One of the few REAL new technology advances in Fins.....

[danvolker]

I am surprised that you made such a silly comment. Sharks and other fish really don't need to see a thing because they have a great sense of small and a lateral line. I am sure dolphins have something similar.

This must be one of those "internet not getting the real meaning out" situations...you can't really mean what you said literally.....????

Vision is a critical sense over reef or pelagic invironments, in the top 500 feet.
When we have ultra high vis days, you can even see very different behaviors in many of the fish, from very low vis days, due to the extreme differences in hunting behaviors and visual abilities of predators.....Many of the prey species that hide during 100 foot vis days, are out swimming around and feeding on 10 foot vis days--because the visual based predation is far less effective on these bad vis days....

Then there is the body language component, where the vast majority of fish species use their own and other species body postures and movements to draw conclusions about intent, as well as to elicit a specific reaction from other fish....
This obvious examples like symbiotic and comensal relationships--like a turtle in the "I want to be cleaned" posture, and then the way Spanish Hogs respond and clean them........or the territorial posturing response of many reef shark species, if a large competing predator overlaps into their hunting range....I could show visual based examples for many pages--eyesight is a critically important sense for fish in the portion of ocean where light is present.....and even at great depths below 15,000 feet there is bio-luminescence --which is used in communication by many species, including giant squids

 

[ams511]

Have you ever seen a blind fish on a reef? me either. I think vision is important for fish and by the way dolphins CAN use echolocation extremely effectively.

Have you ever seen a fish or marine mammal hovering marveling at the environment or taking a picture? Me either. Fish are looking for prey and predators which is not what divers do, well except spearos. Whenever I see a Volker post on fins I know it will talk about Force Fins and his DiveRs before I even read it.

I watched a documentary years ago on sharks. They took sharks and put a shield over their eyes effectively blinding them. The sharks were able to navigate and feed just as effectively (in the tank) as the sighted sharks.

I watched another documentary on fresh water dolphins in the amazon river. The river is so silty that the viz is zero. Their echolocation is so exact that they can steal fish out of the fishermen's nets without getting tangled or even disturbing the nets themselves. I believe the pink dolphins in SE Asia can do similar feats.

---------- Post added November 8th, 2013 at 04:02 PM ----------

This must be one of those "internet not getting the real meaning out" situations...you can't really mean what you said literally.....????

Dan you can rattle on all you like but comparing divers to fish and dolphins is silly. The diver is there to enjoy the marine environment the fish live and survive there. How many times did you see a shark or dolphin marveling at the beauty of a nudibranch? The person did not see your point on the need to travel quickly over a reef. You have this need because of your diving objectives not everyone has the same objectives. With respect you are starting sound like a broken record going on and on about Force Fins and your DiveRs. Bob Evans may make a fine product, but it is expensive and his distribution is lacking. It is difficult sell to ask divers to spend around $300 for fins sight unseen. DiveRs are expensive also and difficult to kick for your average out of shape, under-trained diver.

 

[custureri]

I must say I found it particularly intetesting to watch the divers using their hands to assist with the turns. For me, that doesn't work since I consider my light management and possibility of needing to assist in emergency. Can you imagine zooming past an of air diver or crashing in because you can backwars or heli turn?

Now, from a free diving side, ide take it deep and hope to god the hinge doesnt break.

Sent from my SCH-I605 using Tapatalk 4

 

[ams511]

One of the disadvantages I see with this fin is the width. I don't think it would be useful for any diving where you need to get past a restriction.

 

[danvolker]

I must say I found it particularly intetesting to watch the divers using their hands to assist with the turns. For me, that doesn't work since I consider my light management and possibility of needing to assist in emergency. Can you imagine zooming past an of air diver or crashing in because you can backwars or heli turn?

Now, from a free diving side, ide take it deep and hope to god the hinge doesnt break.

Sent from my SCH-I605 using Tapatalk 4

The hinge material is much like the mud flaps on a semi...wear on these will not be much of an issue for a decade or so. The hands thing is valid. I like using my helicopter and reverse kick--and I do miss this on a dive with frequent hover stops....then again, there are scouting dives over big areas we do sometimes, whether looking for lobster or some specific feature....this is alot like using a scooter for this....and you can swim around in the circle and get exactly where you want to--even though not as efficiently as you could with a helicopter and reverse kick....on the other hand....as to efficiency, they are far beyond any other fins on the efficiency of moving across several miles of bottom, looking for something. Freediving is what I like them most for. If I get one, it will be a freediving tool primarily. Freediving is the place where the advantages to me really add up with few negatives.

---------- Post added November 9th, 2013 at 10:16 AM ----------

One of the disadvantages I see with this fin is the width. I don't think it would be useful for any diving where you need to get past a restriction.

Your right. It would be the wrong tool for entering into a wreck, or a cave.

 

[diversteve]

One of the few REAL new technology advances in Fins.....

Not exactly...
Freediver Shop | Freediving Monofins - Freediving - Fins & Monofins

 

[danvolker]

Not exactly...
Freediver Shop | Freediving Monofins - Freediving - Fins & Monofins

Those are the old fashioned monofins. ..which work terribly with scuba tanks..... This new wing design works very differently, and you do not have the upper body making a huge sine wave with the legs on the wing concept.

 

[custureri]

I definitely embrace innovation and would try them for fun. Do you have videos of people trying to snorkel or surface swim? Since you can frog kick, how efficient would the swim be when shore diving? Then again how is it walking throgh the surf and self donning? Not trying to deliberately point out flaws, but these are common things many divers/free dive/snorkelers face. Thanks for the responses.

yes sir/ma'am, I'm Tapatalking you.

 

[danvolker]

I definitely embrace innovation and would try them for fun. Do you have videos of people trying to snorkel or surface swim? Since you can frog kick, how efficient would the swim be when shore diving? Then again how is it walking throgh the surf and self donning? Not trying to deliberately point out flaws, but these are common things many divers/free dive/snorkelers face. Thanks for the responses.

yes sir/ma'am, I'm Tapatalking you.

When Ron( the inventor) showed me how to use them at the BHB Marine park, after blasting around the west side for 2 hours, we swam on the surface all the way to the East side....a distance most divers prefer to walk.....and high speed snorkeling at the surface was pretty asesome!! And very fast point A to point B .

The frog kick issue I assume relates to not silting....the wing does not vector like traditional fins do, and even swimming down 2 feet off the bottom or closer, I saw zero silt blowing up behind any of us.....the vector is much more straight behind, rather than downward. Efficiency is far higher than frog kick, exponentially so--it is not something you feel you are missing.

Now walking through the surf.....we walked in with pretty tiny waves at BHB.....and in shoulder deep water you slide one foot into a bike shoe( the shoes permanently connected to the fin system) this being a Shimano bike shoe with 2 velcro straps....first takes about 5 seconds max to do, while you balance with the other leg----meaning if you were in large surf, this would be harder, and in really high surf( 4 to 8) impossible like this. The second leg can either be done where you are, or you can actually swim a bit with just one foot in, so you can begin to control yourself in the surf-zone, and the other foot only need a few seconds to slide in....You can always tighten perfectly later, in calmer water.

If I had to go out in big surf.....I could swim out past the surf zone, and put them on in the calm after it ( weighting for me was slight positive on the surface for freediving, so this would be easy enough) ...the other option for a freediver more than a scuba diver, would be getting into them in knee deep water, flopping down on your back, and kicking until deep enough to spin right side up.....then going under the waves..... This choice would have more to do with wave period, steepness of the waves and how they are breaking, and how long it takes for the water to get deep and for you to get past the surf zone....the wing fin itself is very light, and would not be hard to swim with....though swimming without fins in big surf is not very controllable--I prefer having my fins on before swimming into any surf....but that's me

Sorry, I don't think I shot any footage of surface swimming with them.

 

[52brandon]

If you're going that fast across the reef, how are you going to see anything?

I don't follow. Lamborghinis aren't stuck with the gas pinned. I would imagine a similar situation here. Just kick less?