58 years old, looking for fins to help with efficiency?

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Marty Bess

Contributor
Messages
125
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Location
Utah
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Hi all,

My wife and I are getting older at 58 and are looking for a good efficient, lightweight fin. Any thoughts/recommendations??


Thanks a bunch,

Marty
 
Here's a report on the Flying Force Fins. They are pricey, though. You might look for a pair of Force Fin Pros on eBay. You're definitely NOT going to find Flying Force Fins on eBay, but the Pro's can be found at a "reasonable" price.

Flying Force Fin Report
 
This response may not be what you are looking for, but....

I was in your position when I was a few years younger than you. It was not just my age--I had severe osteoarthritis in my right knee, cause by a series of athletic injuries during my youth. I bought a pair of fins that were supposed to do what you want--Mares Volo Power. They worked as advertised. they were easy kicking fins that propelled me along nicely

Then two things happened at about the same time. I began working on technical diving, and I got the knee replaced. The Mares Volos were a problem for the tech diving, because they are designed for flutter kicking only, and technical diving requires a lot of different kicking techniques that are best performed by stiff blade fins. I bought the fins I needed for the tech diving and kept the Mares fins for open water recreational diving. Before long, I decided that I liked the fins I was using for technical diving better for all diving, and I sold the Mares fins.

I am now a decade older than you, and I own and use several pair of stiff blade fins. Because I have to carry around heavy gear for tech diving, I make sure my exercise routine keeps my legs strong. As a result, I have no trouble with that kind of fin, despite my age, and I plan to keep it that way for as long as I can.

So my advice is don't give in to age until you absolutely have to. If you decide that for the diving you will do both now and the future the easy kicking fins are just what you need, then that is what you want. But please make your choice based on the kind of fin you need for the kind of diving you will do, not because of an assumption that you are going to be losing leg strength soon. You are far too young to give in to old age! You want your legs to be as strong as you can make them for as long as you can, because you need leg strength to continue a suitable quality of life, whether that includes scuba or not.

Do not go gentle into that good night,
Old age should burn and rave at close of day;
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.
--Dylan Thomas​
 
So my advice is don't give in to age until you absolutely have to. If you decide that for the diving you will do both now and the future the easy kicking fins are just what you need, then that is what you want. But please make your choice based on the kind of fin you need for the kind of diving you will do, not because of an assumption that you are going to be losing leg strength soon.

Also keep in mind that fins don't "make" power, your legs do. Fins only transfer it, losing more or less of it in the process. There's always a trade-off there. Force Fins are arguably the best on easy-vs-power loss, but the trade-off there is $$. Stiff blades should give you less power loss and better versatility, but will be harder on the legs. Soft floppy fins will be easy on the legs, until you hit a current and need to keep up. And so on.
 
I think @boulderjohn said it best. But I guess it depends on what you mean by "efficient". Are you wanting a fin that's easier to kick? Or one one that yields more propulsion when you kick it? It ease of kicking is what you mean then certainly a good pair of split fins, which I'd say you'd be hard pressed to find any better than the Apollo Bios. But if you want a fin that's going to give you more power and propulsion when you kick it, a good stiff blade fin will handle that job nicely and might reduce the frequency of you kicking/number of kicks, especially if you frog kick. I personally dive a set of Hollis F1's but they are fairly heavy and quite negatively buoyant. The F1 LT is the lighter version and should still provide about the same performance. I'm sure some would also steer you toward the Deep 6 Eddys or even the ScubaPro Jet fins.

I think it just really depends on what you mean by efficient. And where you dive. Split fins are great for calm waters with little current. But when you need to swim against current, blades are much better.

Hope this helps.
 
It has been said in other threads that floppiness, er, flexibility of a fin, is like the gear on a car or bike.

Stiffer fin (think high gear) means it's harder to apply power to, but to achieve a given amount of thrust it takes less movement (think fewer kicks per unit distance you propel yourself). Floppy fin (think low gear) means it's easier to apply power to, but to achieve that same amount of thrust it takes more movement (think more kicks per unit distance you propel yourself). Split fins are floppy. Freediving fins can be floppy, too, but they are longer and achieve more thrust that way.
 

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