Soviet fins 4: The Ukrainian connection

[David Wilson]

Right, time to move on to fins made in a country that was a constituent republic of the USSR but is now an independent nation state: Ukraine. Bordering the Soviet Union's equivalent of the Mediterranean, the Black Sea, Ukraine was a logical place to set up factories servicing the water sports market, including breathhold and scuba diving. The name of the Ukrainian plant responsible for the production of basic diving gear, including fins, masks and snorkels, in the 1960s and 1970s was "Красный резинщик" (Transliteration: "Krasny Rezinshchik". Translation: "Red Rubber Worker") and it operated in the capital city, Kiev.

During the 1960s, Krasny Rezinshchik manufactured an adjustable open-heel fin whose Greek-derived Russian name translates as "ichthyander" or "fish-man").

Ikhtiandr

These asymmetrical fins were available in black as well as dark green and dark blue, as pictured above. The third image presents a better view of the logo on the top of the foot pocket, identifying the product as having been made in Kiev in the USSR by the Krasny Rezinshchik plant.

Two separate Russian diving book sources from the 1970s describe these fins thus:
1. Rigid, straight fins, usually black in colour, with two major side rails and six minor ribs. Heel strap adjustable with two buckles.
2. This open fin from the Kiev "Krasnyy Rezinshchik" plant is a type of semi-hard light fin. Thin ribs, which extend across the working area of the blade, make the fin quite elastic. The fin has an oblique tip. The good shape of the foot pocket and the presence of an adjustable heel strap for fastening the fins make it quite a comfortable fin to use. The fin’s relatively large area makes it suitable for swimming with breathing apparatus.

The fins appear regularly on Ukraine's online auction site OLX.UA, suggesting that many people have stored them at home for several decades before parting with them. In my next posting, I'll focus on another of the Kiev plant's fins.

 

[David Wilson]

Thanks, guys, for your thumbs-up to the first message in this thread. Continuing the theme of vintage Ukrainian fins, here is the "Katran" (Катран) model manufactured by Krasny Rezinshchik in Kiev. Made in the 1960s or 1970s, it is no longer in production.

Katran

The Katran was a full-foot fin with high side-rails and two central ribs on the blade both above and below. The third image above has a close-up of the logo, which combines the manufacturer's initial letters (KR) with the unusual entrance to the Krasny Rezinshchik factory:

I haven't been able to find much about this fin, but it strikes me as being very similar in design to the Italian-made Champion Hydromatic fin that had a large following in the 1960s:

The fin was very popular with the ladies back then, as the front cover of "Skin Diving Made Easy" testifies. I cannot possibly say whether the Ukrainian "Katran" had a similar following in the Soviet Union!

 

[David Wilson]

Next vintage Ukrainian fin up is the "Акванавт" (Transliteration: Akvanavt; Translation: Aquanaut. This was one huge shovel of a closed-heel, closed-toe fin, perhaps the kind you would have expected to be extremely popular in Soviet times if you hadn't known about the many style alternatives available there. The fin still has a big following among Russian spearfishermen because of their stiff blades. I have a pair and was surprised to find that they were very comfortable to wear because of their soft foot pockets.

Akvanavt

Note the Krasny Rezinshchik factory gate logo, which also appeared on the Katran fins, and the price on the heel (8 roubles 50 kopecks).

Akvanavt fins are still available nowadays, manufactured by the successor company known as "Kiivguma" (Ukrainian for "Kiev rubber"). They can be had in colours other than black:

YaRT, a rubber products plant in Yaroslavl northeast of Moscow, manufactured a broadly identical fin called "Skat":

I'll move on next to the adjustable open-heel version of the Akvanavt, the "Turist", also made by Krasny Rezinshchik / Kiivguma.

 

[David Wilson]

On to "Turist" fins next. "Turist", you will be unsurprised to know is the transliteration of the Russsian noun "Турист", meaning "Tourist". They were sturdy open-heel adjustable fins.

Turist

Note that Krasny Rezinshchik factory entrance logo on top of the foot pocket in the second image. This fin remains in production at KR's successor company Kiivguma:

My next thread will be dedicated to "post-Soviet" fins, both Russian and Ukrainian, which carry on the tradition. I have already introduced some of them in my earlier threads to comparative purposes.

 

[John C. Ratliff]

David,

These tourist fins ("Турист") look a little like some of the early AMF Voit fins, with the adjustable heel strap. I'm curious why manufacturers went away from the adjustable strap, which could be replaced when broken, to the non-adjustible heel strap, which when broken made the fin un-usable. Was that perhaps a marketing decision?

SeaRat

 

[David Wilson]

David,

These tourist fins ("Турист") look a little like some of the early AMF Voit fins, with the adjustable heel strap. I'm curious why manufacturers went away from the adjustable strap, which could be replaced when broken, to the non-adjustible heel strap, which when broken made the fin un-usable. Was that perhaps a marketing decision?

SeaRat

I don't have a definitive answer, John, but I'm guessing that bodysurfers, who the major adopters of non-adjustable open-heel fins, found adjustable open-heel fins fiddly to put on and the buckles liable to slip when they are grappling with powerful waves. You are right about the resemblance between Soviet and western fin designs. I expect that Soviet fin designers considered that it was pointless to try and "reinvent the wheel" by coming up with completely original designs. This said, there is a distinctive Russian-ness in their closed-heel fins having closed toes as well, while western closed-heel fin designs are most influenced by the Cressi Rondine, which always had open toes.

David