Split Fins or not?

[LKunze]

I can see all those problems going away by doing better deco on dives than the recommended 3 minutes at 15'. 1 minute at 60', 1 minutes at 50' etc. It cost less.

Derrick
[/quote]
Derrick, do you have any factual data to back that up? I'm just curious. I don't see how doing 1 minute stops every 10 feet is going to be the same or equally effective as diving nitrox. Jason Baker and I started doing deep stops up in Superior though on the Madeira but we were still diving nitrox. Deep stops are a good idea and I plan to do them going forward but I don't see how that alone will equal the increased safety that nitrox brings. I just don't see how nitrox is not worth it. I'll spend the extra cash on nitrox fills to increase my safety if I'm doing repetive dives out of town. For around here diving Square and Perch, etc. I'll stick with air.

[Chris]

Getting back to split fins, I currently use ScubaPro Twin Jets and have had no problems with them. I don't find they stir the bottom up any more than any other fins I've seen people using. Just depends on what you're looking for, I got them because I can use less effort while finning, thus conserving air. They both serve their purposes, and I don't think either would be a waste of money.

[LKunze]

Yeah, I've dove with you Chris and I've dove with others using splits. I agree that they seemed at least from my observational standpoint to stir up less silt than regular fins when doing the flutter kick but they do stir up silt more than a pair of paddle fins doing the frog kick. Of course if you are staying a considerable distance above the bottom then it becomes less of a factor.

[Derrick]

I can see all those problems going away by doing better deco on dives than the recommended 3 minutes at 15'. 1 minute at 60', 1 minutes at 50' etc. It cost less.

Derrick
[/quote]
Derrick, do you have any factual data to back that up? I'm just curious. I don't see how doing 1 minute stops every 10 feet is going to be the same or equally effective as diving nitrox. Jason Baker and I started doing deep stops up in Superior though on the Madeira but we were still diving nitrox. Deep stops are a good idea and I plan to do them going forward but I don't see how that alone will equal the increased safety that nitrox brings. I just don't see how nitrox is not worth it. I'll spend the extra cash on nitrox fills to increase my safety if I'm doing repetive dives out of town. For around here diving Square and Perch, etc. I'll stick with air.

[/quote]

Will Nitrox decrease your chance of DCS if you increase your time to the NDL limits?

More extended time:

Let's say I want to do 30 minutes at 100 feet. I can't do that with the PADI NDL table (limit is 20 feet). If I use Nitrox 32, I can do 30 minutes according to the NOAA no-decompression table.

Here's how I can extend my bottom time using air. If I use the US Navy Air Decompression table, I can do 30 minutes at 100' with a 3 minutes stop at 10 feet, 40 minutes with a 15 minute stop.

Reduced SI:

Let's say I want to do a 100' dive for 25 minutes followed a 17 minute dive at 100' using Nitrox 32. For me to do this according to the NOAA charts, I would need over a 3 hour SI.

If I did these stops

40' - 1 minute
30' - 1 minute
20' - 3 minutes
10' - 3 minutes

I could do the 17' dive with only a 1 hour SI according to a dive table created by Peter Steinhoff using deco software used by many tech divers (someone had link to in another thread).

I have never tried this software, but I would be curious is someone could confirm this data. Maybe try with a more conservative deco of something like

60 - 1
50 - 1
40 - 1
30 - 1
20 - 3
10 - 3

Derrick

[MNdivergirl]

I have to agree with you. I have two pairs of Scubapro Twin jets. I have never had any problems flutter or frog kicking. I find them light and less fatiguing, than a fin like a jet or rocket fin, or a blade type fin and they aren't as long and stiff as some. I dive all day with no cramping in my feet or calves. It may be the way we dive, but I have no reason to worry about stopping or starting, or turning quickly, LOL I'm too busy looking around. I can catch up to my buddy quickly if I need to. Include me in the "happy with split fins" category.
Michelle

[DRE]

What to look for in a fin:

Can you do a flutter, modified flutter, frog- and scissor kick;

Can you do a backward kick;

Can you do a helicopter turn while being stationary;

Can you carry lakewater in the footpockets to rinse of your gear;

Will it give you enough thrust to move you through the water with any amount of gear (from single AL80 to double 104's with multiple stages);

Do they look cool?


The answer to these questions will give you a very limited number of solutions - you have thirty seconds to write down your answer, and how much did you spend?!

[MNdivergirl]

DRE,
Okay, I can't carry water in my twin jets, but I don't need to because we use a tarp on the ground at the shore ;D
Michelle

[Freedive WI]

I tried split fins, Scubapro twin jets to be exact, just once. It was on a wreck dive to 170' with double 112's on my back and two 80's under my arm. They were lousy. I could hardly move in them. they gave me the same amount of kick as an old pair of Force Fins that I once owned, and finally got rid of on Ebay. ;D

A standard Jet fin, or acutally a Turtel fin, worked out much better. Not everyone may carry that much gear on a dive, but it was amazing the immediate difference I felt between the fins after just one dive.

I believe that Lamar Hires has posted of similar experiences, and other reasons against split fins, like line entanglement, on the DiveRite website.

Jon

[mixelpix]

Hmm,

Looks like maybe the fin of choice is highly dependant on the type of diving you do... My V12's work great for all the rec diving I do. I've done some pretty nasty current diving off the tip of Bonaire and they got me back to where I needed to be a lot less tired than the guys I was with.

If I were diving with lots of additional gear, or wreck penetration I would probably use another fin set.

One thing I haven't seen addressed that I have read quite a bit about is the use of splits for u/w photography. I've read that the lack of very fine adjustments while framing shots is a problem with splits.

[MNdivergirl]

Jon,
I would agree they probably didn't do what you wanted them to considering your technical diving. For a recreational diver such as myself, who has no business diving to 170' for anything,they do plenty. After all, to each his own, right? IMHO what works for you or I, may not work for the next guy or girl, so a blanket statement about them, bad OR good is mute. We don't have to agree, jusy keep an open mind
Michelle