View Full Version : Favorite fins for snorkelling?
Although I am not in the market for new fins at the moment does anyone have a favorite fin? Mostly I'm just curious if many have snorkelling specific fins or ones they prefer for snorkelling? Do many here have experience with free diving fins?
I am currently using a pair of Atomic Split fins that I got about a year ago for primarily for SCUBA diving. As I have mention before in recommendation threads about fins they seem to give me a bit more oomph per kick cycle without any extra fatigue. They certainly appear to give more push in pool training and have performed well in some long surface swims - Old Harry rocks back to South beach for example.
The down side is they are a bit big for pool training, I need to wear wetsuit boots with them in the pool (which I find less grippy when walking around the pool) and the heel loop catches on obstacles in training, never snagged on dives though.
My previous fins being the ubiquitous Mares Quattro's (trashed them in use) and a pair of Jets that lasted very well but I got fed up with the weight.
Anyway for pool use I've just picked up some Mares Plana Avanti HP's as they were not too pricey and much more compact, about 15%-20% less fin area that the split fins and much lighter.
One of my club colleagues has a set of big apnea/spear fishing fins which are probably have a bit more poke and we can joke about who has the bigger fins (the Atomics are slightly shorter).
A very interesting question, Andy. My own take on snorkelling fins is that there are several different types that fit the bill, not one single type. A few years ago, I went to La Jolla Cove - a popular snorkelling venue - in Southern California, not far from San Diego. Seeing so many people in the Pacific at the height of summer, I couldn't wait to share the snorkelling experience and headed to the nearest dive store where I bought a mask and a pair of generic all-rubber full-foot fins, the kind I used when I started snorkelling back in the early 1960s. I was very happy with my purchase. Some snorkellers used fins like mine, others were happily snorkelling with other types.
Judging by my La Jolla Cove experience, I would say that the following fin designs were all popular with snorkellers:
1. Fixed-heel all-rubber fins such as Churchills, which were the "original swim fins" of the United States. Nowadays they are often associated with surfing.
2. Composite fins with adjustable straps of the type associated nowadays with scuba diving.
3. Composite fins with closed heels of the type introduced by Mares in the late 1970s, e.g. Power Planas.
4. Full-foot all-rubber fins of the type associated nowadays with swim training.
5. Full-foot long-bladed fins of the type associated nowadays with freediving.
Each to his or her own. Fins are very personal items of aquatic equipment and we all have different priorities when selecting the type we want and like. Snorkelling is mercifully free of dogmatists who insist that only one type of fin will do. Sadly, the freediving and spearfishing community includes a few individuals who make extravagant claims about their own fins while feeling free to rubbish other people's different choices, citing dubious scientific evidence to support their arguments. Snorkellers don't feel the same need to justify their choice of fins, particularly as some want power, others manoeuvrability and yet others endurance as their top priority. Fins rarely deliver all three.
My favourite fins are from my fourth category, full-foot all-rubber fins of the type associated nowadays with swim training. In the 1960s when I began snorkelling, such fins were regarded as the height of luxury, and lesser mortals made do with adjustable-strap fins or, if they couldn't afford either, then a pair of foot-mangling plastic fins. I remember buying my first pair of all-rubber full-foots, Typhoon Cressi Rondines, and I could believe how comfortable they were after years of adjustable open-heel ones. Since then, I've worked on the principle of "if it ain't broke, then why fix it?" I've tried "modern" fins and always experienced disappointment with them in terms of both comfort and performance. And I'm not alone in my fin choice, read about underwater photographer Pete Atkinson here:
http://www.divernet.com/Diving_Gear/gear_features/334185/my_favourite_kit_pete_atkinson.html
I don't have one favourite snorkelling fin, I have several:
1. Escualo Clasica: a very comfortable Mexican-made all-rubber fin with a long blade
http://www.escualo.com.mx/aletas.htm
2. Eurobalco Sprint: an equally comfortable Greek-made all-rubber fin.
http://www.scubaboard.com/forums/attachments/fins-masks-snorkels/45629-what-your-favorite-fins-why-fins11.jpg
3. Alphaplastic Del'fin: comfortable Russian-made all-rubber fin, great for endurance swimming.
http://www.savasport.ru/_image/11_plavanie/01lasti/08_lasti_delfin.jpg
4. Gull Mew: comfortable Japanese-made all-rubber fin. Japan doesn't make composite fins, only fins made from traditional rubber.
http://www.canamuwhgear.com/wp-content/uploads/wpsc/product_images/mewfins.jpg
I enjoy experimenting with various full-foot fins such as these when I snorkel in the North Sea and I'm looking forward to trying out a pair of Hungarian-made Najade Standard fins, which are modelled on fins used by the East German military up to the late 1980s. They have something of a cult status in Germany.
http://najadefins.com/pics/photo/shop-pics/standard-large.png
I have an interest in the history of diving equipment and contribute to a number of vintage diving forums too.
To sum up: I love my "favourite fins" not because they're the fastest in the world, but because they fit very comfortably and match my gentle style of snorkelling now that I'm in my sixties. They're my favourites because they suit me, not anybody else, and I'm not in the business of persuading anybody else to follow my lead. I was happy to see so many snorkellers enjoying themselves at La Jolla Cove with every possible kind of fin. "Vive la différence", as the French say, "Long live diversity" and long live the World Wide Web which permits me to purchase fins of my own choice that my local dive store won't stock.
Nigel Hewitt
21-01-2012, 17:24
I bought a pair of Cressi Gara 1000s more for free diving than snorkelling. They're a bit long though.
I tend not to trundle about on the surface but like five to fifteen meters of reasonably clear water to play in. You can go like the clappers in them but they idle along on the 'no effort' setting delightfully. They are also fun, on a club pool night, for overtaking the 'hard' length swimmers who know I'm only a poor old grandfather with a heart condition (and I did that length under water).:rolleyes:
I wish I had more opportunity to take them to sea but Brighton is definitely the wrong place for that.
Thanks for the links DRW and remininding me of the 60's era kit. My first gear when I was a child in the 80's taking up snorkelling was all hand me down stuff like that, solid rubber somewhat perished blue/green fins and a high volume mask, snorkell with a pingpong ball (that had been removed). All very Thunderball. :D
I may have to find where it all went and have a retro snorkel day!
My new pool fins were quite nice, just taught my first trial snorkelling session with the club this morning. I think having simple kit might be easier to relate to students who aren't then thinking "Why's he got that and I don't?"
Nigel, all the fast swimmers are our club are the kids. Legs half as long and they still go motoring past us all. A few also swim competitively, I'm just going to have to get used to being overtaken by people 20 years younger than me. Bit like my driving.
Thanks for the links DRW and remininding me of the 60's era kit. My first gear when I was a child in the 80's taking up snorkelling was all hand me down stuff like that, solid rubber somewhat perished blue/green fins and a high volume mask, snorkell with a pingpong ball (that had been removed). All very Thunderball. :D
I may have to find where it all went and have a retro snorkel day!
My new pool fins were quite nice, just taught my first trial snorkelling session with the club this morning. I think having simple kit might be easier to relate to students who aren't then thinking "Why's he got that and I don't?"
It only seems to be in the UK that rubber fins are regarded by diving gear retailers and others as simply "vintage" or "retro". Nobody describes the ever popular Scubapro Jet Fins as such even though they've been around since the 1960s. As I wrote in my previous message, all-rubber full-foots are the normal choice of fins in Japan (where people are prepared to pay well over £100 for the best models) and they are widely available, and used, in the USA as an alternative to composite fins for snorkelling. I'm certainly not minded to recommend them to you or your students, I just wanted to point out that British snorkelling gear retailers don't leave their customers with any options if they want something other than composite fins. Read the Pete Atkinson link in my previous message and you'll see one happy man who abandoned his composite-fins-only local dive store and went to his local sporting-goods store to purchase a pair of rubber full-foots that matched his needs perfectly without breaking the bank. The situation is very different in North America and in some parts of continental Europe, where the range of choice for snorkellers is much greater. Fortunately, online stockists there are prepared to ship to the UK.
I was just refering to retro in the personal sense of what I had used when I first started diving and if I could find those items I'd give them a run out on a club pool session to see who else had used similar stuff.
Although now that you mention it you are right that in the mainstream UK retail market it's mostly driven by the latest fashion. Some of the major online sellers have "retro styled" kit now but I think this is primarily about the look rather than performance.
Although now that you mention it you are right that in the mainstream UK retail market it's mostly driven by the latest fashion.
Indeed. One British online retailer specialising in snorkelling used to sell two classic models of rubber full-foot fins, one with a standard blade, the other with a long freediving-type blade, in addition to its extensive range of composite fins. Having tried these two particular models of fin, I submitted very positive reviews to the retailer's website, which published them. Recently I revisited the site and found that the same retailer had dropped both models from their fin range without explanation. I emailed the retailer to ask why, but I did not receive the courtesy of a reply.
jefflewis
03-05-2012, 10:00
Which is the best Snorkeling Fin????
neil_richardson
03-05-2012, 10:04
For me:
closed heel, mares volo power :D
Which is the best Snorkeling Fin????
I've already listed above what my favourite fins are, stating that I prefer traditional all-rubber full-foot fins when I snorkel. I detest all "modern" snorkelling fins crafted from what used to be regarded as the waste products of the petrochemical industry. As for the "best snorkelling fin", after a lifetime of snorkelling I'm quite convinced that there is no such thing, if you are asking what single model of fin would be best for everybody. The first criterion when selecting a snorkelling fin is fit, not only in terms of foot length, but breadth and arch height as well. The second criterion is the fin's efficiency when it comes to power, manoeuvrability and endurance. Since everybody's foot dimensions and swimming styles are different, the likelihood of a universal snorkelling fin is exceedingly remote, however strongly individual snorkellers advocate for their personal choice of fin.
Which is the best Snorkeling Fin????
As a lot of people will post in the SCUBA section, there is a lot of personal preference involved.
I have used shredder type (ie. short swim/surf fins) when given them for river/whitewater use. I don't like them and I don't feel like they do anything for me, however I know people who swear by them.
I really like the avanti's I use for the pool. Not especially for there actual performance in the water, although this is at least adequate.
They were cheap, highly visible, fit me very well and are comfortable, they are light and also go in my existing kit bag. So there utility in terms of transporting them between training sites, various local pools was the deciding factor.
My open water fins I chose because I'd used them before and prefer adjustable strap fitting. I choose to wear fully soled boots rather than wetsuit socks in open water. I lose some mechanical advantage apparantly.
But my kit also crosses over into recreational scuba use and diving for work so it isn't optimized for snorkelling use.
If I did that I would go for a spearo/free diving fin. I tend to scull with my fins and pivot on one leg when looking at stuff. Therefore I wouldn't choose a mono fin and I'm not massively comfortable with them anyway.
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