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Post by sharkman4928 on Aug 27, 2013 0:40:34 GMT -8
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Post by DavidRitchieWilson on Aug 27, 2013 7:13:02 GMT -8
A pair recently sold on eBay for $40 - the shipping costs were higher! Classic Farallon Scuba Diving Brace FinsI have an old "Farallon Industries" price list, undated, but probably mid-1970s, issued by Farallon's UK distributors Collins and Chambers of Mare Street, London. The Fara-fin, "complete with pivotal flex frame and dial adjustment", has the reference number 14-1000 and a price tag of £39.90, a king's ransom back then! There was a Military Model, "slightly stiffer, and finished in black. Designed to accommodate the serious professional" with the reference number 14-1001, priced eye-wateringly at £49.20. A Fara-fin II, "with compression-compensated heel strap" was priced more modestly at £21.00. I guess the Farallon-fin was for the 1970s what the rubber pocketed and detachable plastic bladed Caravelle fin was for the 1960s. Both claimed to have the potential to revolutionise fin design. I take the view that nothing is necessarily better just because it's new. I also think that Mares made perfect traditional rubber fins such as the "Sea King" before dumping the lot in the 1970s and selling their corporate soul to the petroleum industry. I admit I couldn't suppress a smirk when I spotted a pair of their new-fangled fins with their "thermoplastic elastomer" pockets and see-through plastic blades slowly delaminating in the bargain bin at one of London's dive stores back in the 1980s. I've never reconciled myself to the "tupperware" revolution in fins and I could not disguise my delight when I discovered that the Japanese have chosen to continue full-steam-ahead with traditional rubber fin manufacture right to the present day. Their Gull Mew fins are a worthy successor to the great Cressi Rondines of the 1960s. Although they both failed to sell, at least Caravelle fins and Fara-fins didn't resort to that terrible "won't stay in shape" thermoplastic elastomer for their foot pockets!
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Post by SeaRat on Aug 27, 2013 7:33:35 GMT -8
Sharkman and David,
I have had these Farallon fins, and I bought them in the 1980s when they were new and expensive. The design of the leg braces is actually a very good idea for gaining more thrust with less fatigue, but it was not implemented correctly. The angle of the leg brace is fixed, and cannot be changed without actually regrinding the interface of the two surfaces in the brace. I was never able to figure a way of changing this angle. The result is that this fin has a huge dead area, and almost no area to propel the diver. I hope I'm making sense with this, but it becomes obvious when you get into the water with the fins.
Most of us who have been diving for any time have the flexibility in our ankles to point our toes straight back. But these fins, with their braces, do not allow an efficient angle for the foot. They stop at about a thirty-five degree angle (145 degrees from the other side), which points the blade out and does not allow an efficient stroke. In order for these fins to be successful, they would have needed to get to 0 degrees angle with the leg (or 180 degrees, depending upon where you are looking from).
I have a pair, and have thought about incorporating the braces into a monofin design, but again need to retool the brace so that the correct angles could be used.
These fins have one other problem, and that is that the rubber was not a good, high quality type. Many of these fins develop a crack in the blade about 1/3 of the way down from the toe pocket, which is why a lot of them on E-Bay sell for very little.
The final problem is that getting them on and off in the water is rather difficult. But if they had made that angle correct, this would have been minor. It is another example of a great idea implemented poorly by engineers who did not understand diving and did not do their homework with actual divers.
John
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Post by sharkman4928 on Aug 27, 2013 9:12:20 GMT -8
These fins look like a cross between Forest Gump and Jacques Cousteau! The Under Sea Adventures of Forest Cousteau! "Momma said they was my magic fins. Momma said they'd take me anywhere." LMAO!
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Post by SeaRat on Aug 11, 2016 8:57:58 GMT -8
I just acquired sharkman4928's Fara-fins through E-Bay, and will be doing some more experiments with them. The pair I have from an earlier purchase has problems with the fin ribs being broken, and I hope to use the newer pair a bit later. Before I do that, however, I have ground down the leg brace and it now allows me a greater angle, which should benefit the fins greatly. I have also found a Farallon publication which includes Jack McKenney's original June 1975 article from Skin Diver Magazine of these fins. So there will be more coming on these fins.
John
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Post by SeaRat on Aug 11, 2016 11:41:10 GMT -8
Here is the Farallon Fara-fin publication I talked about above. This should clear up some of the impressions on these fins. My fin supports are now at about 45 degrees. I'll see whether that works or not. John
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Post by SeaRat on Aug 12, 2016 16:37:49 GMT -8
I just got out of the Clackamas River, from a dive using my twin 42s (PJ tanks), Dacor R-4 regulator and the Fara-fins. I'll discuss the R-4 regulator in that thread, and concentrate my comments on the Fara-fins. First, let me give you a more in-depth initial appraisal of these Fara-fins from my previous dives in the North Umpqua River, near Roseburg, Oregon in the 1980s. I found them unwieldily, hard to use, and not providing much power at all. Because of this, I aborted my initial dives after just a few minutes. Later, I sold those fins. What a difference 10 degrees makes! That's what I did to the fin supports, ground off enough of the joint to allow another 10 degrees of angle to the water. I could more point my toes. These were my "old" Fara-fins, with broken ribs, and a broken orange leg frame. Yesterday, I used some glue to close the broken leg frame, and decided to go diving today, even though the glue had not completely set. Beautiful weather, 90+ degrees, and the water was 69 degrees F. The river is low, and I was able to use only a shorty wet suit and hood. The Fara-fins gave me problems though, as I cannot get my foot into the foot pockets while wearing my normal diving boots. I therefore took a pair of boot socks to wear, but I did not want to walk essentially barefoot down to the river and back to the car, so I wore my sandals. I stuffed my socks into the Fara-fins, and walked down to the river. Then I took off my sandals and laced them into my dive flag float. I put on the socks, and had to release the lower leg strap on my knife to get the socks up onto my calf. Then I carefully laced my foot into the leg support and into the foot pocket, pulled the heel strap around my heel, and snugged up the velcro strap in front of the leg support. That was followed by a similar procedure on my left foot, though I needed to be seated on a rock instead of standing in the water like I usually do to complete this donning procedure. I stood up, and needed to walk slightly forward to get to the deeper water, then bent my knees and pushed off the rock to enter the water, breathing from my R-4 double hose regulator. My first leg kicks were very different from my normal finning, and very powerful. There was no usual stretch of my ankle, and I could feel the difference in my knees and thighs. There was more pressure on my knees, until I got to modify my kick just a bit, and that went away (especially my right knee, which I need to protect). I had much the same experience as Jack McKenney described decades ago in his article in the June 1975 Skin Diver Magazine. But I was surprised at the increase in the force applied to the water. I was able to easily swim against an estimated one knot current in the river. I went to my submerged tree, and under the rapids. As I was crossing over the rocks below the rapids (large rocks), I found a long pole, swam back to it against the current, and pulled it off the bottom. It wasn't a pole, but instead a spear, complete with a three-pronged pointed head which looks like a frog gig with barbs. It really looks like Poseidon's spear! I swam downstream a bit, then across the river to surface under the lifeguard's tent. I held up the spear, and asked if someone would come down and take it from me. One of the lifeguards descended the 15 or so feet to reach out and grab the spear. They said they would keep it for me until the end of the dive. I then descended again, went downstream and looked at small things with my SeawiscopeEY, like sponge on the rocks. The freshwater sponge is sometimes green with algea, and white without the algea, depending on the amount of sunlight. I found a white colony, and looked at it closely. It had little channels inside the matrix of the sponge, and sometimes it was a beautiful star shape. On my way downstream, I again noted several salmon which had died. As was the case last year, I suspect the warm water (69 degrees F, according to the lifeguards) as being the culpret. I noted three at one rock, and three others as I swam downstream. But this is nothing like what I saw last year, where I videoed over thirty dead salmon that had recently been killed. Only four or so of these were fresh fish, so this was not terribly bad this time. But we are heating up weather-wise, so the salmon may not be out of the hot water yet. At one point, my Dacor R-4 was breathing too easily, and bypassing air to the exhalation hose. I reached over my head to feel the regulator's right intake horn, and found the "Dial-a-Breath" knob on the back of the regulator. I experimented with it a few times, and found a setting of the vane where air would not bypass the mouthpiece. I then started across and upstream again, again against the current, and went along the far side to see whether I could find something from the cliff jumpers that they had lost, but found nothing. Heading downstream again, I angled both across the current, and at times against the current, putting the Fara-fins through their paces. These Fara-fins were performing very, very well, and I was kicking myself for years ago selling my pair rather than modifying them. I went under the bridge, and knew I was close to my exit, and so stuck my head above water; there were several swimmers and people at the rocks on shore. I ducked back down, and swam cross-current across the river, to where the rocks stuck up on the other side, noted a sucker coming off one of the rocks, then reversed course. I had my dive float in my hand, and had been changing hands throughout the dive to the downstream hand, keeping the line away from me so as to not get tangled. When I reached shore, I surfaced, and gathered my line on the line's hanger, and brought my sandals close to me. Sitting down in the water, using my snorkel to see underwater, I took off one Fara-fine, pulling my foot out the leg support after loosening the velcro leg strap. I then put on the sandal, and did the same with my other foot, leaving the Fara-fins in the water. My one fin that had the broken leg support had broken again, but was held together by the neoprene inside part. I moved the fins to the rock, then exited the water carefully (this is the most hazardous part of my dive, getting out of the water). Then, I slowly walked back to my Honda Pilot. After getting out of my dive gear, I grabbed one Fara-fin and my mask with the SeawiscopeEY on it, and walked down to the lifeguard's tent. We talked a bit, and I recovered my spear. I showed them the Fara-fin, mask and we talked just a bit, then I went back up to the car. These fins are very, very good now, and I will be modifying the newer ones I just received. I may also use one pair to make a set of Scoop Fins out of these, which will make them even better. John
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Post by SeaRat on Aug 19, 2016 7:35:20 GMT -8
Well, I just got out of the pool. I am beginning to do some swimming for conditioning (I need it, badly), and for my warm-down I again used my Fara-fins. This time I have purchased a neoprene bootie that allows me we wear it in the water. But as I started out finning with the Fara-fin, I immediately got some tightness in my hamstrings on both sides. The kick is very different, and uses the hamstrings more.
I have modified the angle of the leg supports to a measured 43 degrees from horizontal; it is not enough. Most of the fin is still dead area, and not horizontal to my leg. So I'll do some more modifying, and take the angle down further until the fin is more efficient. But I'm now wondering how much of the leg support I'll get at a lower angle. I guess that's what experimenting is about. I'm still using the older fins, and not the new ones I recently got off E-Bay. I'll use those until I get the Fara-fin working well, then convert the newer fins.
I had to put some stitches into the blade of the older fins, as this pair has a broken rib on the outside, and a tear all the way to the middle rib. It's now stitched up, and functioning better.
John
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Post by SeaRat on Aug 22, 2016 16:26:13 GMT -8
As a result of my swim with the Fara-fins last week, I went to my workbench and again shaved off some material from the connection of the leg supports, this time on the fin side. I then loaded up the car, and headed to the Clackamas River. After briefing the lifeguards, I hopped into my scuba gear, took my Fara-fins down to the river, and put them on. This time, the fins would go all the way to my neutral pointed-toe position. After putting on the fins, I grabbed my Hammerhead unit, and pushed forward into the deeper water. I was using a minimum wet suit as the water temperature, according to the lifeguard, was 67.5 degrees F. I had my new neoprene socks on (walking down on the rocks was more difficult--hurt a bit).
I started swimming using the dolphin kick and my hammerhead unit. Those fins were now powerful, and pushed me forward without problems. No hamstring problem at all with the fins, even when I stroked against the current. I swam hard, against the current using up air fast. I then headed downstream, found a pair of sunglasses and put them into my BC pocket. Then I turned around, and came back against the current along the other side of the river. As I went under the jump-off point for High Rocks, I found another pair of glasses, these being prescription glasses for a girl or woman (I presume, from the design). Then I got to the submerged car, looked it over, and headed again downstream. I had not gotten far before my regulator (a Healthways Scubair) told me that I was low on air. Since I still had a ways to go, I stayed submerged a bit longer until the regulator told me I had to surface. I did so, and switched to my snorkel. I then inflated my BC, and headed downstream. I experimented with swimming on my back too, and all went well. Finally, when I got to my take-out point, I stopped, loosened the leg support strap, slipped the heel strap off my heel, and stepped out of the Fara-fin. I repeated, and was out of the fins quickly. I placed them on a rock, then carefully exited.
After returning to my car and getting out of the dive equipment, I returned to the lifeguards to tell them I was out, and gave them the sunglasses and prescription glasses. I hope the gal who lost those glasses checks back with them, as they looked expensive.
At home, I took out my protractor and measured the angle. It was 37 and 38 degrees off horizontal. This gave me a very comfortable swim, with absolutely no pressure on my foot. Now, I need to modify the newer pair to use later. I'm thinking of asking a shoe repair shop to modify them to my scoop design too. That, I think, would be a fantastic set of fins.
John
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Post by SeaRat on Aug 25, 2016 15:35:07 GMT -8
I again dove my Fara-fins, highly modified by shaving down the angle to about 37-8 degrees rather than their original 55 degrees. They worked very, very well at this angle. The fins are actually fairly easy to put on and take off, but I cannot wear my normal neoprene booties with these fins. I bought the thinner neoprene socks, and wore them today. But I also took my sandals down to the river, as the last dive walking on the pebbles near my entry site was painful, and I was wearing a single 72 then. Today I wore my twin 45s, which weigh more, and so needed the sandals to handle the rocks.
Putting on the fins was fairly easy. I simply slid my foot through the support's strap, then into the foot pocket. Then I put the foot strap behind my heel, and tightened the support strap. The sandals went onto my dive flag float, and that too was pretty easy.
The last dive, August 22, 2016, was with my Hammerhead unit, and I used almost exclusively the dolphin kick. Today, I left that in the car, and swam a normal kick with the fins (normal for me, no frog kick in this current). These fins, with their leg supports, work very well at this attack angle. They provide a lot more leverage onto the fin blade, and so boost the fin's propulsive power.
I surfaced near the rapids, and saw that my sandals had push the flag over onto its side, and so brought it back to me, re-arranged the sandals so that they were lower, and threw it back into the current to be away from me. Then I dove under the rapids, and saw the "chute" of rocks, almost like a wall, that had formed under the rapids. I climbed up into the current, and went downstream. In the process I passed the bones of the upper portion of an animal that had died in the water (probably a deer), noting its location if I wanted to come back later (after the snails had done their work) to recover it.
As I was coming to the deeper area under the cliff that held the lifeguard's tent, a steelhead came right up to my facemask, turned, flashed its rainbow sides to me, and left the area. These fish are not afraid, and are very curious.
I found several fishing lures, got my knife out and used the line hook to cut the fishing line, then put them into my Para-Sea BC's pocket. I earlier had collected three fishing weights just after getting into the water. I try to collect all the lead that I see; see my video, "Getting the Lead Out" for an earlier dive this year where I collected 8 pounds of lead in about ten minutes at one place.
I went downstream, and located more fish; there were bass and a school of large-scale suckers. These I observed at close range. Further downstream, after getting past the overhead bridge and its shadow, I started overturning rocks to see the invertebrates under the rocks. I counted five hellgrammites (insect larva), and noted that I had torn the shelter of another type of insect nymph, which was usually inside these rock tunnels that they build. I could see them as I was wearing my SeawiscopeEY, and was observing things very close up. I had done the same with the bass earlier, including that one which could not close its mouth.
I got to my take-out area, and swam up to the rocks, turning around to sit down. These fara-fins were easier than my normal Plana-Avari Scoop fins to get out of, but then getting my sandals back on was somewhat more difficult. I kept my mouthpiece in my mouth to breath off the tanks while reconfiguring my feet, before standing up. I surprised a dog on shore, which did not know what to make of me. Her owner, a plump woman who had been swimming, laughed and said the dog did not quite know what to do. I told her that this was the most hazardous part of my dive, getting out of the water, as the rocks were slippery and even with the sandals on, I had to be careful. As I got out, I had to move my feet several times to get a good foothold before getting to dry rock. I then simply walked up the riverbank to the road, and back to my car. As I was getting out of my gear, a guy in a truck stopped and starting asking me about the dive. We talked until the car behind him got impatient, and honked her horn a bit.
It was a good dive, and great way to get out of the heat. The Healthways Gold Label performed very well, and I'm glad I used it rather than the Dacor R-4, which I had also brought along. The R-4 had shorter hoses on it, and with these tanks that would put the mouthpiece right under my jaw when I was out of the water.
John
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Post by SeaRat on Sept 3, 2016 8:57:28 GMT -8
I thought you'd like to see what my modified Fara-fins look like. So here are two photos of my two pairs of Fara-fins. One has been modified, the other is in its original orientation for the leg support. You can see the difference. This is the difference between success and failure for this fin concept. The way the original fins are oriented, the diver cannot get the blade into the correct position for optimal propulsion, which left a large "dead area" on the blade, and forced a highly modified kick. Note the "sutures" in the blades of my modified Fara-fins. Apparently Farallon had a batch of fins with a rubber defect that allowed the blades to separate. My newest Fara-fins do not have this defect, and once I modify the leg supports for these, they will be my primary fins. But since my sutures seem to keep the blade from ripping further, I will dive them a few more times. I am planning a dive for today, and will use the modified Fara-fins again. John
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Post by SeaRat on Mar 13, 2017 22:45:00 GMT -8
A couple of weeks ago, I swam in the pool with using my Sea Turtle/Dolphin swimming technique, and here are a couple of photos from that swim: Here are the fins on my feet, underwater. Here you can see how powerful these fins can be, by the right angle my Fara-fins are making to the water on the downstroke. These are fairly stiff fins, but with the braces adjusted to a lower angle of about 37-28 degrees, the fins can provide quite significant force rear-ward. John
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Post by SeaRat on Mar 15, 2017 21:58:30 GMT -8
Here is an update on my Fara-fins with their broken ribs; I have succeeded in repairing them! I first used my medical training to stitch them together so that no further damage would be done. I did this last summer, and used them in open water several times with the "interim" fix completed. Well, I started thinking last week, what if I combined this stitching with nylon line with the use of Sho-Goo? I did not have anything to lose, and so I started a new round of stitching using the same kind of line, but with a needle. Had to use a pliers to get the needle through some of the holes, but used suturing techniques to make the stitches strong, and tied them off. I double-stitched some areas. I then coated each surface with Sho-Goo, letting it dry overnight before applying more Shoe-Goo. The result is a fully fixed rib and blade, except for the Shoe-Goo that covers the area on both sides and the edges of the ribs. Now, I need some reinforcing stainless straps to bolt onto the leg braces, and I'll be set with this set of fins for the spring and summer diving. I hope to have some photos for you tomorrow. John
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Post by SeaRat on Mar 17, 2017 7:14:15 GMT -8
Here are the photos of the repair I did for my Fara-fins, with their broken rib. This rather bad, out-of-focus view of my fins shows where the ribs were broken. Here are close-ups of the repairs, including my "suturing" with nylon line and the glueing with Shoe-Goo: Top view Side view of one of the ribs. Note, in order to do this I needed to pre-drill the holes with an electric drill. One of the sutures with the lines cut, the other without (I have since cut the second set of sutures). John
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Post by davyseabaugh on May 26, 2017 3:21:26 GMT -8
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