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Stefan, At 10:02 12/02/2001 -0800, you wrote: > Ok this is probably gonna get me hurt but... Has anyone thought about >the natures wing, i.e. scubapro twin jet fins or Apollo bio fin for DIR. I ask >because I recognize that many of us (like me) do not have scooters and the test >numbers showing better efficiency sound encouraging. Do these work for frog >kicks? Could they be used for tech. and not cave or cavern? Personally, I don't really care too much what advertorials and glossy adds say about relative performance. What I look for is a tough reliable fin that works for a range of fin strokes. In most diving I do I have to fin really slow anyway so folks can keep up (not that I'm usually in any hurry to get around that is, I'm a photographer :-), the objective is to have a nice relaxing, enjoyable dive and see heaps of interesting stuff. As a rule I plan dives to avoid strenuous swims. Recognising there is always the possibility things don't go to plan dictates physical fitness and equipment that's tough and reliable with low drag and entanglement risk. The big problem with most fins these days IMHO, and this includes the bio fins and all clones. They all have those so called quick release straps (with the plastic clips or some other nonsense) and no way of attaching proper fin straps (that I can see). Had a guy on the weekend loose a fin with this sort of attachment, he went rocketing to the surface before I could grab him (luckily not hurt). He got upside down and drifted up a bit retreiving the fin, didn't think to dump air and couldn't swim himself down with just one fin. I've seen a number of these straps fail in some way underwater (plenty of failure points to choose from) or cause great problems donning or doffing on beach entries. They are an entanglement risk and don't solve the problem they proport to (ie. I can don and dof my stainless spring straps faster than anyone with the so called "quick release" straps). They are a gimic and a way of selling more expensive/complicated looking fin straps. Even if there was some way of attaching proper fin straps I personally like more rigid fins anyway. I don't think the finning stroke of bio fins, etc would suit me either. I like to vary my stroke and use slow kicks. Cheers, Simon Simon L Hartley RSM Website Coordinator\First Year Course Coordinator Associate Lecturer School of Resource Science and Management Southern Cross University P.O. Box 157 Lismore NSW, Australia 2480 Ph: (02) 66203251 or (61 66) 203 251 Fax:(02) 66212669 E-mail: shartley@sc*.ed*.au* http://www.scu.edu.au/schools/rsm/staff/pages/shartley/ http://www.scu.edu.au/schools/rsm/ -- Send mail for the `techdiver' mailing list to `techdiver@aquanaut.com'. Send subscribe/unsubscribe requests to `techdiver-request@aquanaut.com'.
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