Going crazy trying to decide/find free diving (or just powerful) fins.

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CaribbeanChick

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Location
St. Thomas VI
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Good day! First off I live on St. Thomas and with all of our dive shops I can't find a pair of free diving fins or really powerful fins here. Maybe their all here but I'm totally overwhelmed with what to get. I have an older pair of us divers that are nice and rigid and actually fairly decent but they are full boot and rubbing bruises into my foot :( my boss uses Cressi (reaction??) I think. He likes them and they seem rigid enough. I should be able to order them from a shop here but my gut's telling me to go free diving fins. I need power!

I am in the water doing snorkel tours most days of the week on a couple islands although we're slow now as its off season. So I'm looking for a fin make and model that will fit a women's size 7 (not an unusual size). I do underwater photography and am working on my free diving skills and have a couple classes scheduled so I can stay down (shallow) longer for pictures.... It also helps when I want to pick up critters (safe ones) to show our clients. Ideally I would like to keep it under $150 but may get crazy and spend more if I can find a perfect pair. Heck I'd even consider those single fin dolphin tail like ones if they work well.

Theres only one dive shop that I heard carries a big selection and will go look tomorrow but wanted to ask in here, what fins are powerful, full boot, and good for getting down easily for pics. THANKS!

p.s. I have bigger calf muscles then most men I know - used to wakeboard semi pro so I don't really worry about legs getting tired.
 
I know a freediver who uses long-blade (really long) Cressi Gara's. Sounds like that's more what you need than full-foot scuba fins. IDK which model. Amazon.com: freediving fins

Scubatoys sells one, they ship worldwide so St. Thomas shouldn't be a problem. IDK about womens sizes/fit though. Cressi Sub Gara 2000 HF Fins discounts on sale Cressi Sub - $149.

Maybe Riffe or Omer also, both sell freediving fins suitable for spearfishing among other things. That'll probably get you down fast.
 
In the past it has been difficult (or impossible) to find good freedive fins in women's and children's sizes. We have a selection of fins and blades that should meet you needs and budget.

MAKO Competition Freediver Fins for Women

MCFFW-2.jpg


These fiberglass blades (below) are a little more than you mentioned, but they really are EXCELLENT and snap back returning most all the energy to the water on each kick cycle. If you have never used a quality pair of FG blades, you will be impressed. The idea is NOT to swim faster, but rather to be able to cruise and swim with much less effort (and they won't make your calves bulge).
:D



mlfff_pnk_dtl.jpg

You can select different color fiberglass blades (but we had special requests for pink so we did it). Also, if the fiberglass blades are outside of your budget, you can purchase the $90 freedive fins and blades and then some time down the road, purchase upgraded fiberglass blades alone and then replace them yourself into your footpockets. On some less expensive freedive fins, the blades and pockets are fixed and can not be replaced..

MAKO Competition Fiberglass Fins for Women

These are extremely comfortable full foot fins and are suitable for scuba and freediving (and snorkeling too)!

Lastly, please note that our gear is inexpensive because we sell direct and have no retail store mark up.
 
Before driving yourself crazy and possibly spending a lot of money searching for that 'perfect fin', you should probably check your finning- technique first; huge factor in what a fin does for you. I've seen tour guides, using the same puny full-foot rubber fins you usually have on the boat as 'loaners', absolutely flying through the water ...

Have a friend shoot some video of you, surface, a couple of dive-offs, cruising under water, and in particular what you do when trying to increase speed. Subsequent analysis will provide some helpful insights, or at a minimum, eliminate this factor as a potential problem.

And in case you're wondering, ... I'm not pulling this suggestion out of thin air; as a professional tennis instructor, I've used video analysis for years, and found it an invaluable tool in figuring out what's what ... Guess how many times we ended up with "It's the Indian, not the arrow":wink:
 
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Sure I can do that but what am I looking for? How would I match up a fin with my "technique"? I have no clue what to look for.
 
"^^^" the trick to fins is to mimic what a fish would do. Sharks use very slow fluid motions, Triggers use very short rhythmic motions. I personally have used 4 different sets of fins in a day giving tours in St.Vincent and have found if you slow yourself down and pay attention to the currents you can use the ocean more and your fins less. Bigger fins can sometimes create more drag and can actually restrict you rather than help you. Try just going slower, be more deliberate with your motions but not abrupt unless you are of course looking for that power move. I use a dolphin-kick 2 as 1 kind of move mostly if I want a sudden burst of power. I have also found swimming this way is less of a threat to some fish such as cuddle-fish and sea turtles. As far as touching or picking things up to show your "clients" I frown on that. The sea is a great place to educate people but the wildlife should not have to suffer in the process. This is why the reefs in the V.I's are suffering and have depreciated the way that they have. It's from human interaction. The reefs in St.Vincent are thriving because we don't have the mass tourism so they see very little traffic. Too dive down try letting out 1/2 your air after the first 3 strokes. Air in your chest will prevent you from sinking. Practice holding your breath with empty lungs. Try to match your strokes with the current patterns and generally you'll find you'll work less and play more. Remember on your power strokes to again slow down and give each stroke a chance to react through the water, if you act too fast the fins will actually cause a counter-current and will slow you down.
 
Not talking about matching the fin with your technique; as a first step, I'm suggesting that you check what exactly you're doing with your current fins to determine whether you have good form and are able to perform the varying tasks, described in paragraph 2, efficiently. Even the best fin won't automatically fix technical flaws on your part, so while freediving fins for example might allow you to get some more speed, you still won't be able to get the max out of those if your basic technique is flawed/inefficient... Just sayin' ...
 
"^^^" the trick to fins is to mimic what a fish would do. Sharks use very slow fluid motions, Triggers use very short rhythmic motions. I personally have used 4 different sets of fins in a day giving tours in St.Vincent and have found if you slow yourself down and pay attention to the currents you can use the ocean more and your fins less. Bigger fins can sometimes create more drag and can actually restrict you rather than help you. Try just going slower, be more deliberate with your motions but not abrupt unless you are of course looking for that power move. I use a dolphin-kick 2 as 1 kind of move mostly if I want a sudden burst of power. I have also found swimming this way is less of a threat to some fish such as cuddle-fish and sea turtles. As far as touching or picking things up to show your "clients" I frown on that. The sea is a great place to educate people but the wildlife should not have to suffer in the process. This is why the reefs in the V.I's are suffering and have depreciated the way that they have. It's from human interaction. The reefs in St.Vincent are thriving because we don't have the mass tourism so they see very little traffic. Too dive down try letting out 1/2 your air after the first 3 strokes. Air in your chest will prevent you from sinking. Practice holding your breath with empty lungs. Try to match your strokes with the current patterns and generally you'll find you'll work less and play more. Remember on your power strokes to again slow down and give each stroke a chance to react through the water, if you act too fast the fins will actually cause a counter-current and will slow you down.

This advice is far from "mainstream"... telling people to exhale during the dive, gives them less oxygen and makes it harder to ascend because they are heavier.
 
If you're leading snorkeling tours then mares quattro powers are good. I can go pretty deep with them and they are great for long surface swims. I use the gara 2000 hf for scuba and deeper freedives. They are stiff and long surface swims are miserable. I'd prefer the standard mako fins for snorkeling /free diving.
 
https://www.shearwater.com/products/teric/

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