Swim-Fins

Wearing swimfins allows you to use the two strongest muscles in the human body to aid propulsion, both for paddling "out the back" and for catching waves.

Take a good look at this picture...ignore this advice at your peril!

To start with at least, fins can be murder to wear - they mean that you have to get on the board and paddle it at all times- no more standing on the bottom-ever!

In the interests of comfort and economy it is therefore crucial to get it right first time.

There are many fins on the market designed specifically for bodyboarding...These are just some of them...we stock quite a few different ones in the shop.

By far the most popular are "Churchills" but at £45 a pair many people opt for these cheaper copies...

picture

There are many neoprene sox on the market too..we prefer these with re-inforced soles...they cost a little more but outlast the cheaper non-soled variety by light-years.

Buy the fins and sox together, Once you have the correct sox, try different sizes of fin until you get a snug fit...How your foot fits in the pocket is largely irrelavant..it's how it wraps around the ankle and heel that matters...As a rough guide you should be able to slide one finger down the inside of the anke strap...if you have to force it down then they are too tight...more than one finger without stretching the strap...too loose.

Make sure your happy with the amount of flex in the blade -too much means wasted energy. Some fins have regular shaped blades and some are "cross-cut" Diagonally cross cut fins are particularly suited to rising "drop-knee". It is often possible to trim the blade shape (a bit) yourself if you want.

You can wear fins over boots but you have to go bigger with the fins and it is not as comfortable..use the soft soled type of boot if you can find any...Finally you need a set of "fin savers" -little leashes for each fin to prevent the loss of your investment. These are around £5.95 a pair. (You can make your own using old legrope ankle straps) Currently we have the "Churchill style" fins @ £24.95 inc fin-savers.

PAIN...Yes, be prepared for pain...

Even with the right size, at least some initial pain should be expected. Lets start with walking barefoot to the waters edge...now you see why we like those soled sox! Hopefully if you've got the sizing right at least your feet wont be chaffed into raw open wounds (septic in 10 mins in the tropics you know). No, apart from acheing incessantly your feet should be fairly ok...the next pain is muscle cramp..firstly and excruciatingly in your calves.....manage to surf through that and it will re-appear a while later in your thigh muscles (an interesting sort of painfull twisted dead-leg feeling) At last comes the moment when you get out of the water and can take them off...only to find the worse pain of all as your feet seem unable to to cope with their new found freedom and tell you that you appear to be standing on 3 foot long nails...

It does get better though...the more you wear them the more the rubber eases and perishes and the more comfortable they get.