New Hockey fin

So I have been working with Force Fin for a while now and here it is, the first time Force Fin has prototyped Hockey specific fin. While this is the first prototype and there are a couple of refinements that need to be made before its release, it already promises to be a great fin.

Its' acceleration is on par with the best I have used, maneuverability is amazing, its short length allows even quicker turns, and positioning is fantastic.



there are still a couple of things we are tuning with the fin to refine it some, and a really quantitative comparative testing is still to come, the initial night of hockey and testing in them went fantastically. As for price and availability, I am not sure yet, so don't ask, but I am confident the it will be less than the Breiers, although not as cheap as the Mares line, but they should last forever (I have 15 y/o Force Fins that I still use regularly). As for a release date, well its still a work in progress, I don't know, hopefully sometime this spring for the first pairs.

i always wanted to try the force fins but only ever saw one pair here in wgtn years ago and couldnt try them.

if they are going to be within a reasonable price range, then i look forward to seeing some test fins as they roam about, hopefully not too far away.

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it's more polite on the grating than on the subs bench

its really weird..

Looks good, do have some questions though:

- is the heel open or closed? that's the concern most of the players have: that it doesn't come of to easy.
- what size is it? (length)
- where are you located? so we might be able to see it in action when testing. i'm in europe by the way.
- saw on your site that you have bags aswell, but the pictures are very unclear. my club is in need of new bags, and we're looking for strong ones. could you maybe pm me with your mailadres?

looking forward to see some of these futuristic looking fins.

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Just moving fins, flying pucks and making goals...

The forcefin looks good but as Simon has said, will it be a closed or open heel.
The players from SA will probably only send requests if they are closed heels...
If these are cheaper than Breiers as well as longer lasting, atleast a year longer, then you should be receiving orders from SA.... and of course if theyre better than the Mares and or ALA's...

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Regards,

Marius

"Great works are performed, not by strength but by perseverence" - Samuel Johnson

Asking about 'closed' versus 'open' heel is not gonna get you anywhere, guys.

To understand the way a force fin interfaces with a foot, you have to forget a lot of what you 'know' about foot pockets... and really, you just have to put them on and kick them to fully understand.

You can literally kick a pair of FFs at full power with the heel-straps disconnected and they will not come off (I know the advertising says this, but this is my own assessment as a hockey player as well - I own a pair of FFs and have done this test personally).

Of course, if another player is TRYING to get them off, it is still possible to lose a fin... but that's the case with any design. With a suitably well engineered heel-strap, I would estimate that FFs would be more challenging to remove during a game than any other fin I've used.

Bottom line... get a pair and try them. Original FFs show up regularly on ebay, and while they're not very good for hockey (the original ones are too floppy and short), they will open your eyes a bit regarding foot-pocket design.

That sounds tremendous! Only small problem being: for these amounts of money you don't 'try' a pair for fun (personally I'm a student, so low budget). I'll just wait for some testers to come along, or see other people swim with them.
Hope anybody in Europe had them?

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Just moving fins, flying pucks and making goals...

once again i'm with Simon on this....

It sounds really great but yeah, buy a fin and then try and see if it does not come off...
and what if it does, do we get a refund... Nope...

I'm not knocking the design but i will definitely wait for either other people to buy and then test theirs or i shall hopefully be a tester for SA Hockey...
kep up the good work... newer, better fins are neeeded!!!

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Regards,

Marius

"Great works are performed, not by strength but by perseverence" - Samuel Johnson

we (or really Force Fin is) currently working on the second version of the fin. after my testing there were a couple of things that I didn't like about the fin. So working with the owner, we made a couple of changes, including upgrading the material to an even more top of the line urethane and getting the foot pocket sized down to an appropriate size. to fit better barefoot.

As to the question about open/closed heel. Well what you see if what you get. the heel is open, but as you can see the design is completely different than most, this design is much closer to the Churchills design with a strap, although as already stated you don't need the strap except to keep someone from pulling your fin off. This strap design is still in the works, I don't like either of the styles ForceFin uses right now, so still being brainstormed, we'll see how it turns out, neither style is bad, but I think it could be better.

Overall size- they are fairly small, about 19" long and just over 8" wide. or 48cm x 20cm. Foot size, right now they are being sized to fit US 11-13 foot. With the "comfort instep" it should fit down to about a 9-10, but I am not sure how small they will go. For longevity- I have Force Fins that are 15 years old of heavy use and still as good as the day they were new and the materials being used today are even better.

users- so far I am one of only 2 people outside of ForceFin that have used the fin, although ForceFin has recently sold 2 pairs to scuba divers that saw them, read my review and decided they needed the fin now, I believe one of those buyers is in England. To be honest, for scuba diving- its an awesome fin as is, its by far the best frog kicking fin on the market today and probably will not be modified,

As for testing, well I am in the northwest US. but once I am happy with the fin, I hope to find some people that are trustworthy enough that I can send a couple of "demo" pairs on the circuit. I already have about 5 people on the list which I figure will be at least 2-3 months just getting them through those people. As already said, in order to use these fins, you have to forget literally everything you know about what a fin feels like and just go with it, they will feel weird, very weird. But you'll be going like hell if you commit to them.

If you are looking for someone to show them around in NZ, then I would be more than happy to try them out and lend them out to others. If you get them to me I would also be happy paying the postage to get them back to you again.

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Faster than a speeding puck...