XFin Composite Spearfishing Blades and Foot Pocket Assembly

Here is a basic step by step way to fit your Xfins or other composite freediving fins in you foot pockets.
Some of the components my vary but the basic principals should be the same.

Step 1

Trim foot pocket ends

First you will need to trim the ends of the foot pockets sides. There is a small nib which normally fits into the plastic blades. I trim this at a 45 deg angle so it does not catch on line etc. Remember only trim a few mm ... 

Step 2

Insert Xfin into foot pocket

Next insert the Xfin blade or similar into the foot pocket, pushing the blade as deep as you can. Very important rememeber that the bolt must not sit in the bend of the fin!! This should be about 10mm past the bend, or you will create a weak spot. If the bolt hole is on the bend you might need to trim the end of the blade that goes into the pocket so that it can go deeper in. It some times helps using an existing blade as a template so you know how much to trim.
Once you are confident the blade is sitting in the pocket and is not skew, mark the hole and drill to the correct size for the bolt to fit through.
NB dont tighten the nut and bolt too much, just enough for the lock nut to take on the bolt and secure the blade.

Step 3

Step 3 glue or silicon the grooves

This next step is not always necessary, but will avoid some frustration down the line. Some foot pockets have larger grooves than others and don't grip the blades all that well, and pop out when bent.
I suggest gluing or siliconing the blades in place.
I personally use silicon (I try find the hardest grade) as you can always remove the blade and get the silicon off at a later stage. With glue that might not be an option. Other glues that work well are Sekaflex and in extreme cases Locktight.

Using a nozzel fill the grove with silicon, just enough to fill all the loose space....(with glue you use a lot less)
This is a messy job and it will be handy to have a roll of Bog roll near. .... the best stuff for wiping silicon up.

Step 4

Getting the sides on can be tricky

Pushing the sides on can be tricky ... oh and you will get the silicon on you hands!!
Bend the sides right back opening up the grove and push it onto the blade. The blade edge will slip into the grove and the silicon will fill the gaps

Here is a small video clip that might help.

Some of the silicon will ooze out, just wipe it up with bog roll or tissue paper.

Step 5

Now that you have the sides on make sure that the blade edge with the ridge on is properly in the groove. I use the handle of a hammer to tap the edges onto the blade. 


I hope this helps you in getting you Xfin or similar composite freediving /spearfishing blades into your favorite foot pockets.


Cheers


Coatesman

Rob Allen Bluewater Floatline Boingie

Rob Allen Bluewater Floatline Boingie

At a Glance: It was last year while sorting out our kit for a Mozambique spearfishing trip when Rob Allen first showed me the new Bluewater Floatline Boingie. It was something the Dive Factory had been working on for some time, and had finally come up with the right tubing for the job.

Rob showed me the tubings resistance to tearing when, or if it got a cut. And it was quiet amazing, normal tubing tears with only a little bit of pressure when it has a cut. But this tubing
(a thermal plastic urethane,but Rob is not letting the cat out the back telling me exactly what the trade secret is.)
has remarkable 'notch toughness'. This is obviously very important as far as wear and tear on the tubing is going to be a factor.

The tubing can streach to over double its length and is filled with soft braided dynema cord for strength. The Dynema cord limits the tubes streach to double its length and so takes all the pressure if stretched to the max with a big fish.

Both ends ot the float line are finished off with barrel swivels and a neat plastic coated dynema loop, as the tube does not twist at all. This was kind of a concern as I thought it might be difficult to handle on the boat.
Jeremy and Rob showed me how the line does not tangle and is neatly wrapped up using the figure of eight method, and then is tied up with the Velcro strap on the one end.

I found this a problem in the water, it was difficult to get the right side of the Velcro, if you get it wrong it pops off and was a pain to now have to wrap the whole thing again. The new system is a plastic buckle, like the one on the cray bag, with elasticized strap, much easier to clip closed and, when you have just got into the water, a one hand pinch releases the buckle which stays on the float end, much better.

First Impressions: Rob lent me one of the trial float lines and a couple of us headed up to Cape Vidal and a week or two later to Sordwana. Over the couple of dive trips I got to grips with the new bungie cord, it was in fact very easy to handle on the boat and did not tangle at all.

Unfortunately we did not get any really big fish to test the floatlines stretch on. The cord is not as soft as traditional bungie cords, and it needs a fair amount of pressure to start stretching. The cord needs about 20kg to exert the full stretch, a little less than what is required to pull down a 35 lt float and a little more than what is needed to pull down a 20 lt float and or 2 x 11 lt foam filled. Rob said that it was designed this way in order to be able to control and handle large fish. The problem with very long bungie cords is that difficult to put pressure on the fish when you need to.

I had rigged up my line with a 1m blue TPE (thermal plastic ethylene) bungie (3x stretch) going from my gun to the Ghost Leader Flasher, and then to the Bluewater Floatline Boingie. This meant that the fish would have to run a fare distance before getting to the floatline.

The Tester: Earlier this year I was fortunate to go to Barra Point in Mozambique, we were diving some deep pinnacles 15km off shore,hoping to get some good Wahoo.
Because Wahoo have relatively soft flesh, I added another soft TPE bungie between the Ghost Leader Flasher and the float line. I figured that if I got a Wahoo the soft bungees would absorb enough of the pressure on the first fast run to help the spear not to pull out.
I used a 20m Floatline Boingie attached to two 11l roto moulded floats with a speed pouch between them, giving me 60m of line when all the bungees were fully stretched out before the first float. That plus the 40m in the speed pouch would give me plenty even if I got a chance on a small marlin ... hey you never know!

We did not get any wahoo but I did get a nice Sailfish of 36kg, which tested the float line nicely. The sailly gave a very strong first run popping the speed pouch and releasing the 40m of stored line. The fish towed me around for about 15min and tired out fairly quickly pulling against Float line Boingie.

36kg Sailfish Speared off Barra Point Mozambique

Overall Impressions: Although the sailly was not a 50kg Dog tooth or a marlin it gave me a fair idea of the Rob Allen Bluewater Floatline Boingie's ability. When under pressure it stretched out doubling in length, and was very easy to handle and control. I would however probably go for the 30m boingie if I was targeting big tuna tho.

Coatesman

Xfin Composite Spearfishing Fins

The New Xfin Composite Spearfishing Blades

At a Glance: Well fins are fins ..right? And you could be forgiven for for going "Nice" fins. I suppose it is very difficult to judge fins just by looking at them. The workmanship looks very good and the finish is great. But does that make a fin work?

Closer inspection reveals a slightly different rubber track running along the blade edge, the blade is also fairly wide and long. And immediately invokes all sorts of questions. Questions Steve Ellis from Fibretech is more than happy to start unravelling. He has been working on these fins for a couple years and testing a number of theories out there.

The main thing is that we have a unique way of spearfishing on the east coast. We swim through surf, land up swimming for hours against currents all while trying to spearfish. Then there are the rocks in the shore break etc. So this started to mould ... "excuse the pun" the fins into what they are.

Steve being an accomplished Spearo wanted a fin you could easily swim on the surface for hours and at the same time give the drive needed for deep dives. A common fin to date has been the imported composites which are flat and don't have an angle up at the foot pocket. The fins work well going down or off the bottom, but that is where the love affair ends. They hack on the surface and you land up having to do huge bicycle kicks to move the fins.

The Xfin has a 20 degree angle and even in very heavy / stiff blades you notice how much easier that work on the surface.

One of my first questions was " wouldn't carbon be better than glass" but after chatting to Steve and understanding his theory on his blades it makes allot of sense. Glass (plus a secret polymer resin ... Steve is not telling) fins are extremely robust and are not brittle like the carbon fins .... a plus for coming in and out the surf. But the main thing is the way the blade converts the energy or another way conserves your energy. The idea is that the blade does the work not you.

Fist Impressions: I took a pair of Xfins on a recent trip, I chose a blade that was as stiff as the pair of imports that I currently own. Steve said I would need softer blades, but I was keen to compare apples with apples.

They were amazing, I dived 9 hours that day and even though the blades were very stiff I did not get the sore ankles and knees I was used to with my old fins. We dived mostly in water around the 18 -20m mark looking for large gamefish, and the Xfins were great in the deep.

The particular Xfins I was using were over 2 years old and you can see they had been well used, building my confidence in the promise of blades that would last.

After the trip I sent my foot pockets in to Steve and we chose a set of blades. I selected a blade that was softer than the pair I had tried. But I was still a little sceptical that the fins would preform and give me enough power of the bottom.

The Testa: I got my new Xfins yesterday arvo and decided to go and test them out. Interested to see how the lighter blades preformed. As I swam out I noticed that they were lighter, the wide blades did feel a little strange at first. I was kicking like I used to with the old flat blades and there was not same drive as before. I remembered how the pair I tried worked when using smaller movements, so I started to use smaller lighter movements and amazingly I did not slow down like I thought I would.


Overall Impressions: The concept really does work, I experimented with different strokes and it feels like I found the "sweet spot" where I was getting maximum speed out of least amount of effort. This I am sure will help with endurance on long dives allot, and help counter that fatigue that seems to make diving hard work when diving hard for a couple days in a row. So I had a great dive, and I think that with a couple more dives under the belt I will really grow into the Xfins.


In Parting: The Xfins Concept of a softer fin that through motion creates thrust works well. I think of the analogy of a Rock Cod and a Tuna fish. The Rock Cod has a larger soft tail while the Tuna a small hard tail. The Tuna is a faster fish but it vibrates its tail at a ridiculous pace to create that speed. I suppose if you think about it we are more like the old Rock Cod, and his movements are slower and more drawn out ...... and he still kicks down at a rate of knots. My point is that we would all like to be the tuna, but I think we are more like the Rock Cod.

Coatesman