Sebakfins fiberglass fins

[aydin]

Murat the same question,but I'll ask the Waterway,you can get the pair of waterway blades nearly 100 euros. I think the real difference between the waterway and the bat ones or sebak is their prices.

 

[Murat]

Some sebak fins have angle. And they are not made of sheets of fiberglass but different process thats makes them expensive, isn't it???

BTW do you have sebak or waterway in Turkey???

 

[Murat]

I newly started to feel comfartable with gara 3000. They are only 3 month old, no need to buy new fin yet. But it good to see there are extra high performance fins that helps you when you go to deep.

 

[aydin]

In Ýstanbul a guy which i take his telephone from the yahoo groups zipkinci,and called him ,and he said that he sells the pair of waterway blades to 120 euros,but if any more requests you can buy it alittle cheaper.
I must look then for the name and tel.

 

[Jyri]

Hi,

If you are interested about Classic fiberglass fins, then you are welcome:
http://www.sebakfins.net/eng_products.php?product_id=76
Fiberglass blades with Omer footpockets only 99EUR...., sounds well?

Jyri

 

[Murat]

Hey Jyri,

Do you have dealer in Cyprus or London?

 

[Murat]

Unfortunatelly i was not aware of those low priced fibre fins 3 months ago. I paid 130 euro for gara 3000...:waterwork

 

[glennv]

Hi Jyri,

Talking about fiber, i saw some cool pictures of an upcomming fiberglass monofin.
Can you tell us some details.

Greetzzz,

Glenn Venghaus

 

[Jyri]

Hi Murat,

Sorry, we havent dealers in Cyprus & London.
Our sales is via website - all fins straight from producer
and 90% are custom-made.

 

[Jyri]

Hi Glenn

If you are interested about our new fiberglass mono:
http://www.sebakfins.net/eng_products.php?product_id=37
then please let me know jyri@specialfins.com

You are always welcome to us!

 

[glennv]

Hi Jyri,

I actualy meant this slick looking character. Care to spill some info

http://www.sebakfins.net/eng_products.php?product_id=72

Regards,

Glenn

 

[sturgeon]

Hybrids Test

Everyone,

I was finally able to test Sebak's new Hybrid blades this past weekend. I went on a 2 day trip to the FL Keys (Islamorada) to do some breathold spearfishing (sorry, can’t call it freediving anymore since USOA decided to officially nix that language out of our sport. We are now back to being called skindivers.). Anyway, conditions were stellar! You could see groupers on the bottom in 80+ feet of water from the surface and there was absolutely no current. Needless to say, in those conditions I realized I’m a little deeper of a diver than I thought I was.

The Hybrid’s performed outstanding! I used them for hunting in depths from 60-90 feet. Less than 60 ft, I used Sebak medium stiffness BWs (formally called ProBlades). The medium BWs are an excellent mid to shallow water fin. The Hybrids are a little wider than what I’m used to (4 cm wider then C4s) so it took me about 20 minutes to get used to them. I was clipping the edges of the fins when I kicked but was able to quickly adapt and the problem went away for the remainder of the day. After that I fell in love with the Hybrids. As a spearfisherman, I prefer slightly shorter, fatter blades because of the increased mobility. Both the BWs and Hybrids fit that bill to a tee (BWs are 2 cm wider than C4s). One thing I noticed in particular about the Hybrids is that you can really crank down on them while kicking and they never noodle out on you. They seem to keep the same power transfer cycle no matter how hard you kick and they are always very smooth. I’m not a big fan of stiff fins but the Hybrids have converted me. Between the BWs and Hybrids I feel I now have a fin for every occasion and need no other. Hopefully, one of the upper level apnea guys on DB will get their hands on a pair of Hybrids and give us their opinion as my experience/opinion stems strictly from spearfishing in relatively shallow depths (<90 ft) and probably doesn’t apply to the type of diving a majority of the guys on this Forum do.

Scott T.

 

[w3ac]

Scott,
So you prefer the Sebak over the Waterway? If so which one? The reason I ask is we seem to have similar body size (5'4" 160#). I really like my Waterway #2 but I can overpower it on deeper dives. They are really nice on the surface and for those 6 hour long hunts though. Just trying to pic your brain again. Thanks man. BTW when you coming over to Hawaii again? If you are going to be on the Big Island look me up.

Brad

 

[sturgeon]

Brad,

The Waterway's didn't work for me. The no bend thing made it too hard for me to swim. I had to bend my knees significantly to get them to work right. I guess my ankles aren't very flexible! I sold them to a buddy of mine though and he loves them. I also noticed at this year's Nationals a bunch of guys were using the new Matrix fiberglass fins which I've heard are made with Waterway blades.

The Sebak's have a bend in the blades under the heel so they work better for me. I also like the near indestructibility aspect of them (same concept as fiberglass). Plus the Sebak's are a little shorter and wider than other blades, which I like. Maybe because I'm so short (5'5") that me wearing shorter fins is like a normal height guy wearing normal length fins? I'm hoping one of the deeper diving apnea dudes tries out some Sebak's and gets back to us with what they think.

I almost forgot, I like the chemical/resin medium stiffness Sebaks for all around bang up use in shallow to mid depth water (either BWs or Kelpie). Although, since you already have soft Waterways you may want to try the next stiffness up from medium. Sebak's Hybrids are an awesome stiff bladed fin but are pretty expensive ($400) and are made from carbon/kevlar so you probably need to be a little more delicate with them than the hand laid resin blades.

Hope this helps and I hope more people give Sebaks a try and contribute to this thread with their opinions.

I'll be in Hawaii next year for the Nationals for at least 2 weeks and possibly even up to a month. I believe they are going to be held on July 24th on the Island of Oahu.

Scott T.

 

[unirdna]

Originally posted by sturgeon
Hope this helps and I hope more people give Sebaks a try and contribute to this thread with their opinions.

Oh, ok. It's about time I chime in anyway . I just wanted to make sure that I had used them enough to warrant a productive review.

I own stereo pro - hard blades (chemical resin stuff) with omer pockets. This is the same blade that scott has in med stiffness and likes for all-round shallow/mid depth spearin. For reference, I am a boy (hehe), 5'8" (173 cm), 150 lbs (68 kg). I would say that I have med/strong legs.

First time I tried em, I was happy, but not happy enough to justify the cash I laid down. But this had nothing to do with the quality of the fin, and everything to do with my technique. The fins were faster, and did produce more thrust than my sporasub dessaults :inlove. But they felt very foreign to me because my sporas are waaayyy softer than these.

Using my softer fins for deep diving, I would always give about 80% with the quadriceps and 40% with the hamstrings (my hamstrings are considerably stronger than my quads). If I put any more muscle into these fins, I would overpower them. Consequently, I developed a technique that proved miserably inefficient for my new sebak fins. When I realized this, and made the proper adjustment, I finally got to see what the fins are capable of.

In short, the 40% hamstring I was using was not going to get the job done. This did little more than drag the fin back to the starting position. But when I upped that to 80%, I felt that 'snap' that everyone raves about. I felt the water rushing over my head (I leave my hands at my side) with a force that I never felt with my sporas. However, this made me think that I had to put 100% of my quads into the kick to match the increased push of my hamstrings thrust. Mistake! My legs burned out too quickly doing this. So I modified my technique again, to take the burden off my quads. I allowed my knee to bend more, assuring that the fin would be in the proper placement for the back-kick, without tiring my quads out.

After I got the hang of this, I practiced modifying my old "super smooth" technique into one that speeds up the beginning and end of each kick. This is because it is the sudden change of direction that gives the fin its snap. If I put just a little more umph into the kick at this time, I would be rewarded with the energy the fin had accumulated during the 'dragging' portion of my kick. In other words, I had to make myself consciously "crack the whip". Since my sporas had no 'crack', I never learned to do this.

The final result was a kicking style that shifted the primary thrust from my quads to my hamstrings. So now my kick looks less like a flutter and more like an alternating dolphin kick (I'm finding the wording to be a challenge - is this making any sense ).

Drawbacks: Although the new fins do supply considerably more thrust than my old ones, they are not as comfortable to wear for a long time. This is simply because they are so much stiffer than my sporas.....no surprises there. Yet for a fin as stiff as they are (comparable to the Gara HF - maybe even a bit stiffer), they are fairly easy on the feet. Last time I was diving, I spent about 3 hours in the water before my poor feet started to hurt. To me, this is actually a function of the foot pockets, rather than the fin. Omer pockets have a stiffer, flatter profile across the bridge of the foot. Since my foot has a higher, rounded bridge, I find the sporas to be more comfortable.

Conclusions: I will continue to use my good-ole sporas for shallow diving and spearing; especially on whole-day outings. I will use my new Sebak fins for pb attempts, wreck diving, and deep spearing (I hope to get the chance some day). I also think that within a year, I will most likely put my sebak blades into Sporasub pockets.

Ted

 

[sturgeon]

Ted,

Great review!!! Thanks.

I too kick primarily with my hamstrings and glutes. I was told it conserves O2 as the quads are bigger, higher maintenance muscles. I use a twisting motion with my hips to re-set my leg position more so than pulling my legs forward with my quads. I would say probably 80% of my total kick comes from my ass/hamstrings.

I know a lot of guys like stiff fins but the medium Pros for me are perfect for most of the diving I do. I wore them for almost 2 weeks strait everyday at this past Nationals and never had a problem with fatigue, yet felt I had plenty of push to get around with. I also really like the Hybrids but for what I do, I would not want to wear them all day every day. So, from now on I'll probably always be carrying around 2 pairs of fins but that's ok I wouldn't want to alter either one any other way.

Anybody else with experience with Sebaks, please share.

Scott T.

 

[donmoore]

Great reviews Scott and Ted. Scott maybe you can show me the twist fining method at the clinic?

From what I understood from Jyri is we really should be calling the fins Specialfins. He said in another thread that they have started using this name to help clarify their difference from the other company. The new web site is www.specialfins.com although www.specialfins.net is their company too.
don

 

[Pezman]

I'm thinking of getting the "stereofins pro" model and I was wondering about approximate shipping costs. Also, how did you specify color and fin shape (the pictures impy more choices than the web site provides)? Their web-site lacks a lot of the normal e-commerce bells and whistles.

Anyone got an opinion of the stereofis-pro model -- seein as how this has kind of turned into a review of the hybrids$$$ ?

 

[Jon]

Shipping isn't cheap.:head

I just ordered one of their monofins and hope to get it some time this week. I ordered it a couple of weeks ago and had it sent AIRMAIL. I guess that takes almost two weeks to get here and cost me over $50 in shipping alone. They have another method, some type of UPS, that can get here, the states, in 3 days, but it costs twice as much.

Ted's fins have quite a bit of kick, but still aren't as smooth as my C4's. The pro's are probably a better match up to the C4's, but I haven't tried those.

If I didn't own any fins I would probably go with the Sebak fins in a medium for spearing, less than 50' of water, and something else, like C4's or a mono, for deeper stuff.

The really nice part about the fins is that they can take a lot more abuse tha carbon fins. I wouldn't want to trash my C4's on some of the stuff we dive, as I have already broken one pair of Sporasub Pure carbon fins and don't plan on doing that twice.:duh Something that can take the abuse, but has a better snap than plastic, is certainly a nice thing to have.

Just my $0.02

jon

 

[unirdna]

Originally posted by Jon
The pro's are probably a better match up to the C4's, but I haven't tried those.

I think my comrade Jon is a bit turned around (or maybe it's just a slip of the tongue). Jon has tried the pros because that's what I own. I have the 'hard' blades (3 on a scale of 4), and Scott T has the 'medium' blades (2 on a scale of 4). Scott also has a pair of Hybrids (which I do not)....that might be the source of this confusion.

There are 3 blade types.
1. Stereo Classics (fiberglass): similar to waterways and matrix fins - no bend.
2. Stereo Pros: hand made resin vaccuum molded dealies - bend.
3. Kevlar/Carbon Hybrids: most expensive, super fins - bend.

You get the color you want by emailing Jyri and start asking questions. Jyri must have sensed I was a genuine dude because he never even sent payment info until I got the fins. Then, in an email, he sent me a link to a secure web address to make payment. It should be noted that Specialfins' bank currently only accepts Mastercard. So if you have a Visa (like me), you'll need to get Jon to pay for the fins, and then sell him one of your spearguns to make up the difference .

Ted