and a half now. I've tried expensive ones, cheap ones and even cheaper ones. At the moment I'm diving with Grinta Tigullio's - I bet no-one's ever heard of them. Cost me about $35 ..... but then again I bought a wetsuit for about the same price. Let's just say that they're not the best / most expensive fins on the market ...

I've sucessfully speared fish at 40 meters with my new fins - just because I can get down that deep with minimal effort. Oh and my technique has improved A LOT. I've also dived quite a bit deeper than that - I've succesfully dived to 65 meter CW without B/O or samba. I don't do it for competition, as I've burnt my fingers getting too competitive with Rock Climbing a couple of years ago. If one gets into competition, one tends to forget what it's all about. Now I only compete with myself.

Anyway, the blades have been cool. At first I couldn't swim with them, especially on the surface, I could only swim on my back. After quite a bit of practice, I've managed to get everything working just fine. The biggest issue used to be getting down - these fins just tricked me every time I jacknifed. But hey, in the end it was worth it.

As Sven's put it, it's a tool - learn to use it properly and you can do everything with it. I still crack out my short scuba fins every now and again - but only when I hunt in wrecks / caves or very thick kelp.

Hope this helps a bit ...

Safe Diving,
Riaan C
 
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