Scuba with freediving fins

[tomfcrist]

My preferred “fins” for heavy current....

 

[IncreaseMyT]

Well I guess you sure could use them in that manner but thats not what they are intended for and they def wouldn't be that efficient. I am unsure why everyone is fighting this so hard its common sense.

Basically you are trying to convince me that I should just have one speargun, a huge 60 inch sub and just use that the whole time. Just shoot snapper with it?

Or would it be more beneficial to have a smaller gun for smaller fish?

Its the same thing with fins, your trying to use a sledge hammer on a roofing nail. Can it be done? Certainly, is it overkill? Absolutely.

 

[stuartv]

Well I guess you sure could use them in that manner but thats not what they are intended for and they def wouldn't be that efficient. I am unsure why everyone is fighting this so hard its common sense.

Basically you are trying to convince me that I should just have one speargun, a huge 60 inch sub and just use that the whole time. Just shoot snapper with it?

Or would it be more beneficial to have a smaller gun for smaller fish?

Its the same thing with fins, your trying to use a sledge hammer on a roofing nail. Can it be done? Certainly, is it overkill? Absolutely.

Being overkill in NO WAY means that they are less efficient. They are still more efficient. And, thus, less tiring - if used properly. It IS common sense.

 

[IncreaseMyT]

So the sledge hammer for the roofing nail is not less efficient than a 25 ounce hammer?

Free dive fins are not more efficient than paddles on a small reef dive when your staying within a couple hundred feet of the boat. So there is really no point in arguing it.

 

[IncreaseMyT]

If you were spearfishing that reef then yea cause your getting down there and swimming around looking for fish to shoot, and if not why would you stay down your out? Your trying to cover ground.

But if your planning a dive and your going to spend an hour on that reef that close to the boat, what would make you think free dive fins would be more efficient?

Guessing off the top of my head I bet the force is 3-5 times greater to kick the free dive fin.

 

[stuartv]

So the sledge hammer for the roofing nail is not less efficient than a 25 ounce hammer?

Free dive fins are not more efficient than paddles on a small reef dive when your staying within a couple hundred feet of the boat. So there is really no point in arguing it.

Yes, a hammer that drives the nail the whole way in one blow is more efficient than one that requires 3 or 4 whacks.

Why do you think that the distance you are swimming changes the efficiency??

Efficiency (for fins) means you exert a certain amount of energy and a more efficient fin pushes you further. The corollary is that if you are moving 1 foot, a more efficient fin means you exert yourself less to move that distance.

A freediving fin is more efficient whether you are staying close to the boat of fighting a current for 200 yards. More efficient is more efficient, period. And, it is axiomatic to the definition of "efficiency" that more efficient means it requires less power to accomplish the same amount of work.

 

[IncreaseMyT]

Yes, a hammer that drives the nail the whole way in one blow is more efficient than one that requires 3 or 4 whacks..

But you used like 50x the energy you needed to. The idea when diving (sightseeing) is to conserve energy.

Yes the free dive fin pushes further, it requires a lot more energy. But what if you don't need to go far?

 

[tomfcrist]

This conversation reminds me of when Dan Volker was on the board....

 

[ronscuba]

But you used like 50x the energy you needed to. The idea when diving (sightseeing) is to conserve energy.

Yes the free dive fin pushes further, it requires a lot more energy. But what if you don't need to go far?

By all means every diver should use whatever fin they feel is best for their kind of diving.

I prefer to flutter kick because it fits my type of diving and I like having the ability to cover distance if needed. Fins come in all different kinds of stiffness. This is true for open heal scuba fins, closed heel fins, free dive fins. Because I prefer to flutter kick, all my fins, open heal, closed heal, free dive, all are on the soft side.

A softer fiberglass blade free fin does not need a lot of energy. I can flick my ankles and cover more distance in less time than scuba divers doing frog kicks in their stiff blade scuba fins. Energy expended is minimal.

Any fin that is stiff will require more energy to flutter kick. Plastic free dive fins tend to be stiff, so in that case, yes I agree that fin can require more energy than a softer scuba fin.

 

[stuartv]

But you used like 50x the energy you needed to. The idea when diving (sightseeing) is to conserve energy.

Yes the free dive fin pushes further, it requires a lot more energy. But what if you don't need to go far?

I'm done. Get back to me after you take some physics and engineering classes and learn the actual definitions of the terms work, power, and efficiency.