Force Wings

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Blair Mott

Contributor
Scuba Instructor
Messages
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Location
Santa Barbara , California
Force Wings
force_wings

Force Fin was the first to offer Variable Blade
Control and Variable Thrust Technology as an option to
your fins. Again all Bob thinks about is fins. Force
Fin and Bob Evans Designs presents you with the option
of four different types of Force Wing- they are
Batwings, Whiskers, Speed Pods and Sharks’ teeth. All
of these wings stabilize the blade of the fin, but it
is the option of creating less drag, improving thrust
and overall making your experience in the water more
efficient and controlled that makes the Force Wings a
smart choice.

Whiskers- Efficiency and Power
The most common in the Force Wings line up are the
Whiskers. This accessory is the one that the diver or
swimmer will notice the most and the quickest
underwater http://www.scubaboard.com/forums/force-fin/218947-force-wings.html
Besides the Bat Wings the remaining two (Sharks’ teeth and Speed
pods) are fine-tuning tools that act with water
dynamics in a more suttlle, but precise way.
.

Shark’s Teeth -Efficiency and Control
Shark’s Teeth help stabilize the blade and increases
tracking control. This Wing model is not intended for
variable thrust, but increased control. With activies
like body boarding and river boarding (white water
sledging) the Shark’s Teeth function like a keel on a
sailboat does. No rock and roll or wandering fin blade
with this baby attached to your fin.
Shark’s Teeth have another function that is shared
with the Speed Pods. Force Fin users with the Multi
Force, Rip Force and the Adjustable are using the
Shark’s Teeth turned perpendicular to the Fin and use
it as increased resistance for recovery and physical
conditioning. One customer described simply “ I have a
small pool so I turn the Teeth perpendicular to the
blade and now I have increased resistance for my
workouts and recovery for my legs”

Speed Pods –Efficiency and Speed

Speed Pods increase the surface area just enough to
break the surface tension in the same manner as the
Vortex generators on back of some of the Force Fin
Models http://www.scubaboard.com/forums/force-fin/219860-laws-nature.html
It also focuses the water onto the
blade increasing the efficiency of the water moving
through the entire kick cycle. Speeds Pods are used by
swimmers, scuba divers, body boarders with a need for
more speed and more output from their input energy. In
the kick cycle water speeds up as it flows over the
curved hydrofoil shape and reduces drag, but there are
some Force Wing users who adjust the Force Wings just
to isolate or highlight strength or weaknesses in one
leg over the other for physical conditioning and
recovery therapy.

Bat Wings- Speed, Efficiency and Control Bat Wings
Everything out of the Force Wing Line up comes with
the Bat Wing and more. It is the biggest in size of
the Force Wing Family and it has two things that the
rest of wings do not have. Its position sits on top of
the Fin blade and the wing is flexible creating and
whole new water dynamic to improve sculling
underwater. When I worked in Fiji I had a dive master
who always used them and I can still see him hovering
over a group of tourist divers as they explore the
walls and reefs of Savusavu.
With the increase in surface area and the position on
the wings to the blade an increase in water volume is
accelerated behind you to aid in propulsion and thrust
and due to the flexibility of the wings, sculling
becomes easier and more efficient. This wing is not
for closed environment divers as mentioned before the
size of the Bat Wings is significant enough that you
would need a low profile wing as the Whisker or Speed
Pod if you were diving in really closed environments.

Force Wings is another great innovation in fin
technology that offers water enthusiasts a choice in
making precise adjustments with a flip of the wrist
that can’t be beat. Really like your fins, not a Force
Fin user, but interested in Force Wing Technology use
a launch pad kit force_wings
and you are able to adapt any
of the Force Wings to most of the fins on the market.
Force Wings allow you to take control and optimize the
way you want the water to work for you.
 
Thanks Blair, with this information I can now justify that the force wing package won't be of use for me. All I need to order is the Whiskers for my application.
 
Just finished yet another round of testing Thought everyone may find this interesting. I did a series of runs counting the number of kicks to cover the 20yard pool in my nieghborhood
Pro Force Fins- 22
Foil Force- 22
Extra Force TanDelta w/whiskers parrallel- 20
Extra Force TanDelta w/whiskers in tight V- 17

I plan to add the Excellerators to the list tomorrow, and maybe the military SD-1 by the end of the week.
 
I spent an afternoon in the pool testing the Excellerating Force TanDelta. I decided to take the tools with me and play with all the configurations of the ForceWings that I have. And here are the results (all verified with at least 3-4 repeats)

Excellerator TanDelta
No ForceWings- 20 kicks
w/ Whiskers Parrallel- 19 kicks
w/ Batwings in any position- 18 kicks
w/ Whiskers in Tight V- 17 kicks

Based on the feel of the fin. I have some additional comments-
1) shutter is very predominant without any ForceWings, I do not recommend using this fin without one of them. disclaimer, this may not be as bad in the original polyurethanes
2) The Batwings are very flexible and adjusting them from the outside edge of the blade to a tight-V did not change the feel or distance per kick
3) Unlike the Extra Force, moving the whiskers to a Tight-V did not change the feel of the Excellerator, but an improved DPK was noticed. Also unlike the Extra, speed did not seem to change, but I was not timing so this observation is purely anecdotal.
4) I found that I prerfered the Batwings to all other configurations

For additional testing I want to move into a larger pool (50m) to allow me to get larger variations on the the # of kicks and achieve a more steady state speed to validate the short runs and initial observations.
 
I have been diving a pair of regular force fins for about a year now - started out primarily to save weight when traveling vs my bio-fins.

Recently I purchased a used pair of tan delta excellerating force fins and have been experimenting with them. I have found that I definately gain speed when I move the whiskers inward and that control was slightly better when they were parallel to the edge of the fins. But recently I played with them a little more and found that if I moved the whiskers outside the edge of the fins they gave me greater control - which is what I really want, since I take pictures when underwater. With the whiskers outside the fins, I find I can back kick and scull much more easily and turn much quicker.

Of course being able to adjust them underwater with them on, allows me to change the performance on the fly (like when my buddy takes off and I have to play catch-up ... :D)

I'm going to start playing with setting the whiskers unevenly on the inside and outside, to see the effect on control/speed. It has been fun experimenting and hopefully, I can find a setting where they are optimal for my style of diving (which would be amazing, since so far, every other fin has been a compromise), without having to make any in-water adjustments.
 
TN Traveler- Thanks for your testing. I am glad you understand how a variable thrust Force fin works. I have found some cool fin designs while cleaning my shop, and will post some photo's on Force fin scubaboard gallery. Keep testing and posting your thoughts. Best regards,
 
TN- that's really cool to hear, I thought that I was the only one who knew that moving the whiskers beyond the edge could improve performance. ForceWings
 
I'm one of those d#mn engineers that just loves to play with anything adjustable. I'll either maximize performance or break it :wink::wink:

In many ways I guess Force Fins fit my eclectic selection of dive gear. I just get so amused at the looks I get.

I just got a set of comfort insteps and have been playing with them to determine boot/fin combinations for warm water diving, with both my Large Originals and the XL Excellerators. I had to use 5mm medium sole boots with the XL's and did not like that for warm water - so now I can use a 2-3 mm short sock and they work fine (actually feel better). Once nice thing I have already found, using the insteps makes the fins much more "snorkel" friendly.
 
https://www.shearwater.com/products/swift/

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