Are split fins really that great?

[ElectricZombie]

I can't stand split fins. I owned a pair and tried them out but eventually sold them. I don't see an increase in power at all. I don't do a flutter kick and splits don't work well with anything else. I'll stick with Jet Fins.

 

[MikeFerrara]

This weekend at Gilboa my son and I ended up behind a group of divers using split fins and kicking like crazy. We were barely moving our feet and more than keeping up. My bet is that they get cramps before we do.

 

[cornfed]

MikeFerrara once bubbled...
This weekend at Gilboa my son and I ended up behind a group of divers using split fins and kicking like crazy. We were barely moving our feet and more than keeping up. My bet is that they get cramps before we do.

What do you do if you get a cramp with splite fins? If I start felling a cramp I switch kicks. Seems like this would be hard to do with split fins.

Cornfed

 

[Al Mialkovsky]

MikeFerrara once bubbled...
This weekend at Gilboa my son and I ended up behind a group of divers using split fins and kicking like crazy. We were barely moving our feet and more than keeping up. My bet is that they get cramps before we do.

Hmmm, interesting. When I switched my splits with a diver recently for one dive and used his stiff fins I didn't end up with cramps but I certainly had sore calves the next day. With the lack of resistance on splits I don't know how anyone would end up with cramps. If they are overkicking I could see ending up as a Hoover but cramps?

Long powerful kicks with splits are counter productive at the very least.

I know when I was young had splits been available I would have never used them. But at age 57 paddle fins no longer are an option for me. The splits have extended my diving days.

 

[Grajan]

I think there may be too much generalization and over-simplification in this debate.

for example the Atomic Splitfin is a relatively stiff blade and does not bend nearly as much as many of the splitfins. Probably due to this it seems as manouverable as my old Avanti's.

The feel is very different to other splitfins that I tried. So, I guess, the dominant characteristic that affects manouverability, and use with alternative finning techniques, might be relative softness rather than the split.

This would be supported by the fact that Volo's seemed to me to be the least manouverable fin.

 

[detroit diver]

Folks,

If you do the frog kick, you just don't get cramps. And you don't have to kick as hard as a flutter kick to get where you're going.

Yes, your calfs will be sore initially, but that's due to muscles that you're not used to using.

 

[MikeFerrara]

Al Mialkovsky once bubbled...


Hmmm, interesting. When I switched my splits with a diver recently for one dive and used his stiff fins I didn't end up with cramps but I certainly had sore calves the next day. With the lack of resistance on splits I don't know how anyone would end up with cramps. If they are overkicking I could see ending up as a Hoover but cramps?

Long powerful kicks with splits are counter productive at the very least.

I know when I was young had splits been available I would have never used them. But at age 57 paddle fins no longer are an option for me. The splits have extended my diving days.

Using a good modified frog will do more for you than split fins. Your legs spend most of the time doing nothing.

As in other things the idea is to work smarter not harder. IMO, buying fins with holes in em isn't the answer.

 

[PhotoTJ]

MikeFerrara once bubbled...


Using a good modified frog will do more for you than split fins. Your legs spend most of the time doing nothing.

As in other things the idea is to work smarter not harder. IMO, buying fins with holes in em isn't the answer.

Remember, what works for one of us, will NEVER work for all of us!

But boy, we sure want to convince everyone it will! (Myself included!)

I love this board!

 

[bwerb]

The argument here revolves around physics...split fins and paddles use two different methods to propel the diver forward. If you use the flutter kick with paddles...guess what, your legs will get really sore from moving such huge quantities of water. If you do to it with splits...they do what they are designed to do and propel you forward with a slightly different mechanism.

What paddle fins do a great job of is all the other kicks. A frog or modified frog can propel a diver through the water without the cramping and energy expenditure of trying to flutter with the same fin.

You can flutter in paddles and a whole bunch more. You can more or less only flutter in splits...you can do some of the other kicks physically but the design of the blade is not optimal for allowing the movement of the feet and ankles to translate into forward (or backward) movement nearly as well. The physics of what splits are designed to do is negated by the other kicks.

 

[danielle]

for me i dont really like paddle fins ... maybe its completely subconscience but my ankles always hurt after using them... i do have bad ankles thanks to my many years of gymnastics ... with split fins .. the pain just isnt there... but like i said it could be completely subconscience... i dunno.