Fins for diving in a current

[Liberty01]

Hi!
I am preparing for diving in currents.
I have pro force fins and mares volo (which I have not used often so far).
I felt that my air consumption was worse with the force fins than before with big fins, and I felt, that I did not really move fast with th force fins.
What type of fin would you recommend?
Cheers,
Liberty

 

[Hank49]

You'll get a lot of opinions as to which fins is best. But in my opinion, if you need bigger or better fins than what you have, you're not diving smart in the currents. If it's really strong, no matter what fin you have, you shouldn't be swimming into it and expecting to gain ground. You'll just use your air faster and maybe get over exerted. You have to flow with it. Plan the dive around it with the boat driver so he can pick you up down current.

 

[Liberty01]

Well, of course, drift diving is often the best option, and for handling currents, good dive guides and planning are probably more important than fins.
Still, sometimes, you have to fight through a current shortly.
Cheers,
Liberty

 

[muddiver]

I use stiff fins to get the most push, but I have strong legs. As stated above, it's all about using the natural motion of the ocean to move around, unless you are doing work and you need to be in a particular location. So, I like my Jetfins, big, stiff and indistructable.

The best way to deal with current is to "crab" or use a tools to hold on to the bottom like a current board or reef hook. I do not advocate using a hook to move around a reef, that is just what it is called. For a current board you can find pictures and discription in the NOAA Diving Manual.

For short jaunt to get through a current, just stay low and close to the bottom and it will help limit your exposure to the force of the current.

 

[meesier42]

Hi!
I am preparing for diving in currents.
I have pro force fins and mares volo (which I have not used often so far).
I felt that my air consumption was worse with the force fins than before with big fins, and I felt, that I did not really move fast with th force fins.
What type of fin would you recommend?
Cheers,
Liberty

Don't worry your ForceFins will do the trick nicely, just keep yourself streamlined and you'll move along just fine. Besides they pack easier and will save you a couple pounds in your luggage. I have done plenty of dives in current with my Pro's and never had any issue. I know you don't "FEEL" like you are pushing all that hard, but you'll be moving along just fine.

 

[danvolker]

Hi!
I am preparing for diving in currents.
I have pro force fins and mares volo (which I have not used often so far).
I felt that my air consumption was worse with the force fins than before with big fins, and I felt, that I did not really move fast with th force fins.
What type of fin would you recommend?
Cheers,
Liberty

Liberty,
Diving in currents can be very easy, but there are a few things I think you should have sorted out well. First, your body needs to be streamlined, and your swimming position horizontal ( not head up and feet down like the clueless). This is a scenario where backplate and small wing is typically far better than the traditional BC. Second, freedive fins with a soft blade are going to be far more effective in swimming sideways or upcurrent, than will tradditional scuba fins ( this includes Jets or splits or Force fins). The only way this will not be true is where the diver in question has very poor fitness, and actually needs what is essentially a very small "gear". This is what splits or force fins d0--they have you kicking many more kicks per minute, with much less effort per kick--typically causing more heart rate and breathing than traditional scuba fins would, but also making it easier on weak legs.
Hopefully you are fit, and if you are actually athletic, then you will quickly adopt freedive fins and find split fin divers completely unable to keep up with you in the event it becomes necessary to swim against a strong current, or sideways to one.

Back to diving in currents, normally you try not to swim upcurrent, even if you are ultra fit--you try to plan a drift dive in all large current scenarios. When you need to go against or sideways to a big current, you try to almost scrape the bottom with your belly ( without damaging corals obviously), as this is a place where the water is slowed by drag over the bottom, and there is much less current to contend with. I have used this to beat currents in inlet mouths that are faster than some boats will go Maybe a little pulling in the sand with my hands for 5 mph plus
Getting close to the bottom also requires that you are set up to swim entirely horizontal, and are not feet down and head up like a clueless newbie.

If you have to fight currents frequently, then you shoudl take up cycling for the cardio training, and use the freedive fins alot--actually condition yourself to be efficient at high outputs of power ( most divers only have efficiency at low power outputs, as that is the only way they dive/train).

Regards,
Dan

 

[Hank49]

Liberty,
If you have to fight currents frequently, then you shoudl take up cycling for the cardio training, and use the freedive fins alot--actually condition yourself to be efficient at high outputs of power ( most divers only have efficiency at low power outputs, as that is the only way they dive/train).

Regards,
Dan

If you cardio train, basically you develop your heart and circulatory system to deliver oxygen and carry out CO2 more efficiently, but it requires an air intake (high breathing rate) to supply that doesn't it? You're right though about crawling on the bottom or finding the little swirls to get into dead zones. But sometimes it's just better to surface than to fight it under water. It 's just asking for trouble.

 

[danvolker]

If you cardio train, basically you develop your heart and circulatory system to deliver oxygen and carry out CO2 more efficiently, but it requires an air intake (high breathing rate) to supply that doesn't it? You're right though about crawling on the bottom or finding the little swirls to get into dead zones. But sometimes it's just better to surface than to fight it under water. It 's just asking for trouble.

Hi Hank,
For most divers, this topic is not practical--but for the person who originally asked this question, it would seem to be....if you do cardio training on a bike, and then do a couple of times per week in the water with fins, you can condition your propulsive muscles to deliever much greater power ( watts would be a measure of this) with less heart rate and with much less breathing rate as well...the same would happen to a cyclist that undertakes serious training---intervals, anaerobic threshold training, distance work, etc---they end up being able to create many more watts of power, which shows up as them going a lot faster, without breathing as hard, with a lower heart rate, and without using up all of their stored energy as quickly as before ( muscle glycogen). All of this is very relevant to someone who wants to be "optimal" in high currents. Most of my diving has been in south Florida, from Boynton to Jupiter--while the 60 foot reefs are known for big currents, the 140 and 280 foot reefs I also have dived extensively, have much stronger currents still...so becoming familiar with the "best way" to deal with big currents became important to me a long time ago. Long before I experienced the big currents deep, I would dive in the Palm Beach Inlet during tide changes ( staying in well beyond peak high tide) and had plenty of 5 to 6 mph currents to learn with.

In many of the reefs I dove with high current, getting to lobster you see upcurrent in a blowout, or getting to a shipwreck you just discovered--that is up or side-current to you, provideds the mandatory close to the bottom technique to succeed. As long as you have plenty of air, and you can control your heart rate and breathing, this is a great technique---if a new diver trys to fight a current on the bottom, and their breathing rate and heart rate goes up enormously, then I agree with you--this could be a recipee for big trouble. It's about training, developing the skill in places with a little more current, then a little more, etc. Baby steps. And you always need a good buddy to be doing stuff like this with you--so they better be doing the same training as you as well ...wow...this would be a great time for me to start pushing my DIR ideas

 

[LavaSurfer]

Hi!
I am preparing for diving in currents.
I have pro force fins and mares volo (which I have not used often so far).
I felt that my air consumption was worse with the force fins than before with big fins, and I felt, that I did not really move fast with th force fins.
What type of fin would you recommend?
Cheers,
Liberty

Volo's are nice fins. Try them out before you scrap them

 

[Spratman]

I agree with several of the above posts. I had a set of Blade II's and they were great. Until I lost one last Cancun trip in a ripping current. Great deal for a one legged diver...

Stiff fins, I've never used them but I understand the volo's should fit the bill.