Sizing fins for unusual feet

[Monkey Knife-fight]

Hey i've got some pretty strange feet and unfortunately no dive shop anywhere close to try on any real fins. I wear size 10 booties but my arches are very high which gives me some very "tall" feet and they are also very wide. These chunky feet pose problems for the average fin since i'm also going to be diving most of the time with 7mm booties. I was wondering if anyone else has tall thick feet like mine who could recommend fins that fit well. Just for reference i XXL jets would probably be tall enough for me and probably wide enough (though it's close) using info from:

http://www.kidspot.org/personal/scubaboard/fincomparison.html

but wanted to look at softer (or maybe split) fins too if they even came with big enough pockets for me.

Thanks
Chris

 

[Quarrior]

Check out Turtle fins. You can drive a truck into the foot pocket.

 

[kidspot]

The XXL Jets are just slightly larger than the Turtles however the Turtles are much more flexible in the foot pocket, and may conform to a differently shaped foot better. I wear size 13 boots, 7mm with lug soles in my XXL Jets, but they also fit in the Turtles with no problem (either fin could easily take a 14-15 boot) My problem was actually finding a boot large enough to fill the foot pocket of the XXL Jets. and next time I think I'd go a larger boot (size 14 maybe) because I don't like my feet being sqeezed as they develop cramps too easily then.

Aloha
Tim

P.S. I just added some more pictures of the footpockets for comparison, so you might check out that link again - two of them are pretty clear pictures of the foot pockets side by side of all the jet fin sizes, plus Turtles thrown into the mix for comparison.

 

[DA Aquamaster]

Welcome to the tall and wide foot club. I also have size tens with high arches and excessive width that hav eto be stuffed in 7mm boots and dry suit boots.

Normally I have problems with either boots, fins or a combination of the two causing my feet to cramp. Getting the right combination is always a problem.

I prefer XL jet fins and have bene successful getting these to work with some 7mm boots and with uninsulated rubber boots in my trilam drysuit. But my new drysuit has thicker boots and my feet are back to cramping.

I also own a pair of Aqualung blades that have pockets about 4 3/8" wide as well as a pair of Mares Plana Avantis that have pockets that are 4 7/8" wide at the critical spot. Both work well with the new dry suit boots but unfortunatley really I don't like the way either fin feels in the water compared to my XL Jet fins.

I have considered ordering a pair of XXL Jet fins, but after seeing the picture on kidspot's sight, the pocket looks positively huge and may be too big.

The turtles are probably the way to go, but they would not be well received in the shop where I do the weekend tech thing.

 

[scubatoys]

If you are going to go split, I'd say the Apollo Bio Fins would be the best split as far as getting one that will fit good, since the foot pocket is very flexible and soft (all rubber). They also happen to be the best of the splits in all the tests. They do make a LL (large-large) which has the same blade size of a large, but with an extra large pocket.

 

[lostboy]

If you are going to go split, I'd say the Apollo Bio Fins would be the best split as far as getting one that will fit good, since the foot pocket is very flexible and soft (all rubber). They also happen to be the best of the splits in all the tests. They do make a LL (large-large) which has the same blade size of a large, but with an extra large pocket.

Larry,

Will the LL be a good fit for a size 14M? Thinking of moving from my older Force Fin Extra XXLs. Thoughts?

Jerry