Freediving fins might help

[danvolker]

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A ScubaBoard Staff Message...

This discussion has been split from another thread because it was off topic. The original thread can be found here. http://www.scubaboard.com/forums/ac...-off-indonesian-island-9.html#post7039816Marg, SB Senior Moderator

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And I will take this opportunity to say once again, use of Freedive fins could have prevented this mishap!!!!
I am wondering how many of these divers were using Split fins!!!!!

 

[highdesert]

And I will take this opportunity to say once again, use of Freedive fins could have prevented this mishap!!!!
I am wondering how many of these divers were using Split fins!!!!!

Really? You're going to turn this into a "Use split fins and die" thread? I'll tell you what ... your freedive fins, or a pair of jet fins, and probably a PPV ... would all be like pissing against the tide in the currents generated there.

Oh, wait ... dopey me! Sarcasm, right?

 

[danvolker]

Someday Sandra and I will dive BALI....when we do, I will have the Liferafts and radar flags with us--we won't TRUST these operators....but we will also have freedive fins, which will mean that the chances of normal currents being problematic are almost zero.

 

[tedshark]

And I will take this opportunity to say once again, use of Freedive fins could have prevented this mishap!!!!
I am wondering how many of these divers were using Split fins!!!!!

I freedive and have found myself in currents that take some time to get back to safety with freedive fins, I can imagine that a scuba diver with noodles on his feet is going nowhere against any current.
Scuba fins are a joke.

 

[Andy_from_Germany]

@all:
Could you please stop this ridiculous discussion about scuba or freedive fins?
After all at least one diver died here and trust me, with the currents that you can experience in some parts of Indonesia it just doesn't matter which fins you have as they are too strong to kick against for the time needed to get to safety.

Andy

 

[gee13]

I dont think given the chain of events that any type of fin would have made a difference to the survival potential of the group. Unless you have dived the area extensively and experienced surface current and swell conditions in the area then please refrain from such speculation. Ive dived Lembongan and NP enough to know that you have to have your extra senses switched on at all times and to plan dives with the DC to avoid risk conditions at risk times. The cruel irony here is that this happened to the divers at one of the less volatile sites - Mangrove. This site is generally suited for all levels and is chosen for the second dive of the day for most dayboat trips. There are many boats that take snorkellers here as well. However even with this in mind there are situations beyond control that can creep into the event chain. Who knows what the outcome would have been had there not been a freak squall at the time the group surfaced, and the boatman had full tank of fuel.

 

[acidrush]

I freedive and have found myself in currents that take some time to get back to safety with freedive fins, I can imagine that a scuba diver with noodles on his feet is going nowhere against any current.
Scuba fins are a joke.

Seriously dude, if you dive in Nusa Penida and the current starts flying, fin type is irrelevant. Does not matter if you use splits or free dive fins.

 

[danvolker]

Seriously dude, if you dive in Nusa Penida and the current starts flying, fin type is irrelevant. Does not matter if you use splits or free dive fins.

I call BS to that....we get 3 to 5 mph currents all the time in Palm Beach.....it's not like we don't know currents.....and one thing that is obvious, is that there are MAJOR differences between how divers on charter boats are able to go against currents, or crosswise to them if desired or required. Splits being the most ineffective.

If fit divers could not do a bad day with freedive fins, then normal divers could not do this on a normal day.....If you are talking 8 and 10 mph currents, then how in the he&& does a charter operator justify operating in it?

I have done lots of diving around Fiji, with freedive fins ( even left a pair for the DM when I left)....and they allowed me to do anything I wanted to, at any time, at any site.

This is a nonsense of the dive industry, thinking that all fins are equal, and that divers don't NEED to be able to have REAL Propulsion if conditions dictate it.....While fitness does play here....put a "fit diver" in splits, in a huge Palm Beach current, ask him to go sideways or up current, and he is a leaf in the wind...put freedive fins on the same fit diver...or for that matter, Extra Force Fins, and the fit diver will blast up current with no problem, or across current.
We see this all the time...fortunately in Palm Beach we have great drift boat operators, so that all these people with split fins are not going to ever need to fight a current--the boat will get them wherever they are taken to.

 

[BRT]

I call BS to that....we get 3 to 5 mph currents all the time in Palm Beach.....it's not like we don't know currents.....and one thing that is obvious, is that there are MAJOR differences between how divers on charter boats are able to go against currents, or crosswise to them if desired or required. Splits being the most ineffective.

If fit divers could not do a bad day with freedive fins, then normal divers could not do this on a normal day.....If you are talking 8 and 10 mph currents, then how in the he&& does a charter operator justify operating in it?

I have done lots of diving around Fiji, with freedive fins ( even left a pair for the DM when I left)....and they allowed me to do anything I wanted to, at any time, at any site.

This is a nonsense of the dive industry, thinking that all fins are equal, and that divers don't NEED to be able to have REAL Propulsion if conditions dictate it.....While fitness does play here....put a "fit diver" in splits, in a huge Palm Beach current, ask him to go sideways or up current, and he is a leaf in the wind...put freedive fins on the same fit diver...or for that matter, Extra Force Fins, and the fit diver will blast up current with no problem, or across current.
We see this all the time...fortunately in Palm Beach we have great drift boat operators, so that all these people with split fins are not going to ever need to fight a current--the boat will get them wherever they are taken to.

5 knots, 5.8 mph, 8 and 1/2 feet per second. How long can you swim against that?

 

[tedshark]

5 knots, 5.8 mph, 8 and 1/2 feet per second. How long can you swim against that?

Not long, but with noodles on your feet why even try.