Waterway Glide Carbon Monofin

[tcrusson]

Hi,

I'm thinking of getting a Glide with carbon blade.
If anyone out here already tried them and the fiberglass blades as well:
Does the stiffness feel the same?

In other words, if I get a carbon blade stiffness #3, will it be approx the same stiffness as a fiberglass blade stiffness #3 (atm I'm using the finswimming blade, horizontal tapering)?

Cheers,
Tanguy
PS: my question is really about the stiffness, not the merits of carbon vs. fiberglass, don't spoil the surprise!

 

[Mullins]

I've got one, it's very soft. Softer than a regular #1. Suits me for the pool, only the footpockets are a problem so I haven't used it much yet. Not sure what the nominal stiffness is, will try to find out.

I won't go into detail and spoil the suprise for you, except to say the blade action is quite different.

 

[tcrusson]

Thanks Dave, apparently Bogdan recommends getting one stiffness up so that the stiffness feels about the same. what sort of issues did you find with the footpockets?

 

[Mullins]

The stiffness of my one is probably a #1 or #2 then. Footpockets are too big - I can pretty walk into them and hear my voice echo. Bogdan did offer to re-size them, it's just tricky getting a fin to him so I'll try to modify them myself.

 

[Walrus]

Hi Dave,
it's very easy to shorten the heelstrap, I did it twice to my glide fin, the one you used at the last VB. I took off at least 5-7 cm, I found the heelstrap has to already be under tension or you loose heaps of power thru the footpocket. It partly explains why you found my no2 fin very stiff. There was almost no give from the footpocket.

You just need to peel off the rubber heelstrap carefully, then clean it up a bit and use ordinary bicycle inner tube repair glue. It holds great, doesn't peel off at all with that glue because of the surface area of the heel strap. I also use thin half socks that some people use for fins-swimming.

Cheers,
Wal

 

[mattbigblue]

I won't go into detail and spoil the suprise for you, except to say the blade action is quite different.

I've been thinking about buying one too. Can You tell a little bit more about this? Is it positive or negative difference?

You can start Your answer with:

:head SPOILER ALERT :head , tcrusson, don't read it!

 

[timm]

I tried a few waterway fins recently in Nice and the carbon did feel much softer, I also agree with Dave the action is different. Bogdan said the same to step up at least #1 stiffness, he mentioned a couple of other guys who bought stiffness #5, and that it softens over time/use, so you may want to save it for the big swims only.

I settled for stiffness #3 fibreglass, as I want to use it lots. He shortened it by 15mm from the standard 290 length for me and its fits very well, snug as, but exactly what I wanted. Great fin.

Tim