SEBAK Monofins???

[Jon]

I finally sold off my drysuit and now have some cash to spend on a SEBAK monofin!

I currently use a Waterway #2 LD and it kills my feet! I want to get better at this and feel that I need a comfortable fin in which to do this in. I know the Waterway is suppossed to be more efficent ( blah, blah, blah), but it just plain hurts too much ot wear it for any real length of time. Plus, I already own one.

The questions is this, whose using one already, and which one to get. I am looking at the Peter modle and the new Blue Colored one as well.

I don't believe that I need the carbon-fiber one and the Karmo and Teppo models, I believe, have both been improved upon.

Once I decide upon a modle I need to decide upon a stiffness and a size. I mostly use a pair of C4 - 40's for my diving. I really like them and don't feel as if they're too stiff. I used to use a pair of Sporasub Pure's and thought that they were too noodly. I guess that I am not affraid of a stiff fin, but I don't want to overdo it if it will wreck my form in the water.

Any insights, thoughts, experiences with these at all??

Thanks,

Jon

 

[derelictp]

Hello Jon!

I recommend that you go for this model or the carbonmono but it's very important to describe to them what type of stiffness/bending line you want even if this can be difficult...

Specialfins Ltd (sebakfins.net/specialfins.com) can make almost any stiffness and I suppose you want a stiffness for high performance freediving.

The blue model I have tested is very soft (too soft for me) but they can make any stiffness because the blades are handlaminated...

Specialfins are making a carbonmono for me after I have tested some prototypes and this stiffness will be something like a WW model 1 medium except for under the feet and 4cm in front where it is harder than WW medium. This is in my opinion the right stiffness.

If you don't tell them about stiffness you can end up with a too soft fin and you are going to overkick it.

Talk to Jyri (jyri@sebakfins.net) about stiffness.

Good luck

 

[Longfins]

Whoa! Holy Disappearing Posts Batman!

Hopefully I remember what you asked, so here goes:

I believe Sebakfins' Peter model and Special Fins' color monofin model are one and the same. When the two companies went their separate ways it looks like they'll keep selling the older model (Karmo, Peter) monos and differentiate with any fins thereafter. You may want to confirm with each company's rep.

The Sebak Flyer is different from the Peter model in several ways: The Flyer's blade is straight and made out of the same circuit board material as a Waterway blade; the Peter blade is curved like a regular longblade and made of some other fiberglass cloth material (that's probably why they can color it.) The Flyer's fiberglass layers are graded in a wave shape, thick near the edges and the center; the Peter's layers are graded straight across the blade.

The Flyer blade pivot point (where the blade angles from the footpocket) is near the center of the foot whereas the Peter blade pivot point is at toe-tip, so you 'step' on the Flyer blade vs flexing the whole footpocket first. This in my opinion makes the Flyer blade more responsive to foot action. There are 'wing' leading edge construction on both, but the Flyer's doesn't look as hydrodynamic so I'm not sure if this will help or hurt. There are also side channels / guards. On the Peter model it's symmetrical, but on the Flyer it's asymmetrical - taller on top (downstroke) and short on bottom (upstroke).

Hardness-wise, my Peter model medium is softer than my Waterway MD, the Flyer hard is a little harder than the Waterway MD. I would use my medium for dynamic and my hard for cb for sure (I'm 6', 208 lbs)

The Flyer feels like wearing my Omer Millenium Comps, only snappier from the fiberglass of course. However, a monofin forces you into its sweetspot of frequency and amplitude just like the C4 does, which is much lower - I get 4-5 monofin kick cycles to get to 10m vs 6-7 on the C4-40. I haven't spent enough time to find out what the Flyer's 'sweet spot' frequency and amplitude is for me yet, but I like it so far.

Hope that helps,
Peter S.

 

[icarus pacific]

Originally posted by Longfins
Whoa!

Hardness-wise, my Peter is softer than my MD.

(I'm 6', 208 lbs)
Hope that helps,

WHOA! is right!! :ban And whilst I'm thrilled you have such a close relationship with your Doctor :hmm , when's the last time you were 208, Peteski? rofl

 

[Longfins]

:crutch Hey, I gotta toss you a few easy ones to see if you're awake! :head

"I'm not fat! I'm big-boned!" - Cartman:mute

 

[Erik]

[QUOTE
"I'm not fat! I'm big-boned!" -][/QUOTE]

I've heard that before. I would respond: "You sure have a big stomach-bone"
Cheers,
Erik Y.

 

[Jon]

Even though you wrote it in your post Peter S., I just figured out that there are two seperate companies out there. I now know why I couldn't find any information about the "Flyer" model on the Specialfins site.:duh

Ted got his new bi-fins from Specialfins yesterday and I was very impressed with the quality of construction. He'll post a full report after he tests them out this weekend. From the looks of his bi-fins I'm inclined to get a new mono from specialfins over the old Sebak company.

Peter S., it sounds like you have both a Peter model and the Flyer model. Have you noticed a big difference when you switched over to the flyer- more depth, less effort, more comfort???
I understand that the new Colored model is simialr to the Peter, but with a vaccume packed blade.

This whole process suddenly got a bit more complicated.

Jon

 

[Longfins]

Hi Jon,

The differences in the two mono's will include two confounding effects (soft vs hard, model A vs B) and it'll be difficult to separate out the two. My initial impression about the Flyer being more responsive to foot action is the only one that stood out above the hard / soft issue. Performance qualities (ex. depth, frequency, amplitude, etc) isn't as straightforward to gauge.

Unfortunately I haven't been doing any kind of monofinning this entire summer, not even in the pool (bad freediver! bad!) and am just getting back into it. I'll let you know of any further impressions though.

Peter S.

 

[icarus pacific]

standing by

I'll have to wait for Ted's report as well, due to Jyri supposedly sending the pairs I was to try and do a writeup about, being sent to some jerkoff that's just sitting on them rather than forwarding them I guess. :hmm

 

[Jon]

All I can say is that they look really sweet.

The are finished off better than My Sporasub blades or My C4's. The entire outer rail is covered so it doesn't get banged up. If they kick half as good as they look I think we'll have a winner.

Ted got the "hard's" and not the extra-hards. The weakest link in the system was the OMER footpockets. They came with some type of a tear along the molding. A little glue will fix it up, but they are brand new.I hope that's not representative of all OMER's stuff. I've never seen that on any pair of my Sporasub pockets.

Jyri has also been very patient with all of my questions about their monofins, and there have been a few.

BTW: Ted got his fins shipped from Estonia to Wisconsin in three days.

Jon

 

[cebaztian]

TO SHORT !

The usual monofin size 70x72 is that enough.
Shouldnt they be longer?

I guess it also has to do with flexibility.

The dolphin on the other hand has choosen a short "blade".

What do you feel about the size of your blade?

 

[Jon]

BLade size is fine. I never noticed it being too short. The comfy foot pocjets and blade angle make it the best monofin I've tried to date.

I recently let a few newer freedivers try out my Specialfins and my Waterway monofins to see how they liked them. Most of them loved the Specialfins, although a few prefered to just stick with the bi-fins, and no one liked the Waterway at all. I know it has been used to set lots of records, but it just isn't comfortable.

Jon

 

[Jeff06]

Hello,

Concerning SebakFins, the website is

http://www.sebakfins.com

and not ".net" (redirecting to Specialfins :naughty )

You can contact Maksim directly from the Sebakfins website, he is a great guy and will answer to all your questions.

Regards
Jeff