Mares Concorde freediving fins

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sumitha - 24 Nov 2004 02:52 GMT

Has anyone used these long fins? There is no reference to the
fins on the Mares website. I was told that these were made as a sample
and not officially released, but none the less a few are available in
the UK. Would be very grateful for any comments from someone who has
used these.

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Matthias Voss - 24 Nov 2004 08:59 GMT

> Has anyone used these long fins? There is no reference to the
> fins on the Mares website. I was told that these were made as a sample
> and not officially released, but none the less a few are available in
> the UK. Would be very grateful for any comments from someone who has
> used these.

They put the Mares name on it.
The original is the age old Dessault fin by Sporasub. Similar but
better, softer footpockets are found in OMER, STERNA, TECHNOsomething.
For plastic blades, best are the progressive Sterna, and the clear, in
water invisible OMER.
For Carbon blades, C4 or MAT.MAS, who in fact build the C4 and many
other competition fins.

Beware of material mixes in the fin, and attributes like carbon or fiber
reinforced. Either the fiber or plastic, fancy names are aimed at
emptying wallets.

Matthias

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Tony Howard - 24 Nov 2004 09:01 GMT

Save your money & buy jetfins.

The will last years longer than any plastic crap (I've snapped two sets of
'expensive' plastic fins)

You will be able to do proper 'frog kicks' (with a bit of tuition) and so
learn how NOT to kick up the silt and kill the dive for yourself & every
other diver.

You will save about half the cost (especially if you buy one of the 'clone'
jetfins from Northern Diver or Tusa)

You won't need ankle weights as the JF are negative not positive in the
water, saving even more money and one less piece of kit to forget to put on.

There is only one saving grace for plastic fins and that is weight saving
when flying abroad with limited baggage allowance, in which case get the
simplest, cheapest fins you can or hire when you get there.

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Tony Howard - 24 Nov 2004 10:51 GMT

Woops, I missed that bit about 'freediving'

However My post still stands if you are intending to use them as SCUBA fins.

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Nigel Hewitt - 24 Nov 2004 11:02 GMT

> You will be able to do proper 'frog kicks' (with a bit of tuition) and so
> learn how NOT to kick up the silt and kill the dive for yourself & every
> other diver.

You can't frog kick with a freediving fin so that's hardly a problem.
I have the Cressi 2000HFs so I can't answer the question either and I
haven't seen anybody listing the Concordes yet.

nigelH

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sumitha - 25 Nov 2004 05:21 GMT

> > You will be able to do proper 'frog kicks' (with a bit of tuition) and so
> > learn how NOT to kick up the silt and kill the dive for yourself & every
[quoted text clipped - 5 lines]
>
> nigelH

The Mares Concorde fins are occasionally available on ebay. There is a
picture in the following auction
Item: 7115900605
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=16054&item=7115900605&r
d=1&ssPageName=WDVW

I've never used freediving long fins before so thought I might give
these a try (the Cressi Gara's are unfortunately out of my student
budget). I'll be using them for snorkeling when I go on holiday next
month. Mostly surface, with an occasional dive to a maximum 30 feet. I
usually go out twice a day and try to stay out on the reefs for 10
hours a day. I was hoping that the long fins would be easier to use
for extended periods and wanted to experience something new.

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Matthias Voss - 24 Nov 2004 23:40 GMT

> Save your money & buy jetfins.

> The will last years longer than any plastic crap (I've snapped two sets of
> 'expensive' plastic fins)

Yep.
Spoiled a set of blades when they went down into the spokes of my bycicle.
Still, they are replacable, and in no way comparable to Jetfins in terms
of efficiency and gas consumption. That means, those long ones win here.

> You will be able to do proper 'frog kicks' (with a bit of tuition) and so
> learn how NOT to kick up the silt and kill the dive for yourself & every
> other diver.

Frog kick is no problem with long apnoe style fins. Only takes slightly
larger radius.

> You will save about half the cost (especially if you buy one of the 'clone'
> jetfins from Northern Diver or Tusa)

80-120 € for the real thing ( twice that for carbon)???

> You won't need ankle weights as the JF are negative not positive in the
> water, saving even more money and one less piece of kit to forget to put on.

same for aforementioned fins.
Just don't try to put your drysuitish boots into them, unless you are a
dwarf. But still then, it will be fun.

> There is only one saving grace for plastic fins and that is weight saving
> when flying abroad with limited baggage allowance, in which case get the
> simplest, cheapest fins you can or hire when you get there.

Obviouly you never dove such fins.

Matthias

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