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Searching for the right monofin

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

New Member
Aug 9, 2004
5
0
0
Hey,

is there anybody, who can give me an advice for a good monofin. I need it for dynamic and cw. I am 196cm and strong. I cannot pay more than 150 Euro. I have seen the dolphin monofin from specialfins. Can anybody recomend me this or not? Also I am thinking about the blade. Which size, which softness?
Can anybody give me an advice which kind of monofin I should buy?

Best regards
Djän
 
Dolphin is a fine basic fin that will get you started on a reasonable budget. I'm about your size and I used to have a medium stiffness fin. It was great for dynamic, but for CW I would've perhaps liked a bit harder one. Decide which is more important to you, CW or DYN. Generally speaking, people seem to prefer a softer blade for DYN and harder for CW. If you are strong and muscular, a harder blade MAY be in order, but again, it's a matter of personal preference. I once tried an ex-hard dolphin and it felt like it's not even bending, just going up and down (=not good). But I've seen the owner do over 125m dyn on it, so it can't be all bad. If you can't try one before you buy, then I'd say medium or hard are the safest bets.

In my opinnion, a blade that is too soft is better that one that is too hard. With a harder blade, it's easier to learn the wrong technique and you'll be bending you knees and kicking with your legs. The kick shoud come from your upper body (back, abdominals etc), the legs are just delivering that kick to the fin...Leg's are only a hindurance for a monofin swimmer. I believe a dolphins fin is more or less attached to it's back. Thus the much better efficiency in water. But don't go sawing them off just yet But that's why for a beginner I would recommend rather a softer that hard. You can always buy a new monofin, but re-learning a wrongly developed technique can be a pain in the ass...

The special fins dolphin is the most common monofin I see, but that's propably due to their close proximity to us and excellent service. I'm sure other brands have good, basic fins as well, but I couldn't tell you about those.

Currently I have a russian made "wing" mono. I have no idea of the brand, the only marking I can find is "spine" on the foot pocket. I bought it used from another freediver. I hear they sell at about 150 or so, I'm not sure. I really like it, but I couldn't even guess where you could obtain one.
 
Last edited:
Hey Jome,

thank you for you quick reply.
I think I will buy the dolphin hard. I was thinking about taking the ex-hard but propably you are right. For the technique it seems to be better to have more feeling the body and not just fight with the legs against the water. Another argument is that I have not so much possibilities to do cw so I am gonna do more the dynamic. But maybe even a medium blade is another possibility. Also I was thinking about your advice to saw my legs off. Maybe its better for static because the relationship lungs and body is more convenient. :hmm . And what about the size of the blade. Are there different sizes? I think its possible to get sizes depending on your body...

Djän
 
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