newbs and split fins

[Bob Evans]

FireinmyBones, I always tell folks, that GOD, gave me a gift with my hands. If you use the Split fin I developed you will not burn, in fact you will follow the path of a leader, but if you go the way of the wolf then I understand what follows. May "GOD" have mercy on Mankind.

 

[WartedEmperor]

Well I think what is best for a new diver is by this rule.
Question: If you want to increase your speed do you take a bigger stride or take more steps?

If you answered stride then paddle is for you.
If you answered more steps then split is for you.

You can't really do a frog kick with split fins though.

 

[fnfalman]

You can't really do a frog kick with split fins though.

You can't do back kick but you can do frog kick just fine with split fins, but the question is why would you want to do frog kick with split fins? Please don't tell me that frog kick is the only way to go if you don't want to stir up silt. You can flick your ankles like a featherlight flutter kick with the split fins and you will go forward just fine without kicking up any silt.

 

[Ben_ca]

Why would the shop bother selling you some $70.00 paddle fins when they can sell you the $140.00 splits

The new guys should look for people who are doing the dives that you want to do in the future and see what kind of fins they are using... that should give them a hint...

(PS look somewhere outside the shop as most shop staffs are flashing the what the shop sells to try to entice you to spend more)

 

[Diver0001]

---

---

A ScubaBoard Staff Message...

cross posted threads merged

---

 

[TSandM]

I think one of the things that has made me really sad, watching new divers in the pool and in OW, is how much they struggle. Generally in BCs that don't fit very precisely, they have big problems with stability in the water, as the tank gets a little off center and wants to pull them with it. They kick and fan the water with their hands, to avoid turning turtle.

But soft or split fins don't stabilize a diver very well. They don't take the "bite" out of the water that a stiff, paddle fin does. So a diver who hasn't got the skills to balance the tank on their back (which is LEARNED) also doesn't have a good tool to regain his balance when he has lost it.

I think more experienced divers can use split or soft fins comfortably, if they choose. But the LDS habit of putting all the OW students in splits is not, in my opinion, doing them any favors.

BTW, I have taken some of these struggling divers and put them in my Jets, and had them come out of the next dive smiling and saying, "Oh, that was SO much easier!"

 

[RJP]

Well I think what is best for a new diver is by this rule.
Question: If you want to increase your speed do you take a bigger stride or take more steps?

If you answered stride then paddle is for you.
If you answered more steps then split is for you.

Here's a better rule for new - and experienced - divers:

If you responded with EITHER answer to the question posed above, you really need to ask yourself "why do you want to increase your speed" while diving?



Invariably the people who are zipping around all over the place underwater are the same folks asking how to:

• lower their air consumption
• improve their trim
• take sharper photos
• not lose their buddy
• find the cool critters
• etc, etc, etc

For every 10 questions a diver might ask in scuba diving, the most appropriate answer to 9 of them begins with "first...slow down."

 

[Reg Braithwaite]

The trouble with the advice to "try before you buy" is that when you are a newb, you haven't been taught how to use your fins properly. So you are going to like the fins that seem to feel the best when you are doing an inefficient kick, almost certainly some sort of flutter or scissor kick, likely upright in the water column.

Of course, by the time you learn to fin properly (I'm still working on it, BTW), you will now hate whatever seemed to work when you didn't know what you were doing. Therefore, my advice when you are a newb is to spend as little as possible on your fins until you have enough experience to know what to look for.

 

[Sas]

You can't really do a frog kick with split fins though.

Not true, not true at all. Now I loathe split fins, but I can frog kick in them.

 

[Eric Sedletzky]

If split fins are supposed to have all the power they claim with minimal effort and replace the paddle fins (supposedly leave them in the dust) then why aren't any world champion freedivers using them?