A great find as others will state soon.
Dive Fin History
- Thread starter Akimbo
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sealark
Contributor
1965 Dive school Washing Navy Yard DC UDT Duck Feet fins, hated them ankle cramps. After that Voit Vikings. Now any cheap full foot fins. Holy crap my avatar was 52 years ago still diving.
OP
Vikings were my first fins when I started diving, probably because they were used by Mike Nelson on Sea Hunt. I had to use Fixie Palms though. Fortunately they were much wider than ducks.
Akimbo,
The AMF Voit Viking A66 fin was much different from the quite similar fin, the Viking A6 which Lloyd Bridges (aka "Mike Nelson") used in Sea Hunt. The blade was much longer, and it had the potential for being a heel strap fin by simply cutting along the dotted line to remove the heel. Here's a photo I took of this fin after being modified to my scoop fin design:
Here is a photo of my diving fin collection:
The Duck Feet are in the left inner circle, and include two pair of full-foot and two pair of open heel design Duck Feet. I also have an AMF Voit Viking A66 in black at the bottom of the inner circle. In the center is the Aqueon, and at the top is a training monofin used in competitive finswimming. The others are pretty obvious, except perhaps in the outer circle on the right there is a set of White Stag Super Stag fins, a natural rubber open heel fin with a non-vented blade. This fin is actually a great fin, and there are several examples of fins I've modified to the "scoop fin" design.
SeaRat
The AMF Voit Viking A66 fin was much different from the quite similar fin, the Viking A6 which Lloyd Bridges (aka "Mike Nelson") used in Sea Hunt. The blade was much longer, and it had the potential for being a heel strap fin by simply cutting along the dotted line to remove the heel. Here's a photo I took of this fin after being modified to my scoop fin design:
Here is a photo of my diving fin collection:
The Duck Feet are in the left inner circle, and include two pair of full-foot and two pair of open heel design Duck Feet. I also have an AMF Voit Viking A66 in black at the bottom of the inner circle. In the center is the Aqueon, and at the top is a training monofin used in competitive finswimming. The others are pretty obvious, except perhaps in the outer circle on the right there is a set of White Stag Super Stag fins, a natural rubber open heel fin with a non-vented blade. This fin is actually a great fin, and there are several examples of fins I've modified to the "scoop fin" design.
SeaRat
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rosstnfound
New
Thanks John and Sam for the comments. It is always Interesting to learn about the old gear I find. I will get some silicone spray and do as you said.
OMG: I am blown away by this picture.Simply amazing.
Bob DBF
Contributor
Now that's one impressive group of fins. If I had a pile like that in my dive locker, my wife would insist I seek proffessional help.
Spotted the Farafins, I had the ones made with spring straps, rather than the leg brace, they were the best set of fins I ever had. I haven't hunted down a set on eBay because I don't think I have the leg strength I had two or three decades ago to use them effectively. I figured you could break your leg before it reached its maximum power, may be that's why they put on the brace.
Bob
Spotted the Farafins, I had the ones made with spring straps, rather than the leg brace, they were the best set of fins I ever had. I haven't hunted down a set on eBay because I don't think I have the leg strength I had two or three decades ago to use them effectively. I figured you could break your leg before it reached its maximum power, may be that's why they put on the brace.
Bob
Bob,
I actually have two sets of Fara-fins. I had one set in the early 1980s, but found that the leg braces caused this fin to not propel me. The reason was that Farallon decided to put too much of an angle onto the brace, and the fin's angle of attack did not work well. So for several decades I did not use them, and had sold my original pair. Now, I have brought them back and in fact used them in the pool today. What I did, and is needed with these fins in my opinion, was to use a circular grinding pad on a power drill to change the angle of attack allowed by the braces. I needed to change the set points, by grinding down the plastic to allow a better angle for the fin. I have now used these fins for two seasons in the river, and they are the single most powerful fins that I have ever used. I hope this winter to change the blades on one set to my scoop fin design, and use them in that configuration next summer. Here's some photos to help you see what I've done.
Note the changed angle on the set of Fara-fins in the foreground, allowing a much better angle of attack for the blade.
This is the Fara-fin blade, which I have effectively repaired using nylon line for "stitching," and ShoeGoo for the filler. The blade, which was broken at the rib and across the first section, is now effectively repaired, though I needed to drill holes to allow the needle to go through first.
With the leg brace, you really need to wear a wet suit bottom. Also, these are actually narrower foot pockets than, say a Lightning Jet Fin (also pictured above), or the White Stag Super Stag fins. So I cannot wear a full bootie with them, and use a neoprene sock on my feet.
With the leg brace, the foot does not take the force, and it is effectively transmitted along the entire brace rather than the instep and top of the foot.
SeaRat
PS, My wife gave up on the "professional help" for my diving collection. I actually use these for research in underwater propulsion and fin efficiency studies. I have a PDF of the Skin Diver Magazine article from June 1975 by Jack McKenney that discusses these fins. If anyone wants it, drop me a PM with your e-mail and I'll be happy to send it to you. Yikes! These fins are 43 years old!
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OP
FYI, you can upload a .pdf file here:
1. Click the More Options... button below the Reply box.
2. Click the Upload a File button and click the Choose File button
3. Pick your file...
Thank you, Akimbo. I learned something, and that is that this button has nothing to do with my Photo Gallery album, but is built into the reply button on each dialog. Once the Reply button has been hit, then this "Upload a File" button is seen. Below is the PDF of the Fara-fin article that was in the June, 1975 Skin Diver Magazine by Jack McKenney. Take what Mr. McKenney says with a bit of salt, as before the fin's leg supports (flex frame) are changed, this is not a very efficient fin.
SeaRat
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