nerdalmighty
Registered
Hi,
Finally had a chance to put but my recently purchased Force Fin Pro's to the test and these are my first impressions.
The "Hey, those are some weird looking fins" factor, showed as soon as I pulled the fins from my bag and lasted until they went back in. Had it been a weekend dive and not so stressed, I'm sure I would have had a few people standing in line to try them out
We did a 45 minute beach dive at a maximum depth of about 12 meters (40 feet). The visibility was about 5 meters and there was a pretty decent current.
To start at the beginning, putting on the fins were probably the easiest I've ever tried. My old fins did have a spring strap, but these with a bungie was still easier to put on. Because of the 'upward design' of the fin, standing on the bottom or taking a few steps isn't a problem.
Under water, these fins definitely feel completely different. As it is claimed, you almost can't feel wearing them during use, which made me look back to check a few times during the dive. This feeling will probably take a few dives to get used to.
I've read more than once, that it is "impossible" to lose these fins even if you haven't got the heel-strap on. But during the first few minutes of my dive, my left fin did actually slip off. I was on my side signaling something to my buddy and kicking at the same time when this happended. Luckily there was another diver right behind me who saw and grabbed the fin. This was perhaps my own fault as the bungie strap hadn't been pulled up above that "strap knot" point on the back of the boot that secures the strap further, and when I did so afterwards, I didn't have any problems for the rest of the dive. I wouldn't suggest diving without the strap however, as you might lose a quite expensive fin My boots fit perfectly in the fin pocket, so I'm quite sure that misfit isnt the problem. I will probably try to tighten my bungies a bit before my next dive. Was there a instructional video for that somewhere ?
I'm a pretty new diver, but have tried learning different kicking techniques. I usually prefer small flutter kicks, which these fins are definitely well suited for and seemed to propel me pretty fast trough the water without much effort. Getting the kicking speed right, to match a more relaxed swimming pace, took a few minutes. Even when diving close to a somewhat muddy bottom, the fins didn't seem to kick up a lot of silt with this kicking style.
We were diving in a bigger group, in current and with a not too-good visibility, so I didn't have the time to try out all the stuff I would have liked, but frog-kicking and helicopter-turns seemed to work fine too, although you need to angle the fin a bit different than with a paddle-style blade and be a bit more precise, for it to work.
From the very limited experience of 1 beach dive, I so far really like the Force Fin Pro. I'm doing another dive tomorrow, this time an old 17th century navy wreck. I'm looking forward to getting some more time with these in water, as I think they need some getting used to before reaching their full potential.
Finally had a chance to put but my recently purchased Force Fin Pro's to the test and these are my first impressions.
The "Hey, those are some weird looking fins" factor, showed as soon as I pulled the fins from my bag and lasted until they went back in. Had it been a weekend dive and not so stressed, I'm sure I would have had a few people standing in line to try them out
We did a 45 minute beach dive at a maximum depth of about 12 meters (40 feet). The visibility was about 5 meters and there was a pretty decent current.
To start at the beginning, putting on the fins were probably the easiest I've ever tried. My old fins did have a spring strap, but these with a bungie was still easier to put on. Because of the 'upward design' of the fin, standing on the bottom or taking a few steps isn't a problem.
Under water, these fins definitely feel completely different. As it is claimed, you almost can't feel wearing them during use, which made me look back to check a few times during the dive. This feeling will probably take a few dives to get used to.
I've read more than once, that it is "impossible" to lose these fins even if you haven't got the heel-strap on. But during the first few minutes of my dive, my left fin did actually slip off. I was on my side signaling something to my buddy and kicking at the same time when this happended. Luckily there was another diver right behind me who saw and grabbed the fin. This was perhaps my own fault as the bungie strap hadn't been pulled up above that "strap knot" point on the back of the boot that secures the strap further, and when I did so afterwards, I didn't have any problems for the rest of the dive. I wouldn't suggest diving without the strap however, as you might lose a quite expensive fin
My boots fit perfectly in the fin pocket, so I'm quite sure that misfit isnt the problem. I will probably try to tighten my bungies a bit before my next dive. Was there a instructional video for that somewhere ?I'm a pretty new diver, but have tried learning different kicking techniques. I usually prefer small flutter kicks, which these fins are definitely well suited for and seemed to propel me pretty fast trough the water without much effort. Getting the kicking speed right, to match a more relaxed swimming pace, took a few minutes. Even when diving close to a somewhat muddy bottom, the fins didn't seem to kick up a lot of silt with this kicking style.
We were diving in a bigger group, in current and with a not too-good visibility, so I didn't have the time to try out all the stuff I would have liked, but frog-kicking and helicopter-turns seemed to work fine too, although you need to angle the fin a bit different than with a paddle-style blade and be a bit more precise, for it to work.
From the very limited experience of 1 beach dive, I so far really like the Force Fin Pro. I'm doing another dive tomorrow, this time an old 17th century navy wreck. I'm looking forward to getting some more time with these in water, as I think they need some getting used to before reaching their full potential.
