What do you do when a fin goes away?

[Doc Harry]

I regularly practice with only one fin on just about every dive, so losing a fin is just a minor inconvenience for me.

My fins have spring heels. The fins are pretty tight and I have to vigorously pull off the fins. So it is unlikely that I will actually lose a fin if the spring breaks.

More likely to lose the spring than the fin. So I carry a spare spring.

 

[Lorenzoid]

Well, during my no-mask swim in Fundies, I managed to kick my fin off (it wasn't configured to be in the tightest bolt holes, and I was in touch contact/kicking both of my buddies, so lots of things happening). To make matters worse, I'd already been cramping earlier that day. So I try to signal to the instructor and my team that something isn't right with my foot. Of course, given that I'd been cramping, they assume I'm just cramping, so they stop. Only when my instructor pops up to take a peek does he realize my fin is floating away. So he goes after it, while the team is sitting there waiting, but I can't really do much other than find my backup mask and wait for the team to resolve everything else. They managed to get it back on, and we then continued on with the dive.

Bottom line is, get your team, and figure it out. Might end up being your buddy has to remain in touch contact to help you steer if you've well and truly lost the fin.

WHAT--GUE doesn't have divers carry a back-up fin?!

edit: oh, I see Searcaigh beat me to the joke.

 

[tech_diver]

In retail dive stores, shoplifting can be a problem. I've worked in a store where someone actually stole a single fin off a display, leaving the store with half a pair. I'm not sure what the theif was thinking, maybe come in later after the other fin was displayed and steal it too. I've heard it's happened at other stores as well.

There is actually a story (possibly myth or legend) that a store in this situation had a customer come in that was an amputee and only needed one fin. They had just the right product.

 

[raftingtigger]

I had a lost fin situation recently. I was diving off my 12' inflatable, anchored in about 100' of water. This was the first dive after resizing my boots (smaller) and resizing my spring straps (smaller). My buddy was finishing the last part of gearing up when I rolled into the water. Took one kick and my negatively buoyant yellow Jet Fin popped completely off my right foot and started to sink.

Since I'm not a neophyte at retrieving gear lost overboard, I had a plan.

First, I asked my buddy to hand me one of the extra dive weights in the boat.

Second, I clipped the dive weight onto my reel line and clipped the reel boltsnap to the boat and let the weight go to the bottom.

Third, I told my buddy I'd be back in a few minutes and descended along the weighted reel line to the bottom. FWIW, I dive independent doubles and am solo equipped and qualified.

Fourth, at the bottom I used the weight on the line as a pivot point and let out about 40' of line - since our viz was very good for the area. This was about the distance I could comfortably see and identify a yellow object. Remember fins don't drop straight down, they flutter.

Fifth, I started a circular line search using the weight as my pivot point.

Outcome, about 90 degrees into the search I saw the yellow fin tucked into some rocks at the far point of my vision. If the fin had been a dark color, I would not have found it on the first pass, if ever. I swam over to the fin, put it back on, and then followed my line back to the weight and then followed the line (leaving the weight on the bottom) back up to the boat. Total dive time was 6 minutes, mostly a slow ascent.

I did consider the safety risk of doing the recovery with only one fin on (which I checked was secure) and decided that since I was always attached to the boat it was acceptable. I could have waited for my buddy to be ready, but decided that would DECREASE the safety, as 1. I had never dove with this buddy, 2. They were trying a new configuration, and 3. I had reason to doubt how much they would help that day (as confirmed by our subsequent dive).

Flame all you want, but in retrospect I would do exactly the same thing again. No gear is worth my life, but I never felt any extra risk in the retrieval.
I carry a pretty good Save-a-Dive kit in my boat but haven't (yet?) started carrying an extra fin. Hum....

 

[Nick_Radov]

It all depends on the site and when it happens. More often than not I'm near the bottom and will just arm swim and kick 1 leg to get it. If it drops near the beginning of the dive while waiting at the surface I'll try and find it. At the end of the dive I'll do the same if not too deep and I have the air to find it. I normally have a spare 80 or 100 in the truck and sometimes fins. I'll go back and look for it if lost late in the dive.

This happens to you often?

 

[Chavodel8en]

I regularly practice with only one fin on just about every dive, so losing a fin is just a minor inconvenience for me.

My fins have spring heels on my fins. The fins are pretty tight and I have to vigorously pull off the fins. So it is unlikely that I will actually lose a fin if the spring breaks.

More likely to lose the spring than the fin. So I carry a spare spring.

Strap tightness can be an issue. My spring straps are generally tight enough when Im wearing my thicker, soled boots for local shore diving -- although occasionally thick kelp will grab them and slide them off. Also, I recently dived in Oahu, with smaller booties - thus, my spring straps were too loose. Giant stride, the straps would slip off (and lost a fin once - no problem, just put it on).

So I bought some bungee type straps. They seem tighter than the spring straps (I could have also bought some shorter, better fitting spring straps). I havent used them yet, but I did put them on with both types of boots and they seem snug.

 

[Landau]

While doing my dive master training I was assisting a class where a student had a fin strap snap at depth just after descent.

The fin was really loose and wobbling without the strap, so I gave him one of my fins and completed the dive with one fin while carrying the broken fin. Did mostly a one footed frog kick - two or three kicks followed by a mini turn to correct course. Also tried one finned dolphin kick which worked OK.

My air consumption on that dive was much higher than normal.

 

[Boarderguy]

This happens to you often?

Once with a broken strap. I'm prepared regardless as I dive with a small LDS in the back of my truck. Extra tanks, regs, fins, boots, gloves, computer, etc... sometimes I don't throw an extra set of Quattros (I have 3) in the truck. All the other stuff goes in before I leave my house.

 

[raftingtigger]

Once with a broken strap. I'm prepared regardless as I dive with a small LDS in the back of my truck. Extra tanks, regs, fins, boots, gloves, computer, etc... sometimes I don't throw an extra set of Quattros (I have 3) in the truck. All the other stuff goes in before I leave my house.

Small LDS, check, guess I'm not the only one. My best buddy save was when she brought her double BP/W with only a single tank. Yup, I had a spare singles BP/W in my minivan.

 

[Manatee Diver]

I regularly practice with only one fin on just about every dive, so losing a fin is just a minor inconvenience for me.

Me too!