Dan Volker's Hockey Fin Evaluation

Please register or login

Welcome to ScubaBoard, the world's largest scuba diving community. Registration is not required to read the forums, but we encourage you to join. Joining has its benefits and enables you to participate in the discussions.

Benefits of registering include

  • Ability to post and comment on topics and discussions.
  • A Free photo gallery to share your dive photos with the world.
  • You can make this box go away

Joining is quick and easy. Log in or Register now!

TN Traveler

Contributor
Messages
1,552
Reaction score
455
Location
Knoxville, TN; St Croix, USVI
# of dives
500 - 999
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.
 
Hi @TN Traveler,

I reviewed the Excellerating Force Fin vs. the Dive Rite XT last summer Excellerating Force Fins vs. Dive Rite XTs when Dan Volker lent me his pair. The XTs were superior with flutter kick, and much superior in alternative kicks, frog, helicopter, and back. I may not have had sufficient time to modify my kick styles for the Force Fins. It sounds like the Hockey fins may be more suitable for alternative kicks. Perhaps I can arrange to borrow them from Dan to give them a try

Good diving, Craig
 
Is Bob releasing Hockeys in the near future?
 
Additional Dan Volker Comments:

Since I can't post comments to scubaboard...it would be worth answering the guy that tried the Force fins but liked his XT fins more...the issue here, is that Force Fins really do have their own "Optimal Kick Shape" , cadence, and you have a neuromuscular adaptation that must occur before they can be optimally experienced. This could be said of nearly all high performance fins, and the opposite of this is typical soft and floppy split fins, that are so floppy that almost any kick shape moves you forward...and the problem here, is that since you rarely know when you are doing a kick incorrectly, it is hard to learn to kick better. And there is the other category of fairly decent fins that your present kick style just happens to be fairly close to.... The point I care most about, is that if I see my evil twin could do something with a hot performance fin that I can't, I would want to learn what I am not doing, get it right, and then gain the benefit. The Precision Force Fins are worth the 3 or 4 dive days to gain the neuromuscular adaptation required to do things most divers could not imagine.

Disclaimer: These are Dan's comments, not mine - I am only passing them on. :)
I fully admit - I am a Hockey Fin lover and advocate - I have had them since they first were developed - but I cannot claim to have tried enough other fins to provide the kind of analysis that Dan does.
 
Is the reverse kicking same technique as in jetfins? I have tried to reverse in Pros, but the sides are too sharp.
 
Back kicks and Frog kick are much more efficient in the Hockey than it is in Jets. Hockey Force will load up and snap. simple, smooth, comfortable.

When I asked Bob to modify the Excellerator I didn't realize what a great thing he would create. It was a modification to make it better for Underwater Hockey, maneuverability, turning, acceleration and control all had to be there and in a big way. Even though I was planning it for powerful moves, I didn't realize how good it was going to be for fine control work as well. I love this fin and cannot wait to get a pair in Yellow (XXXL) if I can.

If you want a pair, let Bob know. He is looking to get enough orders to run a batch.
 
I do not really understand how it can snap when doing reverse kick. The standard technique for that kick is to use the rib on the sides of the blade to create backwards thrust. In force fins the blade snaps in the other axis. Guess there is a different technique for it when using force fins. Would appreciate if anyone can teach me! :) Ok, ill pm Bob and let him know I want a pair of hockey and a pair of flying.
 
All is good.

So...when am I getting my Hockeys? I was just in the Philippines. Incredible to believe but there were three of us on one dive wearing FF Pros. Kinda felt normal just for a second.
 
https://www.shearwater.com/products/peregrine/

Back
Top Bottom