ScubaPro Seawing Nova fins
I recently upgraded my little Mickey Mouse fins (child-sized) for a pair of black ScubaPro Seawing Nova fins. I’ve had my eye on the white ones for a while (they only come in two colours), but last time I was ill in bed with flu I read one of Tony’s books on the best pelagic dives… And most of the shark-related articles mentioned what a bad idea it was to dive with the sharks wearing light-coloured fins. Apparently they get confused, think it’s fish, and take a munch. Not a chance I am keen to take in Cape Town!
Anyway, these fins have a joint that separates the foot pocket from the blade, making them extremely powerful. When you kick hard, they lock rather than continuing to flex past the point of usefulness. There’s more technical stuff on the ScubaPro web page for the fins.
I’m not really a textbook kicker and my finning technique isn’t great (too much knee, too little hip), but I found myself easily able to keep up with Tony on the surface (he says I overtook him) and underwater I didn’t get stressed about getting left behind photographing things because I knew I could keep up. I don’t really do frog kicks, and some of the reviews I have read say these fins aren’t great for that. But for traditional up-down finning, they’re marvellous.
I haven’t dived with lots of fins – just my small ones and a hideously buoyant pair belonging to Tony that had me hanging head down for most of the dive (involuntarily – I do like to do this for fun, but only when I feel like it)! Even though these fins are not much longer than my old pair, they are efficiently designed so that a greater amount of my finning effort is translated into forward motion.
These fins are fitted with a bungee-style foot strap – no clips. There’s just a monstrously strong spring/elastic combination that means you pull on the back of the fin, slide your foot in and let go. It hugs your foot snugly, but is really quick to remove and replace, which is super on the boat. For surf entries, this is also very convenient if you don’t want to mess around in the waves. There’s also a far smaller chance of equipment failure because of the absence of clips and flimsy straps.
The only downside is that these fins are becoming so popular that on a given boat dive there can be three or four pairs floating around. I wrote my name on the bottom of my pair with white marker, which also helps my buddy Tami to find me when we get separated!
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