diver_doug
Contributor
Alright, so this is totally counterintuitive, but I can’t doubt my own experience. When I first got certified I bought the Mares Raptor split fins. I hated them but since they were the first pair of fins I had ever owned, I thought that I just hated fins period as opposed to hating split fins (through salespeople and magazine reviews I was so convinced that splits were inherently amazing that I thought “man, if I don’t like these fins, I would really HATE paddle fins). Anyway, after about 15 dives I really didn’t look forward to diving at all because I was having such problems with control, propulsion, and knee pain (I didn’t have any knee-pain prior to diving). So I finally did some research online and found that there were a number of divers who complained about propulsion/maneuverability issues with splits, and I decided to give some paddles a try; I purchased the Avanti Quattros. What an immediate difference! No propulsion issues, much-improved control and greatly-lessened knee strain (in part due to using my knees less since I could frog-kick). Quattros kept me diving; if I hadn’t have changed my fins I may have ended up quitting.
So I used the Quattros for about 90 dives…definitely thought/think they are an excellent fin, but I felt like a shorter/stiffer fin would offer more power and more precision; but I was worried that a stiffer fin would be more difficult to kick, more fatiguing, and more taxing on my knees. After tossing the idea around for a while and looking up various reviews, I finally purchased the Hollis F1’s. Wow…what a great fin. For typical up/down/up/down kicking they are so-so, but for frog kicks, helicopter kicks etc. they are fantastic. For frog-kicking, not only were they easier to kick than the Quattros, but they also offered more propulsion. I noticed virtually NO knee fatigue with the F1’s as opposed to moderate fatigue with the softer Quattros and major knee-fatigue with the splits. Tack onto that the huge increase in control/precision the F1’s offer, and my poor Quattro’s have been relegated to the “spare” section of the garage :depressed:
So back to my original point; this seems counterintuitive, but I have noticed LESS joint-pain/fatigue with STIFFER fins. Not exactly sure what to attribute this to…part of it likely has to do with the vents on the F1’s. Part of it also likely has to do with the fact that I used my knees less and my ankles more with Quattros and F1’s (no, my ankles don’t hurt now!) But I think a lot of it has to do with the stiffer fins doing what I want…I’m not frustrated trying to get the F1’s to do this or perform that way; they simply do what I want. I want good propulsion-done, I want to rotate-cool, I want to position myself upright-easy. I know what I want the fin to do, and the fin will do it; so there’s no frustration involved in the movements.
So, this thread is not intended to be “splits Vs. paddles” or “splits suck” or “Quattros Vs F1’s” or anything of that nature…I fully accept that different people have different preferences. But I’m just curious to know if any of you have had a similar experience, where you noticed less joint-issues/fatigue with stiffer fins?
So I used the Quattros for about 90 dives…definitely thought/think they are an excellent fin, but I felt like a shorter/stiffer fin would offer more power and more precision; but I was worried that a stiffer fin would be more difficult to kick, more fatiguing, and more taxing on my knees. After tossing the idea around for a while and looking up various reviews, I finally purchased the Hollis F1’s. Wow…what a great fin. For typical up/down/up/down kicking they are so-so, but for frog kicks, helicopter kicks etc. they are fantastic. For frog-kicking, not only were they easier to kick than the Quattros, but they also offered more propulsion. I noticed virtually NO knee fatigue with the F1’s as opposed to moderate fatigue with the softer Quattros and major knee-fatigue with the splits. Tack onto that the huge increase in control/precision the F1’s offer, and my poor Quattro’s have been relegated to the “spare” section of the garage :depressed:
So back to my original point; this seems counterintuitive, but I have noticed LESS joint-pain/fatigue with STIFFER fins. Not exactly sure what to attribute this to…part of it likely has to do with the vents on the F1’s. Part of it also likely has to do with the fact that I used my knees less and my ankles more with Quattros and F1’s (no, my ankles don’t hurt now!) But I think a lot of it has to do with the stiffer fins doing what I want…I’m not frustrated trying to get the F1’s to do this or perform that way; they simply do what I want. I want good propulsion-done, I want to rotate-cool, I want to position myself upright-easy. I know what I want the fin to do, and the fin will do it; so there’s no frustration involved in the movements.
So, this thread is not intended to be “splits Vs. paddles” or “splits suck” or “Quattros Vs F1’s” or anything of that nature…I fully accept that different people have different preferences. But I’m just curious to know if any of you have had a similar experience, where you noticed less joint-issues/fatigue with stiffer fins?
