Full foot fins and waiting in line... How do you do it?

[tarjan]

So the dive is over and you are going back to the boat. Everyone is waiting on the line behind the boat and you have on full foot fins and have a camera.

With open heels, you just take the fin off and slide your arm under the strap. With full foot fins it looks like you need a hand free, but with a camera there is no free hand. So how do you do it? Grow another arm? Add a strap or something to your bcd/webbing?

The reason is I'm considering getting a set of superchannels or volo race for tropical boat diving + travel.

 

[ibj40]

Hopefully there's a deck hand back there that you can hand your camera up to. Short of that, I'd suggest a tether for the camera, and be really careful about climbing the ladder so that you don't hang it on something.

 

[dumpsterDiver]

I hand up all my toys, then hand up my long fins, then get out of the water. Toys and full foot fins do require some additional assistance from the deckhand, but they sure are fun in the water.

 

[tarjan]

Ok, let's add one more thing in, pitching seas. You need to get your fins off before you get to the ladder because it isn't something you can hang onto nor do you want to get close without immediately going onboard.

I'm guessing the process you would use is to tether the camera to yourself, pull the fins off when you are next and wait until the person climbing the ladder is in. Then move up, feet on the ladder, grab a rung with one hand, give the fins up, then unclip and give the camera, then climb up. Or of course give something to your dive buddy who has open heels. That might also work

 

[asha]

Not full-foot-fin-specific, but: if the seas are rough and the boat is pitching, I (preferably after handing off the camera to a deckhand or someone else on the boat) get a finned foot on the ladder as deftly as possible in order to stabilize it, then worry about getting my fins off.

 

[g1138]

Ok, let's add one more thing in, pitching seas. You need to get your fins off before you get to the ladder because it isn't something you can hang onto nor do you want to get close without immediately going onboard.

The trick is to hold the ladder with a loose fluid arm. Use your arm as a shock absorber. If you hold on with a rigid locked arm then you're going to get thrashed.

I wouldn't take my fins off until I have a handhold on the ladder. In the OP's case, grab the ladder, hand off accessories, hand up fins last, then go up the ladder.

 

[cmburch]

Or hand up loose items, take one fin off, then grab ladder. Hand up fin. then take other fin off and hand up.

 

[supergaijin]

Like G1138 has said, in pitching seas, you need to hold on to the ladder as you're taking off your fins. If you take off your fins without holding on to said ladder, you can't swim to the boat.

If you have a trail line, you can use this to hold on to, but I still wouldn't take off my fins until I'm about to go up, just in case I lose my grip or I drop something underwater requiring a quick descent.

1.Hold ladder with a firm arm so that if the boat pitches, you move away from the boat.
2. Hand off accessories like cameras. (Use the DM if you're diving with one, and you think you can't do this)
3. With one hand reach down and remove fin, hand it up and repeat with the other fin.
4. Get on boat, remove reg and remove mask.

In seriously high seas I tell people to hold on to the ladder with both arms, using firm arms. I take off their fins and they're able to get up faster. It saves me time, and lessens the potential for a guest to get thwacked in the head.

Different boats may well have different techniques. Generally the guide will have the best/safest one for the given situation.

 

[tarjan]

The technique I am familiar with, in pitching seas especially, is always to remove your fins while on the tail line and not at the ladder, if you are the next person in line. If you are not next you keep your fins on so you can move if required. Once you are next, removal before getting to the ladder is required so you can pull feet onto the ladder, then grab the rungs to start moving up. Without both your feet on the ladder you could bust your face as you would have relatively little control. (unfortunately this policy was based on first hand experience for the crew)

Trying to go straight in and plant your feet on the ladder while wearing fins seems difficult as you never want to go in hands first (risk of losing teeth) and if you go foot first it seems likely that the fin tip would get in the way.

Of course all of these shore procedure discussions change when you get in the water, but still... interesting discussion.

 

[Shftrdog]

I recomend the Oceanic V-16's they have a spring strap so they are easyer to get on and off. There really is no good way with full foot fins short of growing an arm.