Buying a monofin in Europe

[mauiman]

Hi to all,

First of all a Merry Christmas to everyone.

The reason I am posting this I am -very- confused about which monofin to get. I have been thinking about buying one for ages, but haven't found a single one off the net (living in Belgium).

I am a long time competition swimmer and got to know monofinswimming on holliday in France. Where I swim, no-one even knows about monofins, so now I brothened my search to the internet. I read all kinds of interesting stuff and narrowed my search down to

- leaderfin flyer
- waterway one wing (don't know the price?)

I am looking at spending +-250 EUR, so these look like my best bet. I could spend more, but since this would be my first monofin I am not to keen on spending +300 eur.

Before turning myself to the manufactures, I wondered if anyone would have any comment on these fins or know alternatives (I've seen some on polyorg.de, but as I read they are a bit dodgy, or at least no-one knows) that would be greatly appreciated. I would be using the monofin in the pool, but also in sea during the summer, so it kind of needs to be allround. Since it is my first buy, what should I pay attention too (angle, weight, flotation, ...?)

Thanks in advance for any replies.

(and slightly off topic, anyone used monofins in "body surfing" before? Since I do a lot of body surfing during summer it would be nice to get some practical pointers.)

[monofin_diva]

hi mauiman, welcome to the forum.

i need a fin for the pool and in the ocean so i'm getting a leaderfin *wings*.

i like the angle and wings so i want mine in a medium stiffness.

the softer the fin you can use it longer distance, and the harder fins are for sprinting.

since i'm not competition sprinting i've decided to get a medium with maybe one layer of hardness added. i personally don't like soft fins. my fin will be between hard/soft.

i spoke to asturven about the leaderfin wings (before and after i've decided on that fin).. he said perhaps they will not start making fins again until after the holiday so i have to wait.

right now i use a finis flyer and a finis tempo, they were my first monofins because i wanted to be sure i could swim properly with them before i tried the ocean with a proper fin. they're WAY too soft and more for water fitness. i'm sure more people can give you more help.

but you can contact asturven here.. he's the leaderfin rep for north america.

if you want to use it in the pool and the ocean i would rec a medium stiffness because they are between soft and hard and probably best for both.

good luck.. let me know which fin you choose and how you like it.

[mauiman]

Hi,

I was thinking about getting the leaderfin "wings" as well, but didn't consider it as a real option because it's marked as "freediving" and actually I am not really into that.

Then again, maybe I should think about it. It's purely recreational for me, so the omer footpocket would be nice. There isn't anyone to compete with anyway, snice no-one has a monofin in this area (at least I think, haven't seen any around).

So thanks for you reply. If I make up my mind I will be able to order pretty soon, I'll keep you posted.

[mauiman]

Talking about fast, I just had a reply from Leaderfin (only send the email yesterdaynight).

They advised my a "freeflyer". I send a reply asking the difference between "freeflyer" and "wings", since they seem much alike (I guess the main difference would be the distance between blade and footpockets).

[edit; I already had a very interesting reply. It seems that the "wings" model features an angle on the blade itself, much like the carbon freediver. The "freeflyer" has an angle between blade and footpockets using rubber, just like the "flyer" model. I really like the "freeflyer" and I might just take it ...]

Maybe the "Omer" model would be suitable as well, since I have no experience in monofin swimming and I expect the fin to take a few beatings from other clubmembers who will surely want to test it out. I could always move on to an "andronov" type fin, which seem more advanced.

I also got a friendly invitation from Lars to go and test some monofins in Eindhoven which is not very far. I might take him up on that.

I'll see where it goes.

[uw_ikarus]

I myself got recently a monofin "Freediver" with Omer foot-pockets, manufactured by Leadefins. I followed a review by D. Lee in www.apneablue.com, who gave a high ranking to this fin. Though being quite new to monofinning, I felt comfortable with from the very first moment. It's not heavy, and the stiffness - at least for my stature - is sufficient. The fin isn't cheap (€ 219,--) but given its characteristics may be worthwhile considering it.

[Zaboez]

I have bought in June such monofin - Carbon Freediver with OMER footpockets, but have been very disappointed by quality

[mauiman]

Thanks for your reply Ikarus.

And you too Zaboez, but what do you mean with disappointing quality? Was the performance not satisfying or the buildquality?

[uw_ikarus]

4 mauiman & zaboez:

mine is made of fiber glass, no carbon. Quality and performance are oK for the moment. I've been using it since a couple of month in the sea, and still have no obvious sign of wear. As far as I recall there's a year of warranty for the material and craftmanship...

[mauiman]

Well, I finally got it today!

My first impressions are

This is the box it came in. I ordered a finbag with it, so it was well packed, although they could have put some foam or whatever for extra support, because the box is bigger than the finbag.



After opening it, out came the monofin! What struck me was the fine finish (smooth rubber and fibreglass) and very nice look! To my surprise the footpockets are not omer, but something else (don't know what).




So I put my foot in to it and it was very snug, just perfect! Only negative point is I have narrow feet, so there is some space at the sides, but nothing to worry about.



The footpockets are attached very firmly.

I took them for a swim immediatly. I was lucky because the competitionteam was not training and there were only 2 others in the pool (+ my trainer). I did a 400m warm-up and afterwards put the fin on. First impression: SPEED! I was going so fast I didn't realise I was reaching the other side and I slammed into the wall, almost breaking my finger. I had some problems stability at first, but after some laps the wings did their work and provided a smooth ride.



The angle is noticable and comes in very handy. I had to do little effort to keep a streamlined position and had no cramps in my feet (the last lap they kicked in).

Comfort in the footpockets is extremely good. I could have spend hours with it in the pool, but only did a 30 min session (don't want to overdo it).

Overall score: 9/10, the only bad thing I can think about is that I had to pay for it, but I guess that was inevitable.

The fin is negative buoyant, but I found it very easy and light in the water. The fin is also not so heavy as I thought it would be.

This is the bag I got with it:



Service from leaderfins was good, although it took a while for the fin to get here. I would recommend them to anyone!

I can't wait to take the fin into the ocean ...

[nostres]

Nice one!

Is there any angle to the blade?

[mauiman]

Originally Posted by nostres

Nice one!

Is there any angle to the blade?

Thanks!

Yes, it has an angle, you can see it on the 4th picture. It works well maintaining a streamlined position.

I haven't tried a push-off, because I am affraid to damage the fin because of the angle. Any tips?

[demasoni]

Congratualtions on your new purchase mauiman! I have the exact same fin (soft stiffness) and bag but the fin has OMER footpockets. I love it in both the ocean and pool.

Regarding the push off in the pool, I found that I could push off with the heels of my feet and this protects the blade most of the time. When I first got the mono I was very worried about scratching the blade, but as time went on, especially with long pool sessions, I came to the conclusion that some scratches here and there were inevitable. If you have the blade protection option, that helps too.

Just be sure to store the fin properly because the blade seems to have a "memory" to it and will keep that shape for a while if for example you store the mono with pressure on the blade causing it to bend. I have found though that the "memory" is temporary and the shape goes back to normal after I use the mono.