The things men do....

[ZenDiver.3D]

So, I Know I bought my force fins in, what I like to refer to as, " OH MY GOD PINK!!!!!" I thought this would keep the boys from snaking my fins..... HAH! This is now typical of EVERY boat I run...

So there I was. Blazing hot day here in sunny Kuwait. 123 farenheit and a full boat of divers. As is common, I am the only chick on the boat. I am also the DM. Off we go, into the wild blue yonder..... my gear basket is in the dry area up front. We get to the site, I tie up to the bouy. Site brief. Buddy -up, gear up. I pull out my gear and start assembling. Silence. Whispers. I look up. Stares.
Them- "Uhhh, what are those?"
Me- "These are Force Fins. They are fantastic."
Them- "Hehehehehe"
Me- "OK. Wanna try them when we finish this dive?"
Them_ "Oh no. They are little and pink. Pink is gay. I'm not putting those on my feet."
Me- "OK, that's why I bought pink. So you boys would leave them alone.."
Them- "We sure will. Cause they are funny looking and gay."
Me- "OK"

Time passes, surface interval ensues..... Next conversation...

Them- "So, you were really smooth down there. That current was rough around the point.
Those funny looking fins work huh?"
Me- "Yup. Pass me a coke."
Them- "So....ummmm... could I ...uhhh. hold them for a minute??......"
Them- " Yeah, uhhh DeeDee, could I try them after him?"
Me- "Sure"

Every single dive. Every single one. They can't get them here....... I got them because I have an APO. Some of them do too. They can get them, but the shops here have merchandize right away, and they are men. Buy junk now, instead of waiting for great later.. In the meantime, they just take my "gay pink" force fins when I'm not looking. So much for pink being a deterrent....

 

[meesier42]

you know, I bought the Yum Yum Yellow for the same reason, it worked for about 5 years, when they finally got snaked, who is still promising to return them... next time we dive, of course I haven't seen him or the fins in 4 years.

 

[Blair Mott]

ZenDiver.3D
Great story!

Divers are interested in Force Fins, but I have found
that there are two interest groups of new Force Fin
users. There is a group of divers in the world who
really want to try them and they search until they can
get their hands on a pair.

The other group has an interest, but wait until they
see someone using them that they respect or when they
are in a safe environment where they feel they have
the freedom to experiment. We all have to admit there
is a lot of peer pressure in the diving world with
patches, deepest this and longest that and I believe
that sometimes that pressure effects divers decisions
on what gear they buy.

I read a lot of customer feedback sent to Force Fin
and I would have to say 65% of the people who buy
Force Fins buy them because someone let them try them
on a boat or at a dive site where people were using
Force Fins.

http://www.scubaboard.com/forums/force-fin/235539-i-look-different.html
http://www.scubaboard.com/forums/force-fin/236674-3rd-group.html

 

[mksmith713]

This thread sounds remarkably like a late night TV advertisement.

 

[ZenDiver.3D]

You know, I only bought them, because my friend Phil had them, and I played with them. My LDS owner showed up at the boat this morning, and presented me with Oh-My-God-PINK painted tanks, that he had done just for me. They match my fins perfectly! He said they were a present for me, cause he loved me and thought my fins needed some pals.

And, you know, mksmith713, I Did post it to the force fins thread..... These things are amazing in the attention, doubt, and then belief (happens in that order, when they play with them), that they get. I have some cool equipment, but they are singled out. I think it is fun. AND they got me 2 new tanks! YAY!!!!!

 

[HatchetJoe]

This Force fin thing keeps popping up, are there any scientific test done in comparison to other fins? Chart form would suffice, the scientist in me has to find out.

 

[ZenDiver.3D]

This Force fin thing keeps popping up, are there any scientific test done in comparison to other fins? Chart form would suffice, the scientist in me has to find out.

BLAIR!!!! FINDOCTOR!!!!!!!
They can help you out there. There are also some good links to information on the Force Fins website.

 

[meesier42]

This Force fin thing keeps popping up, are there any scientific test done in comparison to other fins? Chart form would suffice, the scientist in me has to find out.

Research

check out the Navy Sponsored study. I know it shows up on the FF website and all the good information has been censored, but the text that came with it from the DON is very telling. I will say, that the best fins on that test were the best 2 comparisons in the tested, only 1 of them is still in production, and it preceded the evolution of splits. although, from what I have read, other test seem to verify it, although no test that I have found to date has the comprehensive testing that is in the above study and that splits are not much different than their paddle counterparts, and no fin really stands out. Unforetunatly, that study has been censored and classified, so the actual data is very hard to come by.

another study of note is the commentary that this Jim Grier posted. He did a good job of being fair to the data and not allowing preconcived notions to control the results.

fins-in-depth-2002
although, he clearly states his testing of ForceFins was very limited and that the didn't even feel that he was able to fully capture their potential. His "ringer", an expirienced FF user, did some limited testing with him and the FF TanDelta was that divers' best fin, he was careful to note that these FF runs were not the fastest of the fins, but they were the fastest for that diver and those speeds were near the top of the charts.

my comment on his findings. I do not completely agree with his "learning curve" statement, as I think he uses it as a cop out on further testing. I agree that a "learning curve" exist, its a well known and expected event in exercise theory. But in this case, I think it is more of an "relearning curve". I say this, because when I give a competitive swimmer a pair of FF they take to them immediately, no learning curve whatsoever, the same is true for first time fin users. If you are transitioning from many other fins (say, Jets for example, not bashing just an example of a stiff paddle) you have to unlearn the habits that those others taught you, or alternately stated, relearn the kicking exercise to optimize the use of ForceFins.