Extreme sizing: simple rubber snorkelling fins for people with tiny or huge feet

[David Wilson]

There haven't been any new threads for a few days, so I thought I'd pass on some information I've gleaned recently while surfing the web. I've noticed several recurrent threads about snorkelling gear focusing on difficulties when locating fins in foot sizes outside the normal size range. One national standard defines the normal size range for fins as European 26 to 47, or in US terms, Child 8 to Adult 15.

In this first message, I want to concentrate on full-foot fins intended for children with foot sizes below EUR 26 or USA C8. On a German swimming website I came across the following video:
[video]http://www.proswim.de/fileadmin/videos/proswim_schwimmflossen.webm[/video]
It's also accessible from the following page: ProSwim GmbH :: 90318 Neumarkt: Filme
It would seem that nobody is ever too young to learn how to swim with fins. The video and website also recommends using fins to help with a variety of mobility and coordination problems.

The fins in question are Malaysian-made "Flipper Swimsafe" fins, which are available in EUR 22-24 (blue) and EUR 24-26 (orange), converting to USA Child 6-8 and 8-9.5 respectively. Here are static images of the fins showcased in the video:

There are three further fin models in the tiny-feet repertoire. One is the Duckshoe fin (Entenschuh in German):

They too are made in Malaysia and marketed by the German company Sport Thieme, which operates in several European countries. The size coverage is the same, EUR 22-24 and 24-26, but Sport Thieme claims that they can be worn by children with feet as small as EUR 18 (= USA Child 3) if socks are worn with them.

Another fin in this category is the Majorca-sub Dolfin fin, which is made in Greece. It also comes in sizes EUR 22-24 and 24-26:

These fins retail in several European countries.

Finally, there is the Fashy children's rubber fin,

which is made in Turkey. It caters for foot sizes EUR 21-24 (= USA Child 5.5-8) and EUR 24-26. These fins are sold in Germany and Poland as well as Turkey.

So that's my take so far on the availability of fins for people with the smallest feet. Whether such fins are always obtainable internationally is, of course, another matter. Most or all of the above fins can be purchased via Amazon.de, the German version of Amazon.com, which seems happy to sell books to all comers, whether they are residents of Germany or elsewhere. Amazon.de cannot, however, oblige its non-book retailers (including swim gear sellers) to sell internationally, which goes to show how global e-commerce can still be constrained by national borders.

Anyway, I wanted to demonstrate that fins for foot sizes below USA Child 8 do exist, even though they may not be internationally available. I'll pause there with a promise that my next message will be about snorkelling fins for foot sizes above USA 15.

 

[David Wilson]

My second posting is about full-foot snorkelling fins for giant feet, namely those sized EUR 48 and over, or USA 16 and over. I'll begin with a little history lesson. During the 1950s and early 1960s, full-foot fins were usually available in very few sizes and anybody with oversized feet would have found it extremely difficult to locate fins that would fit. Then, in the 1960s, the Unisuit drysuit came along, featuring boots too thick to be accommodated in normal-sized fins:

For the European market, which at the time showed a preference for full-foot fins, Cressi responded to the challenge with their "Unisuit-Fins":

These fins were billed as shoe size EUR 50-52, which is approximately USA 15-17. Cressi didn't market its Unisuit fins for very long and drysuited divers resorted to open-heel fins instead.

In the new millennium, however, simple rubber snorkelling fins can again be had in very large sizes, thanks mainly to swimmers with very large feet who need such fins for lap swimming in the pool. Perhaps the most publicised example of these giant-sized fins is Snorkel Bob's "Big Foot" for snorkellers in Hawaii:

They are sized US15-17 and are manufactured in Malaysia. Other Malaysia-made lap-swimming/snorkelling lines in giant sizes include Sprint Aquatics Floating Fins (US 15-17) and Tritan Swimtech:


The pièce de résistance among these giant-sized fins, however, is Eyeline's Malaysia-made range of blue and orange full-foots, available beyond US 15 in no fewer than three sizes: EUR 49-51 (US 16-17), EUR 51-53 (US 17-18) and EUR 53-55 (US 19-20):

Eyeline is an Australian swim gear company. The American company Water Gear has a similar fin model, but its largest size is just US 16-17:

I hope that my two postings go to show that anybody looking for simple rubber snorkelling fins in very small or very large sizes will find what they are looking for online, even though they may still experience problems getting retailers to export to them. E-commerce is still far from perfect.