weight amount and fins

[woods]

hi all,
im new to free diving/S.fishing, been mostly snorkling to date, getting more into it now and ordering full kit soon. im getting a bit hung up on 2 things, fins and weights.
first of all im aroung 5'7, and weigh in at around 12stone, and using a 5/4mm wet suit with 5mm hood, socks and gloves. irish water is cold!! and im out all year round, today infact!! as i said im new to free diving, so at min im only diving to 10-15meters (for now!). on this info, apart from tril and error what kinda weight sould i be using?
and the other part to my question is what type of fins to get, since its cold enough water and i will be surface swimming to the site not to metions not far past beginner, should i be going for a solf -medium fin? correct me if im wrong!! so on that i have been thinking about cressi garra pro LD, OR garra LD, i was going for the immersion e-greens, but was suggested the cressi's and since im spending a bit of money i thought the cressi would be better. other than them modles i havnt looked at much else, any other suggestions in any other modles would be welcome...omer, seac sub, mares.. also, the choice has me lost since i dont know too much about the differnt makes final not on the fins.. since i will be using socks with the fins, if im a size uk8 (eu42) what size should i be going for? 42/43 would it be big enough? or should i go for the 44/45?
i now there is loads of info out there but i have found that its best to look for advice from people who have been at it for years rather than me reading loads of tech term info on the web!!
cheers guy any advice is welcome!

 

[martin366]

Leaderfins WAVES fiberglass: LeaderFins.com (there are Camo also)
Probably u will get discount also, if u ask them
Cressi Gara LD is good plastic fins, BUT u cant change blades, thats bad.
If u cant afford Leaderfins, then at least look for Omer Stingray. Superb footpockets and can change blades in future

 

[Siku]

I couldn't tell you how much weight it will take you'll have to use trial and error

BUT you should aim to be sufficiently poistively bouyant that you don't have to fin at the surface to keep your airways comfortably out of the water.

That said, when diving shallow, less that 10m I would prefer to have as much weight as possible so that I'm not fighting to stay down in the 8-12m range.

 

[hteas]

narrow feet - Cressi 3000 LD
medium width - Omer Stingray with Winter (grey) blades
wide feet - Imersion Challanger or Greens

Wait on the fancy blades until you get really hooked.

 

[woods]

cheers guys for the info, in regards to the fins, would you go a size bigger if wearing wetsuit socks? i was looking at the omer stingray fins, is there a difference between the winter grey and the camo version? i would hate to be the one to admit picking a peace of kit just for the looks but the camo version do look sweet!
for the weights im going ta try the tril and error, been out with 4kg but going to step up to 6kg to see how it goes.
cheers for the help again!

 

[Apneaddict]

I have size 41 feet and use the 42-43 size immersion egreens with a 5mm sock (for cold water) and fin-keepers. Fit is fine, if not a tiny bit on the loose side. The immersions are great for wide feet and have a good bit of angle to them, which should help with surface swimming. As an added bonus, they are CHEAP at scubastore.com.

With a 5mm suit, I find I need about 4.5Kg (10 lbs) to be neutral at -10M.

If you are new to freediving, I would be careful not to overweight yourself, as the swim up will be more tiring. Increase weight in slow increments.

Also, I would hope that you are diving with a trained / experienced fellow Freediver safety / buddy.

Safety first!

 

[scottwilson]

narrow feet - Cressi 3000 LD
medium width - Omer Stingray with Winter (grey) blades
wide feet - Imersion Challanger or Greens

Wait on the fancy blades until you get really hooked.

Dont forget the seac foot pocket for those with "hobbit" feet like mine

 

[hteas]

Actually there were several I forgot. There are a lot of good fins out there. Fit and flexibility are the most important considerations. Most divers do better with a medium or flexible blade, although most shops push the stiff ones.

H Dessault plastic blades and footpockets are still a good bet; fairly wide and medium flex.

One of the many I haven't seen is the Mako footpockets. I have a pair of the composite blades in Dessault footpockets (involving some fitting of the base of the blades) that work really well, and are amazingly cheap.

The grey Omer blades are softer than the camo, so will make a difference in performance.

I use 7 mm socks in Alaska, and 44-46 Imersion footpockets fit my US 11 feet very well.
The 44-46 Dessault footpockets with Mako blades fit a little loose, and I need fin keepers even with 7 mm socks.
In warmer water I use 42-44 Dessault footpockets and 3 mm socks with SpecialFins fiberglass blades for a great fit and no movement at all

 

[sai]

Dont forget the seac foot pocket for those with "hobbit" feet like mine

What does "hobbit feet" mean? Hairy?
No seriously, I was thinking about getting Seacs. How is the foot pocket?