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Post by davyseabaugh on May 26, 2017 3:34:47 GMT -8
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Post by davyseabaugh on May 26, 2017 3:41:31 GMT -8
Hi Mike, I'm interested in the Farillon Fins. Please give me a call 314-267-1671. Please make sure your caller ID shows who you are because I get a lot of crazy calls. Or you can reach me through the Vintage Scuba Diving Community.
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Post by SeaRat on May 26, 2017 7:12:50 GMT -8
davyseabaugh,
I would recommend that you edit your post above, and remove your phone number. It is best to give someone a phone number, or more personal information, vie a private message (PM). PM's can be used on this site by following the link above, and sending someone the PM.
I have my Fara-Fins, and have been using them over the winter in the pool (see above). What questions do you have?
John
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Post by sharkman4928 on May 26, 2017 14:11:23 GMT -8
Hi, I am not sure why this old post got brought back up but I just wanted to up-date this........these fins were sold to one of the members here on this forum some time back.
Mike
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Post by SeaRat on May 26, 2017 14:16:40 GMT -8
Hi Mike,
I think I was the one who bought them. They will be a part of my on-going experiments on fins and Underwater human-powered propulsion.
John
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Post by SeaRat on Sept 11, 2017 20:55:24 GMT -8
Well, since PhotoBucket scrubbed the links to my photos, I thought you would like to see a dive I made observing lamprey eels spawning while using my Farallon Farm-fins. It is the second dive of this video, when I was able to observe the lampreys spawning.
John
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Post by rcook2 on May 14, 2018 19:50:58 GMT -8
I had a pair of those fins when they were new in the 70s, I got them because I was young and thought they looked cool,But they sucked in every way , they were possibly meant for people with weak ankles , and the braces would separate from the fin almost every dive. I finally lost one in a ship wreck in lake superior. Thank God!
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Post by araklea on Oct 2, 2019 13:46:53 GMT -8
I also had a pair of these fins I got around 1969 or 1970. They did indeed suck. Before that, I had found my Jets to be better than Rockets for myself. But I discovered an issue. Most people seem to like to Bicycle peddle (circular motion), and I had learned no to do that. So the Jets Worked better for me where the Rockets were easier on the peddlers (and slower if you did that!). But still, my ankles were very flexible and this would push a bit too far back on the up-stroke, becoming painful after 30 minutes in the water. So I tried the Farallon.
With the Farallon, the braces locked the foot to early, not allowing the toe to go toe-down enough. The only foot stroke possible at that point was to peddle like the nube's. Being so very super long, this tended to make the fin 'wabble' a bit too, especially when reducing the peddling into a more sinusoidal motion.
Finally I examined how they worked compared to my earlier JetFins and focused on the limitation issue. So I tried a fix. I cut into the hinge part of the brace to go 22 degrees more toe-down. This put a bit more pressure on my ankle, but it still reduced the pain to near zero. And something magical happened, it was super smooth and I could cruise with about half the effort of the Jets. My kicking rate was reduced, making me feel a bit more stealthy, if not actually so :-). You now can get that slow rate out of the current long fins. (do-not-peddle!!)
They were however no good for sprint kicking, so for something like water polo, or going against a river current I would go back to a standard full foot rubber fin. I completely let the Jets gather dust.
Side track on this, my dive partner had a 9 year old brother in 1972. Very angry, very set that everything sucks and he was always in trouble opposing everything and everyone. I set about telling him, life didn't have to suck. There is a lot you can do if you study the problems and be willing to creatively experiment. By way of example I presented my fin adaptation.
30 years later I found out, he took it to heart. Eventually he joined the US Navy Seals, lots of adventures, lots of problems solved, and after his service he owned a business developing new re-breathers for Navy contracts. Cool eh?
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Post by SeaRat on Oct 2, 2019 15:27:28 GMT -8
I also had a pair of these fins I got around 1969 or 1970. They did indeed suck. Before that, I had found my Jets to be better than Rockets for myself. But I discovered an issue. Most people seem to like to Bicycle peddle (circular motion), and I had learned no to do that. So the Jets Worked better for me where the Rockets were easier on the peddlers (and slower if you did that!). But still, my ankles were very flexible and this would push a bit too far back on the up-stroke, becoming painful after 30 minutes in the water. So I tried the Farallon. With the Farallon, the braces locked the foot to early, not allowing the toe to go toe-down enough. The only foot stroke possible at that point was to peddle like the nube's. Being so very super long, this tended to make the fin 'wabble' a bit too, especially when reducing the peddling into a more sinusoidal motion. Finally I examined how they worked compared to my earlier JetFins and focused on the limitation issue. So I tried a fix. I cut into the hinge part of the brace to go 22 degrees more toe-down. This put a bit more pressure on my ankle, but it still reduced the pain to near zero. And something magical happened, it was super smooth and I could cruise with about half the effort of the Jets. My kicking rate was reduced, making me feel a bit more stealthy, if not actually so :-). You now can get that slow rate out of the current long fins. (do-not-peddle!!)They were however no good for sprint kicking, so for something like water polo, or going against a river current I would go back to a standard full foot rubber fin. I completely let the Jets gather dust. Side track on this, my dive partner had a 9 year old brother in 1972. Very angry, very set that everything sucks and he was always in trouble opposing everything and everyone. I set about telling him, life didn't have to suck. There is a lot you can do if you study the problems and be willing to creatively experiment. By way of example I presented my fin adaptation.
30 years later I found out, he took it to heart. Eventually he joined the US Navy Seals, lots of adventures, lots of problems solved, and after his service he owned a business developing new re-breathers for Navy contracts. Cool eh?You did the same as me, figuring out that the Farallon fins simply needed to be allowed to flex the ankle more. I had to repair my Fara-Fins in order to start using them, as both had torn on one side. I used my ancient suturing skills with Shoe-Goo to fix them: Fara-Fin Repair finished by John Ratliff, on Flickr I have two pair of Fara-Fins, one modified and one unmodified. Here's a photo showing the difference (see the position of the leg brace). Fara-Fin Mod-2 by John Ratliff, on Flickr Very good work with your dive partner's brother. We'd love to hear about some of his adventures, and his rebreather work, here too. John
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Post by nikeajax on Oct 2, 2019 16:56:17 GMT -8
So wait: when was Farallon and when did it turn into Tekna, and then become Oceanic? I've never seen any of their catalogs, but really like their gear a lot! Jaybird
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Post by SeaRat on Oct 2, 2019 19:06:02 GMT -8
Jaybird,
I thought Farallon simply went out of business, and not that it had been bought out by Techna, then Oceanic. Can you give more on this. It seems that none of the Farallon products made it past the buyout. I do have a silicone mask sold by White Stag that was the original Farallon three-window mask, but I always assumed that Farallon made it for White Stag.
John
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Post by araklea on Oct 2, 2019 20:13:11 GMT -8
Oh that low profile mask was great. I had the snorkel too. Super cool. Especially that you did my same fix. oops. looked back and you WERE saying something about the limitations.. very cool Anyway the guy is here at this link..just found this link.. www.megccr.com/team-view/leon-scamahorn/So Farallon is definitely in his history.
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Post by crabbyjim on Oct 2, 2019 20:28:20 GMT -8
Back to the fins. If anyone has a line on a decent set please let me know.
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Post by DavidRitchieWilson on Oct 2, 2019 21:50:27 GMT -8
So wait: when was Farallon and when did it turn into Tekna, and then become Oceanic? I've never seen any of their catalogs, but really like their gear a lot! Jaybird I have an old "Farallon Industries" catalogue and price list, undated, but probably mid-1970s, issued by Farallon's British distributors Collins and Chambers of Mare Street, London. It's about a dozen pages long and contains illustrations of several Farallon products. I have posted a scan in PDF format for download at drive.google.com/open?id=12nWaQDe_qdkjYg0vQMngdJyIFX8jzJo0. Here's the first page: and here's the Fara-fin page: DRW
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Post by nikeajax on Oct 3, 2019 6:29:45 GMT -8
John, it's my understanding that Farallon and Tekna were both the ideas/products created/designed by the same guy Ralph... OK someone help me out with the last name! and later/finally became Oceanic... JB EDIT: this is according to Jim Steele at Steele's Scuba: also, if you'll notice all three were/are SF Bay Area companies and to the best of my knowledge the only ones that are dive gear related...
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