Blackwood
Contributor
it is impossible to claim one style of fins is better than other.
Agreed.
Chances are that one could develop successful non-silting kick style with split fins that would outperform blade fins.
How are you defining "outperform?" Seems that different people have different requirements. For example, I don't need the underwater hockey sort of movements, and I rarely need to go fast (when I do, I double-click up to my scooter's highest speed). What I do need are fins that
1. Give me feedback (I can feel them),
2. Can easily move me fully loaded (which I'll define as doubles, drysuit, multiple bottles, and maybe a stowed scooter), and
3. Are gas efficient (distance gained per gas consumed) when used with an appropriate kicking style.
When I dove split fins in Mexico I didn't like the feedback, and when I dove small blades in CA they didn't move me nearly as effectively as I'm used to. In both cases, when I switched to a flutter kick, my gas consumption spiked.
Your mileage likely varies.
But all that is really beside my initial reason for responding, which was to question the alleged fundamental difference in how these two varieties of fins work. I've read multiple claims (read: marketing lingo) about "lift" and "vortex channeling" associated with split fins, but have never been able to wrap my mind around them (hence the thread almost as long as this one I started in the equipment forum: http://www.scubaboard.com/forums/fins-masks-snorkels/325435-split-fin-physics.html). My goal there was the same as my goal here is: to clarify if they are functionally different, and if so, how. You're encouraged to contribute.
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