Fin failure

[JerseyJersey]

When I was training, I thought the swim out with one fin drill to be humorous. A lesson in futility and practice in task loading at best. Not so difficult either, just tedious.

Yesterday 1000ft back on the peanut line I had a unique "boot" failure when my foot came out of my boot in a one and a million move we could not easily correct. (the boot and ankle strap were tightened and the interior lining bunched and blocked reentry)
When I signaled and my buddy looked and saw my fin and boot flopping about she thought I broke my ankle and was in pain. Then realized what happened and laughed.

I ended up doing a pull and glide out keeping the offending dangling fin elevated as not to silt out. Trying a single fin kick moved a bit of air where I did not want it. There was not much air in my suit but it slowly made its way to the largest open area it could fill, the empty boot. You cannot just give a roll and move that particular air bubble around and it wreaks havoc on your horizontal profile to have one leg always pulling on you.

So I stopped finning as such and filled my wing just enough to keep my self and my sidemounted tanks off the floor and began my bottom hugging pull and glide exit where possible and a goffy hobble wobble finning where I couldnt. The entire time remembering remembering how at one time I thought...... this is crazy and cannot ever happen or be traumatic or hard. Its one in a million and it already happened to someone else, cant happen again......... Wrong

I will tell you it takes a lot longer to get out that way. Entering and exiting teams give you some funny looks. And you see so much more that you do by getting high or finning on past. I know I wasnt supposed to stop and look at things but I did, lots of little fossils and little side pokey holes.

Getting out of the water was interesting too.

Terri was great, she spent the exit keeping one eye on me and peeking in and out at things just enjoying the slow pace. All in great stride.

Apparently there are no frivolous drills or impossible events. And something like this while not directly life threatening, surely tests your patience, bouyancy and thinking skills.

[BabyDuck]

funny you mention fin failures...

friday larry & i were at ginnie. we went in the eye. just before gold line, he signaled 'ok' & i returned 'ok', so he got on the trigger. i rearranged my scooter & was about to go when i realized i was hung on something. i looked back and saw a 6 or so ft stick through a hole in one fin. signaled larry, who was at the start of the gallery, & he came right back. he couldn't see what i was pointing to at first, then started laughing & got the stick out.

i could have done it myself, but it would have likely meant taking a tank off, so i'm glad my buddy was there to help.

[JerseyJersey]

seems to be the weekend of "what are the chances?"..... good thing we werent at Telford.....

[FW]

seems to be the weekend of "what are the chances?"..... good thing we werent at Telford.....

Yea, I hear you have a new Sticker about the Monster at Telford

[Shocky]

And that's why I dive wet! Good thing you were in a tunnel you could pull and glide.

[JerseyJersey]

yes, my buddy most likely would not have appreciated being hooked to my reel and towing me out.....

[scububa]

I had the stick thru the fin bring me to a full stop this summer at Cannon Ball. After descending thru the zero vis lake, my buddy went in first and I said, I'd wait a minute to let him get thru the restriction so I wouldn't crawl into him getting in. So, I hovered and after a minute, here I go...nope, a little harder, nope ...what is it, fish line???, nope, I turn to see I am skewered by an eight foot spear, right thru the Jet Fin vent. So it took me a another minute to get it cleared. When I got in my buddy looked at me like, "Where ya been?"

[RN]

And you thought that was a useless drill. ,)

[Kevin Leonhardt]

This is probably a one time incident, but if you're concerned about this happening again you may want to try some trident fin keepers. A quick google search turned up this: http://www.dolphinscuba.com/Trident_...c_rp57-dps.htm

Once upon a time these were quite popular with the use of DUI turbo soles. Just slip them over the boot and they lock your foot in pretty well.

Good luck,
Kevin

[Squirrel Girl]

I've had so many fin failures of various causes, that I figure, if I ever die in a cave, it'll be due to fin failure.

There was that time when I wasn't wearing fin keepers (now I won't dive without them), and the zipper went down on my bootie, and I didn't realize it. I could *not* figure out why my buddies were so far ahead of me. Long story, but I was REALLY slow.

There was the time my foot pulled out of my drysuit footie. Swimming out of the Ear and back into the run was *really* challenging.

There were those several times when the spring straps I'd added on to the fins popped off during the dives...... Grrrrrr (now I only dive fins with spring straps are original equipment) but at least easily fixed in the cave