Basic gear from mid-twentieth-century Spain: Nemrod

[David Wilson]

The second Nemrod fin model today is the Competición; Spanish, of course, for "competition". The fin in 1970:

1972

1974

Italian: "COMPETIZIONE. Disegno speciale per il nuoto veloce, caccia subacquea profonda ed immersione".
Rough translation: "COMPETICION. Special design for fast swimming, deep underwater hunting and diving".

1976

The same caption as 1974, but in Spanish.

1977

Same caption.

So the Nemrod Competición fin was a long-bladed fin with a thick centre rib on the blade for reinforcement. The design was likely Nemrod's response to longer-bladed fins emerging in Italy such as the Cressi Rondine L and the Mares Concorde to serve the competitive finswimming and spearfishing markets.

Further Nemrod Competición imagery:

As you can see, some later models came with closed toes, possibly in an effort to improve the streamlining and hydrodynamics of the fin.

Nemrod Suprema and Costa del Sol fin up for review at the weekend. Until then, keep safe, well and warm.

 

[David Wilson]

Thank you all for the likes, John, Jale and Luis.

Today's Nemrod fin models for review are the Suprema and the Costa de Sol. "Suprema" is Spanish, of course, for "supreme" or "paramount". Nemrod Suprema in 1971:

1973

So a full-foot fin available in five sizes. Light in weight with an effective blade reinforced with thin ribs. The concave-tipped design resembles Nemrod's Baleares models below:

 

[David Wilson]

Today's second fin model is the Nemrod Costa del Sol. It is named after the Costa del Sol (above, literally "Coast of the Sun" or "Sun Coast") is a region in the south of Spain in the autonomous community of Andalusia, comprising the coastal towns and communities along the coastline of the Province of Málaga and the eastern part of Campo de Gibraltar in Cádiz. The fin of that name was introduced in 1972:

1973

So another lightweight fin, this time an adjustable open-heel model with twin buckles available in a range of smaller sizes intended for women and children.

More Costa del Sol imagery:

The final two pictures show a different version of the Nemrod Costa del Sol fin, this one with several ribs on the blade, a toe opening on the foot pocket and some embossed imagery in a sea theme to appeal to children.

Back midweek for a review of Nemrod Palamos and Venturi Power fins. Keep well, safe and warm.

 

[Popgun Pete]

The last fin is unique in having inward threaded straps with locking flanges on the fin sides to engage the strap ribs, usually straps thread the other way through the buckles. Inward threaded straps don't catch on weed and other objects as you swim through them.

 

[David Wilson]

Thanks for the likes, Jale and Luis. And for the post, Pete.

Today we review Nemrod Palamos and Venturi Power fins. Palamos fins are named after Palamós (above), a town and municipality in the Mediterranean Costa Brava in the province of Girona, Catalonia, Spain. Palamos fins in 1972:

So another pair of open-toed full-foot fins in four sizes with five thin centre ribs for reinforcement on the concave-tipped blades.

More Palamos imagery:

 

[David Wilson]

Now for Nemrod Venturi Power fins. Here they are in 1973:

Spanish: "E - VENTURI POWER. Diseño especial para inmersión. Gran potencia de palada. Sus canales internos producen un 'EFECTO VENTURI' de depresión en la zona neutra de la pala, facilitando el avance. Talles 40-48. 36-42".
Rough translation: "E - VENTURI POWER. Special design for diving. Great stroke power. Its internal channels produce a 'VENTURI EFFECT' of depression in the neutral zone of the blade, facilitating the advance. Sizes 40-48. 36-42".

1974

Italian: "F- VENTURI POWER. Disegno speciale per limmersione. Grande potenza di spinta. Per la sua fabbricazione, all'interno si produce un effetto 'Venturi' di depressione nella zona neutra della pinna, che ne facilita la spinta. Taglie 40-48. 36-42".
English: "F - VENTURI POWER. Special design for diving. Great pushing power. For its manufacture, a 'Venturi' effect of depression is produced inside the neutral area of the fin, which facilitates its thrust. Sizes 40-48. 36-42".

1976

Same caption as 1973.

1979

Same caption

1980

German: "Venturi-Power. Der „Venturi-Effekt” bedeutet für den Schwimmer hohe Beschleunigung bei geringem Krafteinsatz. Es vereinigen sich die doppelten Flossenblätter mit ausbalancierter Flexibilität zu einer überdimensionalen Rückstoßkraft unterstützt durch den Wasserstrahl-Austritt. Die Perfektion jedes Jet-Systems. Mit Fußband. Ideale Flosse für Schwimmwettkämpfe und Tauchen. Größen 40-48. 36-42".
English: "Venturi Power. For the swimmer, the 'Venturi effect' means high acceleration with little effort. The double fin blades combine with balanced flexibility to an oversized recoil force supported by the water jet outlet. The perfection of every jet system. With foot strap. Ideal fin for swimming competitions and diving. Sizes 40-48. 36-42".

So an adjustable open-heel fin whose blade is designed to exploit the Venturi Effect, improving efficiency in translating effort into thrust. The German caption identifies the potential of these fins for swimming competitions as well as diving.

More Venturi Power imagery:

Spanish: "ALETA 'VENTURI - POWER'. Proporciona al buceador más potencia de avance con menos batimientos. El sistema Venturi, por depresión en los canales que dicho modelo incorpora, produce un efecto de retropropulsión que facilita el deslizamiento y ahorra la fatiga. La aleta creada para el auténtico profesional de la inmersión".
Rough translation: "'VENTURI - POWER' FIN. Gives the diver more forward power with less flapping. The Venturi system, through depression in the channels this model incorporates, produces a retro-propulsion effect that facilitates sliding and lessens fatigue. The fin created for the true professional diver".

At the weekend we shall move on to Nemrod's Venturi Delfin and Pro Royal fins. Until then, keep safe, well and warm.

 

[Popgun Pete]

My dive buddy had a pair of those and I doubt the venturi channel did much. I could easily keep up with him with my Farallon fins and they had no vents at all. My job was washing the dive gear out at the end of the day and working them up and down in the big wash tub I could see no jet effect at all. They were thick fins and had strong side ribs and that in my opinion produced their performance.

 

[WeRtheOcean]

They are among the commonest Nemrod models available nowadays on auction sites.

I do wonder, though, whether the relative frequency of a given model in any way correlates with its superiority. In these histories, we see features come and go, each one touted in its time as an improvement. And yet if a given feature from back then is not found in today's models, that raises questions about whether it really was an improvement after all. Are today's models objectively "better" than older models? Or is it a matter of what is in vogue? Given the choice between vintage historic fins from an auction or the latest fins at your LDS, which would you be more likely to choose?

 

[Popgun Pete]

Marketing people are interested in having some feature to sell, whether it is a real improvement or not. Colour became a big thing in diving after years of black and blue which was when most dive gear was rubber. A lot of early fin designs were based on rubber, but once plastics arrived they could do a lot more with the fin shape and the buckle systems. When open heel fins became the thing after full foot fins had held sway as the best fins to use divers were more likely to wear hard sole boots and that meant strap fitting and removal methods developed. We went from simple hinged metal buckles to press tab plastic buckles to swivelling buckles and detachable buckles and that decided how the fin was moulded. Vents have come and gone and holes have appeared as apertures many of which are just appearance features. You only move forwards in the water with the water you push backwards, not up and down.

Fins wear out as the material degrades in rubber fins, so if you want an old style rubber fin then buy new ones as the old fins go soft, if they are still available . Different fins suit different people, so a fin that someone declares as great may not suit someone else. Leg length, leg strength and diver bulk are factors in what determines the effectiveness of fins. Durability is another factor, some fins have hinge points built in which were avoided like the plague in the past and some of these fins will break once the material’s fatigue life is reached. Once scuffed up they may be discarded before this happens.

 

[David Wilson]

Some excellent points about fin design and development made by Pete and WeRtheOcean. I'm an "if it ain't broke, why fix it?" sort of person, which is why I've never seen the point of abandoning the full-foot all-rubber type of fin I dived with as a young man in the 1960s, because they still do what they are supposed to do as well as remaining the go-to design in Japan, where people don't think something's better just because it's new.

When it comes to new features in fin development, manufacturers like to emphasise how "scientific" an innovation is, when the change they have introduced may have more to do with the bottom line, the latest moulding machinery fed with thermoplastic elastomer pellets and churning out more "pieces" per hour than the older, slower presses that moulded and cured blanks of raw natural rubber and required skilled input by human operatives.

Fashion also plays a part in all this, getting the TPE+plastic composite fin bandwagon rolling in the 1980s in Western Europe in a vain endeavour to obliterate completely all-rubber fin manufacture. Fortunately for me, and for anybody else preferring their fins to be still made the way they used to be made, there remain a few manufacturers in the Americas, Europe and the Far East who will satisfy that demand.

From my perspective, change brings variety in the evolution of diving equipment and hence choice, but not necessarily improvement, whatever manufacturers like to say about their use of "space-age materials" to "revolutionise" gear performance or aesthetics. What I object to is the total removal of choice when a manufacturer moves entirely into synthetics, ceasing to use natural materials in the production of fins, masks and snorkels.

The proof of the pudding is in the eating, and each end-user should be the one to make any judgement of "superiority", not the manufacturer.