Backfin & Fin Style

[JeffG]

Apparently, not having fins on makes it easier to extend my legs for the 'windup' without moving forward.

That means your feet are pointed the wrong way. Your toes should always be pointing straight back. (ie your ankle/foot angle is changing as you push your feet back). If you are going forward on the loading stroke that means your fins are pushing against the water.

 

[PerroneFord]

Could also mean that he is moving his fins backward too quickly. I've seen both cause forward motion during the loading portion of the fin stroke.

 

[radinator]

Could also mean that he is moving his fins backward too quickly. I've seen both cause forward motion during the loading portion of the fin stroke.

I think it is more speed than toe-pointing with me. After over a year of practice my back-kick is very reliable, smooth and effective. But I do have to remember to take the 'windup' slowly. I'm just saying it seemed a bit more effective when skin diving with no fins. (This was all done in the pool).

I recently took a video camera into the pool, and while I was shooting video I found that my back-kick was more steady than my frog-kick, at least from the camera point of view.

 

[CompuDude]

Which ones are good?

Splits are fairly popular in my area ... but I've yet to see anyone succeed at back kicking in them ...

... Bob (Grateful Diver)

That professor who did all the fin testing with splits (bio-fins, mostly) succeeded in doing a back kick. A few people here on the board, too.

I'm fairly convinced you can do pretty much any kick in all but the floppiest of splits, if you set your mind to it and really take a patient approach to figuring out the specific methods that work best with each fin.

Just because it can be done, however, doesn't mean it is optimal (or anywhere near optimal) for it. Split A may back kick far better than Split B, but neither of them would hold a candle to a pair of Jets, or most other paddle fins.

That's why I now wear Jets for any dive requiring specialized kicks, training dives, drysuit and/or doubles, etc. (which covers the vast majority of my diving these days), and have relegated my splits to occasional easy wet dives with singles (preferably in warm water!).