Fin advice for women

[buddhasummer]

Yay! They are listed on the website as having a "small" size, so this will be exciting to try.

Looks interesting. Here's hoping the smalls are actually small. I'll wait for someone with small feet to buy them and report back on sizing. I wonder if they might come out with a small standard F1.

 

[PaloPinto]

Jetfins come in medium (which should fit a women's 7). I'm a women's 7.5 and the large jetfins are too big in the foot pocket with a 3mm soft sole boot. (This was expected; I am currently awaiting a pair of chuck taylors to try them with).

Hollis new lighter f1 fin (in grey) is supposed to come out in a smaller size, but i have no idea when they will be released. Hollis' "regular" sized F1s fit me when I am diving drysuit with DUI turbo tec boots (the ones with the kevlar sections).

Or do the chuck taylor/drysuit boots over neoprene sock method if you find a pair of fins you love but don't have the shoes/boots to go with it.

A lot of other paddle-type (i.e., non-split) fins come in smaller sizes, like the quattro or cressi frog fins.

I may have to check these out, the old F1's were too heavy for me!

 

[tbone1004]

if you're a DIR practitioner, keep in mind that you need heavy fins to offset the front heavy nature of backmounted rigs. Especially true if you're in doubles in a drysuit. F1's have two design factors that make them the best fins for backmount. They're heavy as hell, and they're actually just a really good design. Unfortunately, that first part makes them one of the worst fins for sidemount. Hollis is committed to sidemount and is focusing on that, and realize that while they are one of the larger sidemount rig manufacturers, they are selling basically no fins to that market because they suck really bad from a trim perspective. To fix that, they have to make them neutrally buoyant, and that means that while they certainly can be used for backmount, they are far from ideal.

If you need a neutrally buoyant paddle fin now, the OMS Slipstreams are the best out there for the traditional design, though I much prefer the Dive Rite XT's. The Deep 6 fins will be out soon and those should be better than the Slipstreams. Unfortunately I won't be able to dive them because they aren't coming out with a XXL for a little while, and I can only get my feet into the XL's when barefoot, same with the Jetfins and Slipstreams

 

[PaloPinto]

I'm naturally negatively buoyant (fresh water), and I use the Slipstreams mainly for travel when I'm diving wet and single tank. I do prefer a slightly heavier fin when I'm not worried about airline weight restrictions.

 

[tbone1004]

fin buoyancy has nothing to do with your inherent buoyancy, I sink as well. It has everything to do with trying to balance the moment arm of your body created by the valve and first stage *which combined weigh between 3 and 4 lbs btw*. For travel it does stink, but for primary fins at home, the extra weight really helps make trimming out easier

 

[MaxBottomtime]

 

[buddhasummer]

I'm a little surprised that the new F1s have been described by Hollis as having a "generous" foot pocket. I'd have thought that being light they were more aimed at wet diving where thin boots would be worn. Not Holliss fault but my biggest complaint about the F range is there gargantuan foot pockets, the "travel" F2s are more suited to dry boots than wet.

 

[Dive Right In Scuba.]

I just checked with our site, asked the online help person, and I got several suggestions. Here are a couple. If you go to the site and ask, you can find more.

HOG Tech 2 Fin - Dive Right in Scuba
Triton Fin - Dive Right in Scuba
Hollis F2 Fin | Dive Right In Scuba - Plainfield, IL - Dive Right in Scuba