TECreation
Contributor
Everyone knows the purpose of diving is not to see how much ground they can cover or to see who can get there first. For recreational divers it is mostly to coast along and seek out new and interesting life on the reef. For commercial divers there is often a lot of hard work involved which requires power or speed for short and, sometimes, long periods of time.They may be fine for racing in straight lines or tug of war but please clarify their suitability for the typical kinds of diving. I'm not seeing it.
I would venture to say everyone on this board has a story about how they got downcurrent of their destination and nearly killed themselves getting back or did not get back. I have heard so many stories about split fins and how they are detested by so many because they simply do not have any speed capability. Why would a diver not want to have a high speed option their fins if it did not hamper the other aspects of performance? It's insurance.
So far your votes say the most import item for fins are Power and Maneuverability tie for the most important features. That is followed by Frog Kicking then Durability. So why is it that the vote is contrary to the text being posted? In the last year I have presented the MaxAir fins to dozens of divers and most of the tech divers want to know about the power of the fins because they carry so much gear. That is why the tug of war was done. Any diver worth their salt has been able to take these fins and dive just like they used to and maneuver with ease in minutes.
Frog kicking is a stroke created to mitigate a problem caused by inefficient fins. The classic paddle fins (including Rocket, Jet, Turbo, Turtle, etc) are hydrodynamically boards on your foot and create horrible turbulence causing divers to have to raise them as far as possible from the bottom. The MaxAir has way less wake and allows much closer classic kicking so the need for frog kicking is nearly eliminated. That being said they still frog kick wonderfully but it is a modified frog kick due to the fact they connect with the water differently. Divers who choose to pretend they are swimming with boards and frog kick that way will be disappointed with these. More open minded divers who recognized the difference in how they work and adjust to the simpler frog kick have found they actually provide better, faster, and more powerful frog kicking with less effort and contortion. In short, once they are dialed in they absolute love them. I would love to take some time with any frog kicking expert to learn how it is done with the old boards and have them learn how it can be done with some real technology then video the whole thing so everyone can see the difference.
On the durability issue all I can say is these are prototypes and not made from the final production materials or production technique which will make them much stronger and durable but one pair of the most recent version has been on 60 dives and is still going strong. I fully expect these fins to last as long as any other fin on the market.
This is getting kinda long and late so I will pick up on reply's tomorrow.