Dive Fin History

[Akimbo]

@Sam Miller III

Darn it Sam, Scubaboard needs a special piece of software that automatically moves your posts to the History of Scuba Diving: Tales from the Abyss Forum. You are a wealth of information from one of the few divers still with us who was actually there. Thanks.

The "Ducks" were designed a produced by Art :"Bud" or "Brownie" Brown in his small manufacturing shop in Laguna Canyon,

Funny sidebar: I tried Duck Feet fins several times but couldn't get them to fit... because I have feet like a duck. I even tried grinding the foot pockets out with a ball-end grinder for my size 8 EEEE foot. Now I have the name of the narrow-footed guy to blame! Ducks were the stock fin when I was in the Navy and I had to demonstrate to my instructors that fins that were large/wide enough wouldn't stay on my stubby foot. Say what you want about Jets, the adjustable strap was the solution for me. I haven't had to use Fixie-Palms since they came out.

It has gotten worse since I reached my 50s. Thankfully Internet search engines can find "6E shoes".

 

[dberry]

Size 8 EEEE feet? One of my grown children can relate... calls them "Fred Flintstone feet".

 

[Akimbo]

Size 8 EEEE feet? One of my grown children can relate... calls them "Fred Flintstone feet".

Mine are more a duck because they are narrow at the heel... except for the unusually high arch part. Shopping for shoes (and fins) is the pits.

 

[John C. Ratliff]

Mine are more a duck because they are narrow at the heel... except for the unusually high arch part. Shopping for shoes (and fins) is the pits.

Akimbo,

You need to find a pair of Voit Viking, V66 fins in the extra-large size. They sometimes appear on E-Bay. When I was in Bermuda in 1970 at Kingsley Air Force Base, I bought two pair of these, one for me and one for Don Beasley, a very tall (6'11") USAF Pararescueman, and he stated that these were the only fins he could wear comfortably.

This catalog shows the Viking A66 fins that should be gotten in their "Extra-Large" size. The heel could also be cut out for an open heel fin too.

SeaRat

 

[John C. Ratliff]

I had the picture and it came from the internet.
It came from here.

Compressor,

This is not a good reference, as this site simply went onto the internet, found photos, and tried to make up a story behind them on the history of fins. How do I know? Well, they published one of my photos, referencing "This is a Vietnam era photo, showing Navy Seals with UDT's" (or Duck Feet fins). Those were actually USAF Pararescue trainees, and it was taken at the U.S. Naval School for Underwater Swimmers at the docks in Key West, Florida in 1967. I was using my Nikonos underwater camera p, and was myself one of the Pararescue trainees taking this course.

Does this photo look familiar? The one your link used was simply a part of the top photo. My buddy, Bob Means, and I were on a scuba compass course during this training for the bottom photo.

A couple of points about Duck Feet fins is appropriate. First, the original Swimaster Duck Feet were, as stated above, pure gum rubber, and very powerful, although flexible. They had a straight-across top, which allowed us to wear them upside-down, as they were more comfortable worn in this manner. Worn right-side up, they offered no arch support at all, as the foot pocket did not come far enough back for that. We wore them almost exclusively with a rubber boogie, which kept them from rubbing our skin off our toes. Even now, when I wear my Duck Feet, I wear either a regular sock or a soft-slot thin bootie (tropical boogie) with them. I cannot wear them with current wet suit booties, as all of them have a thick sole, and that increases their dimension such that the Duck Feet don't fit. We used to actually make our own booties out of sheet 1/4 inch foam neoprene, and those I could use with Duck Feet, which were my first set of SCUBA fins in about 1962. Before that I was diving with a blue set of heel-adjustable Churchill fins by Voit (~1959 to 1962). My Dad had a set of the green Churchill fins, but as a teen I quickly out-grew the medium sized fins.

I used my Duck Feet fins during my Pararescue career from 1967-1970, when I was doing fin experiments and developing the "scoop fin" concept. More on that later. When we made parascuba jump, we would use makpsking tape to actually tape our fins onto our feet so that when we hit the prop wash of a HC-130 or HU-16B aircraft, they would stay on our feet.

John

 

[northernone]

Compressor,

This is not a good reference, as this site simply went onto the internet, found photos, and tried to make up a story behind them on the history of fins. How do I know? Well, they published one of my photos, referencing "This is a Vietnam era photo, showing Navy Seals with UDT's" (or Duck Feet fins). Those were actually USAF Pararescue trainees, and it was taken at the U.S. Naval School for Underwater Swimmers at the docks in Key West, Florida in 1967. I was using my Nikonos underwater camera p, and was myself one of the Pararescue trainees taking this course.

View attachment 432759
Does this photo look familiar? The one your link used was simply a part of the top photo. My buddy, Bob Means, and I were on a scuba compass course during this training for the bottom photo.

A couple of points about Duck Feet fins is appropriate. First, the original Swimaster Duck Feet were, as stated above, pure gum rubber, and very powerful, although flexible. They had a straight-across top, which allowed us to wear them upside-down, as they were more comfortable worn in this manner. Worn right-side up, they offered no arch support at all, as the foot pocket did not come far enough back for that. We wore them almost exclusively with a rubber boogie, which kept them from rubbing our skin off our toes. Even now, when I wear my Duck Feet, I wear either a regular sock or a soft-slot thin bootie (tropical boogie) with them. I cannot wear them with current wet suit booties, as all of them have a thick sole, and that increases their dimension such that the Duck Feet don't fit. We used to actually make our own booties out of sheet 1/4 inch foam neoprene, and those I could use with Duck Feet, which were my first set of SCUBA fins in about 1962. Before that I was diving with a blue set of heel-adjustable Churchill fins by Voit (~1959 to 1962). My Dad had a set of the green Churchill fins, but as a teen I quickly out-grew the medium sized fins.

I used my Duck Feet fins during my Pararescue career from 1967-1970, when I was doing fin experiments and developing the "scoop fin" concept. More on that later. When we made parascuba jump, we would use makpsking tape to actually tape our fins onto our feet so that when we hit the prop wash of a HC-130 or HU-16B aircraft, they would stay on our feet.

John

Thank you for setting the record straight. I appreciate the time you take to share.

Warm respect,
Cameron

 

[rosstnfound]

Hey Guys, I found these today at a swap meet and I think they are early 1950's .They don't have any address on them and they are are soft, undamaged and smell like new. Was there a reissue of these?

Thanks!

 

[John C. Ratliff]

Rosstnfound,

Those are the original gum rubber Duck Feet fins. Get som silicone spray, and douse them good in silicone. They should las at least another twenty years.

What Dr. Sam Miller did not say is that when AMF Voit bought Swimaster, it apparently was not a friendly buyout. My understanding is that the original molds for the Swimaster Duck Feet fins were destroyed in this article takeover. That is why the AMF version has the redesigned foot pocked, with the raised ares at the top of the foot. This also precludes the AMF Duck Feet from being worn upside-down, as I described above. Because of this, divers on longer swims had a greater chance of suffering foot cramps. This also made the Jet Fins more popular when they did come out (and it didn't hurt that Cousteau's divers used the European version of Jet Fins in their movie, World Without Sun.

SeaRat

 

[Sam Miller III]

The original gorilla feet diver ! A rare breed -

When Ducks came on the market, booties for feet protection had not been perfected. other than the occasional diver who while making his own personal wet suit would cut out a pair of socks, using a normal street sock as a pattern. These would provide a certain amount to thermal protection but generally wore out rather fast. Then as I recall the Molded rock socks came in to the market.

John you beat me too it on wearing the originals up side down - I had several friends who wore both Churchill's and later Ducks up side down. They said for "comfort" -and they were normal size with I assume normal size feet

@rosstnfound
Yep! original Duck feet -- made by Art Brown in Laguna Beach. do as Johm suggested --they are both antiques and heirlooms

Sam Miller,III

 

[Compressor]

Compressor,

This is not a good reference, as this site simply went onto the internet, found photos, and tried to make up a story behind them on the history of fins. How do I know? Well, they published one of my photos, referencing "This is a Vietnam era photo, showing Navy Seals with UDT's" (or Duck Feet fins). Those were actually USAF Pararescue trainees, and it was taken at the U.S. Naval School for Underwater Swimmers at the docks in Key West, Florida in 1967. I was using my Nikonos underwater camera p, and was myself one of the Pararescue trainees taking this course.

View attachment 432759
Does this photo look familiar? The one your link used was simply a part of the top photo. My buddy, Bob Means, and I were on a scuba compass course during this training for the bottom photo.

A couple of points about Duck Feet fins is appropriate. First, the original Swimaster Duck Feet were, as stated above, pure gum rubber, and very powerful, although flexible. They had a straight-across top, which allowed us to wear them upside-down, as they were more comfortable worn in this manner. Worn right-side up, they offered no arch support at all, as the foot pocket did not come far enough back for that. We wore them almost exclusively with a rubber boogie, which kept them from rubbing our skin off our toes. Even now, when I wear my Duck Feet, I wear either a regular sock or a soft-slot thin bootie (tropical boogie) with them. I cannot wear them with current wet suit booties, as all of them have a thick sole, and that increases their dimension such that the Duck Feet don't fit. We used to actually make our own booties out of sheet 1/4 inch foam neoprene, and those I could use with Duck Feet, which were my first set of SCUBA fins in about 1962. Before that I was diving with a blue set of heel-adjustable Churchill fins by Voit (~1959 to 1962). My Dad had a set of the green Churchill fins, but as a teen I quickly out-grew the medium sized fins.

I used my Duck Feet fins during my Pararescue career from 1967-1970, when I was doing fin experiments and developing the "scoop fin" concept. More on that later. When we made parascuba jump, we would use makpsking tape to actually tape our fins onto our feet so that when we hit the prop wash of a HC-130 or HU-16B aircraft, they would stay on our feet.

John

Thank you for your clarification and my edification. My error. I appreciate the explanation you provided.