TN Traveler
Contributor
Several months ago, I sent Dan a set of the early Hockey Fins for his evaluation and for him to use for Demos for those wanting to try them at BHB.
What follows is his write-up (since he is still banned from ScubaBoard):
Force Fin…The Hockey Fin…
By Dan Volker
South Florida Dive Journal www.sfdj.com
First, I would rename this fin the Force Precision Fin….Precise is the word that comes to mind when you use this fin. When you want something very specific in your forward movement, back kick, helicopter, or just very precise speed and movement, these fins rock. If you want speed, they are very efficient, far more so then jet fins or conventional Scuba fins. I feel the Extra Force Fins or the Excellerating Force fins would have the edge on a high speed long distance endurance contest, due to the hydrodynamic funneling and assistance of the Whiskers those fins use – but for 98% of the dives you will do, this distinction won’t really be relevant, and not if ABSOLUTE CONTROL is what you want from a fin.
If you know me, or have read my posts on rec-scuba in the old days, or on scuba board in more recent years, you know I enjoy using the biggest and stiffest carbon fiber composite freedive fins for my open water reef dives in big Palm Beach currents. But when I do wreck dives, with penetrations, I don’t want the freedive fins, and go instead with the Excellarating Force fins with big whiskers set to maximum flow. These provide almost the speed potential of the freedive fins, and far more maneuverability in tight quarters and low overheads. Compared to traditional scuba fins like Jetfins, the Hockey’s ( Precision Force Fins), the Extra Force Fins, and the Excellerating Force Fins are all fast and efficient much more like the carbon fiber freedive fins. When most divers think of freedive fins, they think of crazy huge fins they would be afraid to walk in, two to three times the length of their scuba fins, with price tags in the $400 to $700 range….If that was not enough to keep most scuba divers away from freedive fins, you have to learn a different technique to kick them—so you are back to learning how to swim all over again These high end Force Fins are a fantastic compromise….they are shorter then jetfins, they are so much more efficient than jet fins, that a Freedive fin wearing diver and his evil twin with the Excellerating Force Fins or other high end Force fins on, would swim at comfortably similar speeds. This is an amazing feat, since you can’t pair a jetfin wearing diver with a freedive fin wearing diver without the freedive fin wearing diver constantly having to stop and wait for this slowpoke that he would never want to be buddied with again. As to the learning curve, just like with hi performance Snow skis, when you get to high performance gear, there is a “best way” to kick, and it is unlikely the mediocre scuba fins most divers have used, would have them kicking exactly the way you will want to kick these high performance Force fins. But a few dives with them and intuitively, you should feel what works best. I imagine there are some videos that show the kick style optimal for these Force Fins, and if not, I will go out and shoot a few for YouTube
The Hockey/Precision Force Fin back kicks so fast you can back up faster than some divers will swim forward. The frog kick is smooth and feels wonderful. Flutter kick and modified flutter are perfect, and they even do Dolphin kick well, though you need the ankles of a cyclist to handle the downward thrust your entire body can produce with a spine involved dolphin style kick in these fins—the thrust is huge, and blast you, with each downward thrust. The upward thrust is significant, but does not work your hamstrings too hard—this is important as few divers want their hamstrings worked hard in the dolphin kick. If I wanted to keep up with a whaleshark, a pod of bottlenose dolphin, or stay with a big group of Goliath Groupers on the move, most likely I would be dolphin kicking the Force Fins, using the whole body technique.
What follows is his write-up (since he is still banned from ScubaBoard):
Force Fin…The Hockey Fin…
By Dan Volker
South Florida Dive Journal www.sfdj.com
First, I would rename this fin the Force Precision Fin….Precise is the word that comes to mind when you use this fin. When you want something very specific in your forward movement, back kick, helicopter, or just very precise speed and movement, these fins rock. If you want speed, they are very efficient, far more so then jet fins or conventional Scuba fins. I feel the Extra Force Fins or the Excellerating Force fins would have the edge on a high speed long distance endurance contest, due to the hydrodynamic funneling and assistance of the Whiskers those fins use – but for 98% of the dives you will do, this distinction won’t really be relevant, and not if ABSOLUTE CONTROL is what you want from a fin.
If you know me, or have read my posts on rec-scuba in the old days, or on scuba board in more recent years, you know I enjoy using the biggest and stiffest carbon fiber composite freedive fins for my open water reef dives in big Palm Beach currents. But when I do wreck dives, with penetrations, I don’t want the freedive fins, and go instead with the Excellarating Force fins with big whiskers set to maximum flow. These provide almost the speed potential of the freedive fins, and far more maneuverability in tight quarters and low overheads. Compared to traditional scuba fins like Jetfins, the Hockey’s ( Precision Force Fins), the Extra Force Fins, and the Excellerating Force Fins are all fast and efficient much more like the carbon fiber freedive fins. When most divers think of freedive fins, they think of crazy huge fins they would be afraid to walk in, two to three times the length of their scuba fins, with price tags in the $400 to $700 range….If that was not enough to keep most scuba divers away from freedive fins, you have to learn a different technique to kick them—so you are back to learning how to swim all over again These high end Force Fins are a fantastic compromise….they are shorter then jetfins, they are so much more efficient than jet fins, that a Freedive fin wearing diver and his evil twin with the Excellerating Force Fins or other high end Force fins on, would swim at comfortably similar speeds. This is an amazing feat, since you can’t pair a jetfin wearing diver with a freedive fin wearing diver without the freedive fin wearing diver constantly having to stop and wait for this slowpoke that he would never want to be buddied with again. As to the learning curve, just like with hi performance Snow skis, when you get to high performance gear, there is a “best way” to kick, and it is unlikely the mediocre scuba fins most divers have used, would have them kicking exactly the way you will want to kick these high performance Force fins. But a few dives with them and intuitively, you should feel what works best. I imagine there are some videos that show the kick style optimal for these Force Fins, and if not, I will go out and shoot a few for YouTube
The Hockey/Precision Force Fin back kicks so fast you can back up faster than some divers will swim forward. The frog kick is smooth and feels wonderful. Flutter kick and modified flutter are perfect, and they even do Dolphin kick well, though you need the ankles of a cyclist to handle the downward thrust your entire body can produce with a spine involved dolphin style kick in these fins—the thrust is huge, and blast you, with each downward thrust. The upward thrust is significant, but does not work your hamstrings too hard—this is important as few divers want their hamstrings worked hard in the dolphin kick. If I wanted to keep up with a whaleshark, a pod of bottlenose dolphin, or stay with a big group of Goliath Groupers on the move, most likely I would be dolphin kicking the Force Fins, using the whole body technique.
