Upcoming New Fins and Fin Technologies

[danvolker]

Any dive I would have considered a Scooter for....to cruise over a large area looking for something specific...I would like the Dol-fin for.
If I was just out sight-seeing on a reef, the Dol-fin would be great.

While a helicopter turn or reverse kick , is nice in the arsenal of a cave diver, or a photographer, they did not exist in the 50's, 60's, 70's, 80's, and I don't recall seeing even cave divers doing them in the nineties. In other words, a huge number of divers had a great time diving for many decades, without these specialty kicks.

So there are specialty fins like Jetfins or F1's, that are good at helicopters, frog kicks, and reverse kicks....and horrible at flutter or dolphin kicks. And there are "specialty" cruising fins like the Dol-fins, that are for exploring miles of reef.

I don't see the horror in these becoming commonplace

---------- Post added October 12th, 2015 at 08:53 AM ----------

As a videographer, I would purposely choose a Dol-Fin to shoot :

• Dolphins, of course Because of their normal behaviors and typical speed while foraging... https://youtu.be/04rfYqs9ZSE Dolphin video I shot where Jetfins or typical reverse kick type fins would have been a massive Fail for getting ANY footage......said another way...with Jetfins NO One could get this footage...no way, no how.
• Sailfish --- https://youtu.be/wVzPTCKXrD0 Sailfish footage I shot with DiveR freedive fins...Using Dol-Fin propulsion instead would have been far superior for more and better video!!!
• Goliath Groupers......https://youtu.be/K9rDHzfj2Js clip from a program I shot on Goliaths at the wreck of the Castor...the Dol-Fins would have been perfect here, as they would have allowed me to get into position for each shot with much less use of gas, and to follow the herds of fish with much less effort. With the DiveR fins, I can get "into" a large herd, and stay with them as long as I want, but with the Dol-fins, the ease would be so much greater that I would gladly pay the difference
• Manta Rays ---- https://youtu.be/qHFkQrPtlJM Manta shows up over top of Castor wreck at 1:10 into video.....with DiveR's it was ok to catch him...sort of...with the Dol-Fin I could have gotten right up by him, and stayed with the Manta...at 100 feet deep, you can't exert, so just a small speed advantage with the Dol-Fin would have been all I needed to stay with the Manta....You can see he is just moving a lithe too fast for me with the DiveR's
• Spotted Eagle Rays.....I have plenty of these in video clips, but the Manta swims the same way.
• Sting Rays ..ditto
• Whale Sharks..... https://youtu.be/SMY9eJrp8Zw One of Jim Abernethy's friends shot this....I was not on the dive.....I will be getting my own Whaleshark footage in Belize very soon The speed they swim at would be comfortable with a Dol-Fin
• Cuberra Snappers ( large ones can have personalities of a sort, and will often interact on an extended dive, so to speak). I don't have any footage handy....Sorry
• Mola Mola.... https://youtu.be/JqYdboC55dI I shot this with doubles, as it is around 210 feet deep ..Around 2:05 in to the video, Action I see in the corner of my eye, gets me heading quickly to a Mola Mola about 80 feet off the side of the ship. My DiveR's got me part way there, but they could not move me with doubles on, fast and efficiently enough...so I never got the footage I would have wanted. With the Dol-Fin on, it would have been easy to reach the Mola Mola, without a big increase in breathing rate. On a wreck like this..the Ande....my interest is in filming cool marine life on and around the wreck. Any time I have penetrated into wrecks like this, is has been a profound waste of time...little to see inside, it's all been stripped by other divers, and you waste massive amounts to time to see nothing.....but hey, if you need to use a reverse kick to justify the purchase of a Jetfin or F1, then this is the place to knock yourself out. I would rather see the marine life. Everyone has a right to see what they want to see, and the guys doing the technical penetrations, are EXACTLY as right to enjoy this, as I am to enjoy the large marine life outside the wreck.

I could go on ad nauseum with this, but I think the point is made that divers do not need to be plankton....we actually CAN get around at the speed of cool marine life, to commune with them..and why shouldn't we? This is the Tao of the Dol-Fin

 

[Centrals]

Hi Dan,
What kind of fin would you recommend for shooting pygmy sea horses?

---------- Post added October 12th, 2015 at 09:36 PM ----------

Hi Dan,
What kind of fin would you recommend for shooting pygmy sea horses?
"Tao of the Dol-Fin". What is your definition of "Tao" in this case?

 

[The Chairman]

Here's an interesting fin concept: Foldable. Exofin

 

[danvolker]

I would say using a small scaffolding like 4 leg tripod, that can hang the camera and shoot...and can be picked up and shot with if any movement occurs...
fins should be jets, F1's, Excellerating Force Fins, or ALMOST ANY FIN, provided the diver is skilled with them. If you don't need to kick, the fin choice is not too important

Silting the shot up would be the worst problem I can imagine, so each diver doing the pygmy shoot, will need to figure out which fins are the easiest for them to NOT silt with.
For that matter, I have seen divers that use large scaffolds, that even allow the diver to hold on and support themselves on the scaffold....the 4 legs penetrate into a muck bottom, hopefully in non-Live areas, and support the camera and diver without disturbing the life around it.
This is not my area of interest....Though my wife Sandra LOVES shooting these little guys....and when I'm with her, with DiveR's ( or if I had a Dol-Fin on), I would just be hovering nearby a few feet off the bottom, waiting for her....as usual

One of Sandra's photo subjects fairly comparable to your search for Pygmies..
https://www.facebook.com/WILD.DIVIN...0.1444657575./683041308419319/?type=3&theater

 

[danvolker]

Here's an interesting fin concept: Foldable. Exofin

As I love checking out new fins, I found that interesting....it appears that their "niche" is creating a fin that can be folded down to fit in baggage or small inflatable boats more easily? and that performance may be comparable to split fin designs?
I don't speak that language, so I don't know what they are saying, and the videos I termed to watch are not being allowed to be played in the US...which is very STRANGE!!
Pete, what is your thinking on the niche of this fin?

---------- Post added October 12th, 2015 at 09:56 AM ----------

Hi Dan,
What kind of fin would you recommend for shooting pygmy sea horses?
"Tao of the Dol-Fin". What is your definition of "Tao" in this case?

Sorry

"The WAY of the Dol-Fin"

Now I need to make the movie

---------- Post added October 12th, 2015 at 10:23 AM ----------

If you're interested in solely swimming forward with zero ability for independent control of your legs, sure. Myself, I like to do things like helicopter turns, back kicks, etc. If all I ever wanted to do was swim straight, they'd be worth a look.

This was an important point you raised, and in fact, I have exactly the right video to show a scuba diver doing pretty much all the turning and controlling most divers would consider or want to do, on a typical reef dive in a place like this...

The video begins with a freediver, but then shows the scuba diver ( actually Ron), starting at around 30 seconds into the video...as you watch him, he does 180 degree turns with currents to contend with, and easily makes course changes ( turns) that are actually far beyond what most scuba divers could do with scuba fins, because his propulsion is so efficient, that he can get anywhere better than most divers....which only makes sense, because most bottle nose dolphins are quite a bit better in the water, than even Jarrod Jablonski or George Irvine, at the top of their game

When a dolphin wants to investigate something small and stationary on the bottom...which they do constantly--they are very good at this, and they do not struggle at this because they don't have two legs/two fins.

What You are asking, is EXACTLY what I was wondering when Ron first let me try the Dol-Fin in Palm Beach. Intuitively, I was sure it would be horrific to have no ability to helicopter around.....But just as with Dolphins and their ease of spinning around and doing anything they want, after a day with the Dol-Fin wing on, about the only thing I would not do with them, would be "tight penetration diving".

See:
[video=youtube;AmT-KwGtri0]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AmT-KwGtri0&[/video]

 

[REVAN]

Here's an interesting fin concept: Foldable. Exofin

Cool idea; bad name, I think. I don't see the connection to "Exo" in the design. It's a niche product for those who might need a swim fin but aren't willing to dedicate the space to have them around. Many years ago I had a dream where I was using fins a little like this; fiberglass poles with a sail billowed between them. It was a fun dream!

 

[The Chairman]

As I love checking out new fins, I found that interesting....it appears that their "niche" is creating a fin that can be folded down to fit in baggage or small inflatable boats more easily? and that performance may be comparable to split fin designs?
I don't speak that language, so I don't know what they are saying, and the videos I termed to watch are not being allowed to be played in the US...which is very STRANGE!!
Pete, what is your thinking on the niche of this fin?

I'm not real sure if these are acceptable or not in the water. I'll tell you if I ever get a hold of a pair to try. They might (might, mind you) be a good frog kicking fin. Thin at the foot and wider out gives a lot of control. I don't even think they need any fabric except for 8 inches on the very tip of the fin for that. The natural flex in the fabric might make these very interesting in that regard.

 

[REVAN]

Dan,

That last video you posted is one of my favorites. Well done!

One question though: Why are your videos nicely embedded in the forum, but when I post a video here is only display's the link instead of embedding the video. I'm using the insert video button in to toolbar and pasting the YouTube "Share Link" inside it, but that doesn't seem to be enough to embed the video. What am I missing?

 

[danvolker]

Dan,

That last video you posted is one of my favorites. Well done!

One question though: Why are your videos nicely embedded in the forum, but when I post a video here is only display's the link instead of embedding the video. I'm using the insert video button in to toolbar and pasting the YouTube "Share Link" inside it, but that doesn't seem to be enough to embed the video. What am I missing?

What I do, is paste the SHARE link from YouTube into the video embed box on SB....then submit the post....at which point I just see a link...which I dont want...so then I click on that link, and the resulting youtube video has this url that goes on with this FEATURE VIDEO junk....so here you take that url, and delete the end of it all the way back to the ampersand & that is before Feature....
Then you copy just this that is left, back in to the video embed, over the previous on in EDIT POST.

 

[REVAN]

Testing the video:

[video=youtube;aCN5TT-9Vjk]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aCN5TT-9Vjk[/video]

How about that... It works!