Free Diving and Force Fins

[manfishmatt]

I have been a Force Fin diver for many years now and I can attest to their superiority in heavy work load scuba/rebreather applications. But what about free diving? The traditional free diving fins I have seen are full foot pocket long relatively stiff fins. Does anyone know what are the advantages/disadvantages of this type of fin versus a Force Fin in free diving situations.

 

[OceanObsessed]

The long blades on freediving fins are more efficient and the closed foot pocket is more streamlined and does not catch water like an open heel fin. When freediving you will defintely be able to move through the water faster with long blade free diving fins.

Of course you can also freedive with open heel fins you will just get more of a workout .

Actually, when I go to the Bahamas for freediving I still bring scubapro jet fins because we will sometimes swim to rocky islands and take our fins off and explore the islands. The scuba booties are great for walking over rocky islands.

 

[meesier42]

Unforetunely, the previous poster is full of it, and doesn't know what he is talking about

The prime advantage of the full foot pocket is a better connection to the foot which moves the pivot point of the blade up into your planar arch. This connection is lost when you have to design a stiff open heel pocket, which also forces the pivot point down onto you toes. This change in the pivot is noticable and has been measured. If you look at the recent Rodales Sucba Diving fin test, all of the full foot fins outperformed their open heel sister fins.

This is where the ForceFin footpocket saves the day. By changing the type of connection to your foot, which allows the pivot to move back up into the arch. This design also allows the ForceFin line to work without the heel straps, as the efficient design of the fin and pocket actually forces the fin onto your foot vice drag pulling the fin off your foot.

Some of the ForceFin line are pretty poor for freediving because they are short and require a fairly high kick rate. The exception to this is the Excellerating Force Fin. This fin has a smooth and balanced kick cycle that will give you great propulsion for Freediving. It also moves through the water very cleanly, more so than any of the fiberglass or carbon free dive fins that I have used in the past. When you add the Whiskers or the Batwings to the fin the effect is incredible, so clean that I couldn't even begin to describe the feeling.

I also have used the ExtraForce TanDelta for freediving, I was hitting very respectible depths and endurance times with them. Found they work great when I am pulling a larger fish to the surface, but also believe they are not the best for this application as their thrust is very biased towards the power stroke and the recovery is much lighter on thrust. If I were to get back into freediving and spearfishing I would definately take my Excellerators over any other fin.

 

[Bob Evans]

One of the major reasons you don't see force fin style foot pockets is because of the patents involved. As far as the long stiff blades a lot of this I believe comes down to branding and history of free diving and the way it has always been. One of my free diving models that I worked was very long and it was embraced by one of the top and most respected freed diving athletes and he made the comment that he could feel the difference in the muscles effected in using Force Fin versus fins with a closed foot pocket. I recommend Extra Force extra_force_fin_product for Free Diving

 

[dumpsterDiver]

Come on! If these fins were better for freediving then people would use them for freediving. Freedivers have very little gear to buy compared to scuba and freedivers absolutely need the most efficient fin. They are constantly looking for improvements with fiberglass, carbon fiber etc. They do NOT need a fast fin, they need an efficient fin that will move them the longest distance with the least oxygen consumption.

If Force fins worked better, freedivers would be flocking to them!

 

[OceanObsessed]

Unforetunely, the previous poster is full of it, and doesn't know what he is talking about

The prime advantage of the full foot pocket is a better connection to the foot which moves the pivot point of the blade up into your planar arch. This connection is lost when you have to design a stiff open heel pocket, which also forces the pivot point down onto you toes. This change in the pivot is noticable and has been measured. If you look at the recent Rodales Sucba Diving fin test, all of the full foot fins outperformed their open heel sister fins.

This is where the ForceFin footpocket saves the day. By changing the type of connection to your foot, which allows the pivot to move back up into the arch. This design also allows the ForceFin line to work without the heel straps, as the efficient design of the fin and pocket actually forces the fin onto your foot vice drag pulling the fin off your foot.

Some of the ForceFin line are pretty poor for freediving because they are short and require a fairly high kick rate. The exception to this is the Excellerating Force Fin. This fin has a smooth and balanced kick cycle that will give you great propulsion for Freediving. It also moves through the water very cleanly, more so than any of the fiberglass or carbon free dive fins that I have used in the past. When you add the Whiskers or the Batwings to the fin the effect is incredible, so clean that I couldn't even begin to describe the feeling.

I also have used the ExtraForce TanDelta for freediving, I was hitting very respectible depths and endurance times with them. Found they work great when I am pulling a larger fish to the surface, but also believe they are not the best for this application as their thrust is very biased towards the power stroke and the recovery is much lighter on thrust. If I were to get back into freediving and spearfishing I would definately take my Excellerators over any other fin.

So why do you think so many of the more seasoned freedivers are using the carbon fiber long blades (closed heel) over the Excellerators ? Either the enire freediving community has missed the boat on this or perhaps your opinion is a bit biased.

 

[cldomson1]

no fin is worth $750+... it can't be that much better than long blade fiberglass fins.

 

[OceanObsessed]

By the way, the freediving community is very open to new ideas regarding fin efficiency. It was not long ago when the competitive freedivers were all using bi fins for competition. As soon as they realized that the mono fin was more efficient they quickly switched. Virtually all dynamic competitors today are using the mono fin.

 

[uncleavi]

I like my Force Fins and am going free diving with them on monday.
I also like that my Fins are made by a guy named Bob and not some Children in a factory in Asia. Red, White and Blue Baby!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[Bob Evans]

Come on! If these fins were better for freediving then people would use them for freediving. Freedivers have very little gear to buy compared to scuba and freedivers absolutely need the most efficient fin. They are constantly looking for improvements with fiberglass, carbon fiber etc. They do NOT need a fast fin, they need an efficient fin that will move them the longest distance with the least oxygen consumption.

If Force fins worked better, freedivers would be flocking to them!

Group behavior. Free divers use free diving fins, so free divers use free diving fins. Nonetheless there are different needs for different divers. A free diver has to maximize his motion per breath and kick. A SCUBA diver must maximize his air consumption over time. These are different physiological needs. I have designed and experimented extensively with some very long fins that use some of our Force Fin technology, like the OPS. You can see Holly of the Ocean Future's Dive Team free diving with sharks in the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands on the PBS special Voyage to Kure, available through Ocean Futures Society. She is moving beautifully well.