Cool diving fin!!!

[REVAN]

Check out this amazing swim. Scuba divers have never moved like this through the water before. It may be even better than monkey diving...

James Bond Would Love this X-15 SCUBA Ready Monofin - YouTube

Who thinks this looks like fun?

What are the practical applications?

 

[FishLovingStudent]

But can it backfin and helicopter turn? Most of my SCUBA dives are not "penetrative", but if they were they could be done even better with a DPV (if I could afford it). So maybe it would be fun to try as a cheaper alternative...

 

[REVAN]

But can it backfin and helicopter turn? Most of my SCUBA dives are not "penetrative", but if they were they could be done even better with a DPV (if I could afford it). So maybe it would be fun to try as a cheaper alternative...

Why are so many scuba divers obsessed with swimming backward?

 

[phlegm]

omg a hands free fin?¿!?

 

[Bob Evans]

revan, Funny I have been asking that question since 1971. Personally, I think we will never see a change. I like that wing tip action on your Mono Fin. We always have a moment of " Silence" for any one making fins, since they will be asking that same Qestion. " Why be swimming Backwards when you can be moving forward." ? Love, Bob

 

[knotical]

Why back up? Well for example: A photographer who has just snapped a closeup photo and now wants to back off a bit for a wider view.
I like to be able to do it when observing wildlife up close.
Pushing backwards with hands works, but can also disturb the critters.
Fins are / should be tools for positioning, not just for propulsion.

Or - was the question tongue-in-cheek? In which case, I bit.

 

[REVAN]

omg a hands free fin?¿!?

The "hands free" reference was in comparison to a DPV which is not hands free and is the current go-to solution for scuba divers that need to be able to move through the water faster than the speed of a moderate ocean current. But, thanks for the sarcasm anyway. It's always fun (unless you don't get it)...


---------- Post added April 2nd, 2015 at 10:38 AM ----------

Why back up? Well for example: A photographer who has just snapped a closeup photo and now wants to back off a bit for a wider view.
I like to be able to do it when observing wildlife up close.
Pushing backwards with hands works, but can also disturb the critters.
Fins are / should be tools for positioning, not just for propulsion.

Or - was the question tongue-in-cheek? In which case, I bit.

As a diver, you should ask yourself, "Is the ability to back up 12 inches using only your feet worth giving up 2/3 of your ability to move forward?". Because that is the trade the diving industry has made for you.

For a select few, I can imagine the answer may be "yes". But, for 95% of divers, I'd think the answer would be "no". Maybe the 5% are very vocal about their needs, or maybe there is a widespread misunderstanding of how important it is to have fins that can be used to swim backward; I don't know.

IMO: I just know that this topic is always brought up with excessive prevalence on scuba diving forums. It doesn't make a lot of sense to me.

 

[rongoodman]

If you can't back kick, you've lost half of the ability to do a helicopter turn.

 

[REVAN]

If you can't back kick, you've lost half of the ability to do a helicopter turn.

I suppose that would be a tragedy if you're a helicopter.

---------- Post added April 2nd, 2015 at 12:40 PM ----------

Can no one see the benefits of being able to swim forward significantly better? Have you ever wished that it wasn't so damn hard to dive in a current? If nothing else, moving like a nekton is a lot more fun than spinning in circles and going backward. Diving is supposed to be fun! Why do you dive, if not for fun?

Anything that increases the fun factor should be seriously considered.

---------- Post added April 2nd, 2015 at 05:49 PM ----------

Although this thread was started by talking about a new kind of diving fin, it is really about a new kind of diving.

I think it is important to talk about the fun in diving. The diving industry is shrinking and the average age of divers goes up each year. Young people are not getting into scuba diving, and a big reason for this attrition of young divers is simply that the activity is not fun anymore. Everyone has seen the underwater world on their big screen high-def TV, and there's no point to strapping yourself into 100 pounds of restrictive equipment and sitting static and cold underwater to see a less impressive representation of the same thing. If they cannot dynamically interact with the underwater environment in a fun and exciting way, it's not better than watching the videos and there's just no point to doing it.

The monofin is about making scuba diving fun and interactive. People want to connect with the water and nature on a dynamic level, not to suit up to look like Rube Goldberg designed a ridiculous swimming contraption.

Take a look at this diver and tell me if this isn't the most awkward looking underwater locomotion you could possibly imagine: https://youtu.be/LPX0lehxZwc

- [ Honestly, it doesn't look much more graceful going foreward: https://youtu.be/HnJzOkUH7N4 ]

Now have a look at this impressive video of the helicopter turn: https://youtu.be/LRCVZTTzm_s

From the comments posted so far, it would appear that this is what current divers (that aging group that is slowly going extinct) think is important to the sport. How is this supposed to look fun or attractive to prospective new divers? Does it look like the divers in those two videos are having more fun than the guy in the video at the head of this thread or these people here? https://youtu.be/8d4WfMbC5OU

It is the dynamic interaction between the diver and the ocean that makes the sport interesting and worth doing in person. This is what the industry needs to survive and grow again. The old ways just aren't good enough anymore.

At least that's how I feel about it.

- Video at the head of the thread repeated here for convenience: https://youtu.be/Kr4vUrCWuXg

 

[tursiops]

That fin would be completely useless for the kind of scuba diving I enjoy, which is actually looking at things, often very small things, while staying in pretty much one spot trying to photograph them, and thus needing to do lots of highly-controlled maneuvering...including going backwards.
That fin would be completely useless for another kind of scuba diving I enjoy, which is cave diving, often over rather silty bottoms that would get seriously stirred up by that fin, and often needing to highly control my movements, like when putting in a line placement. Sometimes I even need to go backwards.

You can have your kind of fun, but it is not for everyone,.