Scuba Diving Fin Styles
Full Foot, Strapped, Force, Ported Fins and More
Everything you ever needed to know about scuba fins but were afraid to ask.
When you scuba dive you are in a gadget-rich environment: masks, snorkels, snorkel keepers, tanks, tank bangers, tank valves, h-valves, manifolds, doubles straps, tank boots, buoyancy compensation devices (BCDs), back plates, single tank adapters, wings, gloves, exposure suits (will that be wet, semi-dry or dry?, full, shorty, farmer john or two piece?), gloves, boots, hoods, fins and more.
Fins (don’t call them flippers!) come in a plethora of styles, full foot, strapped, force, rocket, hard, soft, split, solid, ported and many other types. Both the full foot flexible split fin and the strapped rigid ported have their uses for barefoot tropical diving and diving in cold water with a dry suit and rock boots respectively. However, both can be a definite pain to put on and remove.
By necessity you must put fins on last. For those not familiar with scuba diving at a minimum you must usually wear a mask, a tank with some sort of harness, weights and fins. However, rarely can you just wear the minimum. Usually you must add a BCD, an exposure suit, perhaps a light, camera, and other gear which all is usually attached to your rig or in pockets on your BCD, all of which restrict your movement.
In order to put on your fins you usually must sit down and put your foot in your lap and shove on the fin, then you either roll up the rear lip over your heal for the full fin, or pull the strap up and snap it into place for the strapped model. This doesn’t sound so hard does it? Try it with a dry suit (like wearing a large, thick, dry cleaning bag sealed around your body) and 80 pounds of back plate and wing with a set of double aluminum tanks on your back. For that matter try it with a 5mm wetsuit (envision a whole body pantyhose that is ¼ inch thick) and a BCD (a rather bulky inflatable vest) and a single 35 pound aluminum tank strapped on your back.
Usually putting on fins is a joy to watch, when other people are doing it, however, once it comes to your turn the joy dissolves rapidly. It involves getting red in the face, cramps in your side, torn fingernails, stressed muscles.
In the latest issue of a scuba diving magazine they advertised some new fins that you put on after you put on your exposure suit, but before everything else. Then you fold the elongated part of the fin up parallel to your legs and you can walk around normally. Scuba diving really is for those who love gadgets...
