Swimming with Gentle Giants
I have had the great fortune to dive, train, document and interpret the undersea world with my colleague and good friend Matthew Ferraro for close to a decade. He has trained in Marine Technology at the Santa Barbara City College and after he completed his studies at Brooks Institute of Photography in Santa Barbara, California he became a part of Jean Micheal Cousteau’s Ocean Futures Society expedition team. I had a chance to ask him about his experience with Force Fin and would like to share this with the members and guests of the Scubaboard.
As Director of Photography for Ocean Futures Society, Matt has had thousands of hours underwater and has been diving for over 20 years. He dove using only paddle fins before joining Ocean Futures Society as a team member 8 years ago, but from the first day he joined the team to the present he exclusively uses Force Fins. He has used the Original, Excellerator, Foils, OPS and numerous different Force Fin prototypes. I asked him about his experience overall with Force Fin good and bad.
Most memorable bad experience: Matt told me about the time he traveled home to dive in the diverse and rich waters of Monterey California. He did not have Force Fins with him and had to use paddle fins. At this point Matt had dove Force Fins for over 8 years in all sorts of environments and diving configurations. He said that diving those paddle fins gave him the worst hamstring cramps he ever experienced and swore he would never use paddle fins again. “The design of Force Fin is just superior. It is a smart fin”
Diving off the coast of Maui Hawaii with the gentle giants of the sea. Matt and a team of filmmakers, divers and scientists documented and interacted with Megaptera novaeangliae, the Humpback Whale.
The Force Fin users were Celine and Fabien Cousteau wearing OPS , Underwater Photographer Carrie Vonderhaar wearing Excellerating Force Fin Original Polyurethane, and Matthew Ferraro using my favorite the Excellerating Force Fin Tan Delta material.
Matt dove for 2 days straight with bottoms right at 3 hours (maximum time for the CCR units they were using).
“The Force Fins were essential in our success! We were diving with big CCR units and cameras for hours underwater at a time. No foot cramps and with constant swimming for two days it was critical to have our legs and feet comfortable.”
Matt used the Tan Delta Excellerator with a hard sole boot and comfort inserts.
FORCE FIN Philosophy:
They glide and almost slide through the water then you get a power stroke with a snap and you almost snap along with power, accuracy and speed!
Mathew Ferraro
Director of Photography Ocean Futures Society
Santa Barbara, CA USA
I have had the great fortune to dive, train, document and interpret the undersea world with my colleague and good friend Matthew Ferraro for close to a decade. He has trained in Marine Technology at the Santa Barbara City College and after he completed his studies at Brooks Institute of Photography in Santa Barbara, California he became a part of Jean Micheal Cousteau’s Ocean Futures Society expedition team. I had a chance to ask him about his experience with Force Fin and would like to share this with the members and guests of the Scubaboard.
As Director of Photography for Ocean Futures Society, Matt has had thousands of hours underwater and has been diving for over 20 years. He dove using only paddle fins before joining Ocean Futures Society as a team member 8 years ago, but from the first day he joined the team to the present he exclusively uses Force Fins. He has used the Original, Excellerator, Foils, OPS and numerous different Force Fin prototypes. I asked him about his experience overall with Force Fin good and bad.
Most memorable bad experience: Matt told me about the time he traveled home to dive in the diverse and rich waters of Monterey California. He did not have Force Fins with him and had to use paddle fins. At this point Matt had dove Force Fins for over 8 years in all sorts of environments and diving configurations. He said that diving those paddle fins gave him the worst hamstring cramps he ever experienced and swore he would never use paddle fins again. “The design of Force Fin is just superior. It is a smart fin”
Diving off the coast of Maui Hawaii with the gentle giants of the sea. Matt and a team of filmmakers, divers and scientists documented and interacted with Megaptera novaeangliae, the Humpback Whale.
The Force Fin users were Celine and Fabien Cousteau wearing OPS , Underwater Photographer Carrie Vonderhaar wearing Excellerating Force Fin Original Polyurethane, and Matthew Ferraro using my favorite the Excellerating Force Fin Tan Delta material.
Matt dove for 2 days straight with bottoms right at 3 hours (maximum time for the CCR units they were using).
“The Force Fins were essential in our success! We were diving with big CCR units and cameras for hours underwater at a time. No foot cramps and with constant swimming for two days it was critical to have our legs and feet comfortable.”
Matt used the Tan Delta Excellerator with a hard sole boot and comfort inserts.
FORCE FIN Philosophy:
They glide and almost slide through the water then you get a power stroke with a snap and you almost snap along with power, accuracy and speed!
Mathew Ferraro
Director of Photography Ocean Futures Society
Santa Barbara, CA USA
