Swimfins, swim fins, fins or flippers are worn on the foot or leg and made from finlike rubber or plastic, to aid movement through the water in water sports activities such as swimming, bodyboarding, bodysurfing, kneeboarding, riverboarding, and various types of underwater diving.
Scuba divers use fins to move through water efficiently, as human feet being very small provide relatively poor thrust, especially when the diver is carrying equipment that increases hydrodynamic drag.[1][2][3] Very long fins and monofins are used by freedivers as a means of underwater propulsion that does not require high frequency leg movement.
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Early inventors, including Leonardo da Vinci and Giovanni Alfonso Borelli, toyed with the concept of swimfins.[4]
Benjamin Franklin made a pair of early swimfins when he was a young boy living in Boston, Massachusetts near the Charles River; they were two thin pieces of wood, about the shape of an art palette, which allowed him to move faster than he usually did in the water.[5]
Modern swimfins are an invention from the Frenchman Louis de Corlieu, capitaine de corvette (Lieutenant Commander) in the French Navy. In 1914 De Corlieu made a practical demonstration of his first prototype for a group of navy officers, Yves le Prieur among them,[6] who years later, in 1926, invented an early model of scuba set. De Corlieu left the French Navy in 1924 to fully devote himself to his invention.[7] In April 1933 he registered a patent (number 767013, which in addition of two fins for the feet included two spoon-shaped fins for the hands) and called this equipment propulseurs de natation et de sauvetage (which can barely be translated as "swimming and rescue impulse device").[6]
After floundering for years, even producing his fins in his own flat in Paris, De Corlieu finally started mass production of his invention in France in 1939. The same year he rented a licence to Owen P. Churchill for mass production in the United States. To sell his fins in the USA Owen Churchill changed the French De Corlieu's name (propulseurs) to "swimfins", which is still nowadays the current English name. Churchill presented his fins to the US Navy, who decided to acquire them for its Underwater Demolition Team (UDT). American UDT and British COPP frogmen (COPP: Combined Operations Pilotage Parties) used the "Churchill fins" during all prior underwater deminings, allowing this way in 1944 the Normandy landings. During years after World War II had ended, De Corlieu spent time and efforts struggling into civil procedures, demanding others for patent infringement.[8]
In Britain, Dunlop made frogman's fins for World War II, but after the war saw no market for them in peacetime, and, after the first supply of war-surplus frogman's kit was used up, the British public had no access to swimfins (except for home-made attempts such as gluing marine plywood to plimsolls), until Oscar Gugen began importing swimfins and swimming goggles from France.[4]
In 1946 Lillywhites imported about 1100 pairs of swimfins; they all sold in under 3 months.[9]
In 1948 Luigi Ferraro, collaborating with the Italian diving equipment company Cressi-sub, designed the first full-foot fin, the Rondine, named after the Italian word for swallow. A distinctive feature of Cressi's continuing Rondine full-foot fin line is the embossed outline of the bird on the foot pockets and the blades.
In 1949 Ivor Howitt or a friend of his mailed to the Dunlop Rubber Company for swimfins; Dunlop answered that they had no plans to make swimfins and saw no use for them in peacetime. Howitt made his own swimfins with innertube rubber stretched across a frame of stiff rubber tube.
Types of fins have evolved to address the unique requirements of each community using them. Scuba divers, in particular, need large wide fins to overcome the water resistance caused by their diving equipment; snorkelers need lightweight flexible fins; ocean swimmers, bodysurfers, and lifeguards favor smaller designs that stay on their feet when moving through large surf and that make walking on the beach less awkward. In general there are two main groups of fins; full foot and open heel. Full foot fins fit like a shoe, and are designed to be worn over bare feet. If a larger size is chosen, however, full-foot fins can also be worn over socks and thin-soled booties. They are commonly used for surface swimming, and are in non adjustable sizes. Open heel have a foot pocket with an open heel area, and the fin is held to the foot by springs or straps. They can be worn over boots, and are common in diving. Many companies design fins with the same fin architecture but a choice of heel type. Other, more specific design trends are listed below.
These are the most basic fins; a pair of simple stiff plastic, composite, or rubber blades that work as extensions of the feet while kicking. Some paddle fins have channels and grooves to improve power and efficiency though it has been shown that the desired effect does not occur.[3][10] Paddle fins are widely believed to be the most versatile and have improved swimming economy in men.[1][11] Tests in women showed a more flexible fin to be more economical, most likely due to lower leg power.[3][12]
Vented fins were first designed in 1964 by Georges Beuchat and commercialised as Jetfins. The Jetfin tradename and design were sold to Scubapro in the 1970’s. This style of fin is strongly favored by technical divers that use a frog kick allowing a high degree of control but sacrifice speed for low oxygen consumption. Vented fins are generally stiff paddle fins that have vents at the base of the foot pocket. The vents are intended to allow for the passage of water during the recovery stroke, but prevent passage during power strokes due to the blade angle, attempting to lessen effort during recovery and improve kick efficiency. A review and study by Pendergast et al in 2003 concluded that vented fins did not improve economy, implying that water does not pass through the vents.[1]
Some swimfins have the end of the blade split. The manufacturers claim that split fins operate similarly to a propeller, by creating lift forces to move the swimmer forwards.[13] The claim is that water flowing toward the center of the fin's "paddle" portion also gains speed as it focuses, creating a "suction" force.[13] A 2003 study by Pendergast et al called this into question by showing that there was no significant change in performance for a particular split fin design when the split was taped over.[1] The technology used in most commercial split fin designs is patented by the industrial design firm Nature's Wing, and is used under license.[14]
These are very similar to paddle fins, except they are far longer, and designed to work with slow stiff-legged kicks that claims to conserve energy. The vast majority are made in the "full-foot" design with very rigid footpockets, which serves to reduce weight and maximize power transfer from the leg into the fin. Freediving fins are commonly made of plastic, but are also often made from materials such as fiberglass and carbon fiber.
A monofin is typically used in finswimming and free-diving. It consists of a single surface attached to footpockets for both the free-diver's feet. Monofins can be made of glass fibre or carbon fibre. The diver's muscle power and swimming style, and the type of activity the monofin is used for, determine the choice of size, stiffness, and materials.
Open and closed heel fins are predominant, but there is a range of fins that have specialised blade attachment architecture. These include (these names are tradenames):
The Mor-Fin Corporation produces "delfins", which are swimfins that end short and to the end is attached a shape like a fish's forked homocercal caudal fin. The entire fin is based on the anatomy of various marine animals.[15]
"Force Fin" is the trademark for fins designed, developed, manufactured and distributed by Bob Evans Designs, Inc. There are over 30 models of Force Fins.[16] They are distinguished by an open foot pocket, that encloses only the instep, leaving the toes free so the foot can flex.[17]
These fins are attached to the ankle and rest against the (anatomically) upper side of the foot. The manufacturers claim this avoids leg cramps and reduces foot strain.[18]
Flipfins are a open-heel swimfin designed to allow easy walking on land. Its blade and foot part are separate: the blade hinges onto the foot part at each side, roughly on the level of the metatarsal heads, and when swimming is held in line by a clip on the front of the foot part. On land or when wading the blade can be unclipped and hinged vertically so it does not interfere with walking.[19][20]
Breast stroke fins are optimized for use with the breaststroke.
Divers are initially taught to fin with legs straight, without excess bending of the knee, the action coming from the hips;[21] a leg action with much knee bending like riding a bicycle is inefficient and is a common fault with divers who have not learned properly how to fin swim. Fins with differing characteristics (e.g. stiffness) may be preferred, depending on the application,[22] and divers may have to learn a modified finning style to match.
The upper limit of a diver's fin-kick thrust force using a stationary-swimming ergometer was shown to be 64 newtons (14 lbf).[23] The maximum thrust averaged over 20 seconds against a strain gauge has been measured as high as 192 newtons (43 lbf).[1] Resistive respiratory muscle training improves and maintains endurance fin swimming performance in divers.[24]
Media related to [//commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:Swimfins Swimfins] at Wikimedia Commons
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