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FINS
Mares Volo Power
Recently I found myself swimming once again through the gap at Coral Caverns near Green Turtle Cay in the Abacos, Bahamas. My most vivid recollection of the site was of a gentle current that pushed the other way. It's nothing to write home about usually, but my first visit there had seen me diving with Chris Boardman and using a then-new design of fin, the pivoting-blade Mares Volo.
After that dive, Chris observed that he thought I was the least fit person he had ever met. You can be a bit smug when you've won an Olympic gold medal and have Blue Riband records for cycling that have never been broken. Why did he say that? Because I had made such a meal of getting through the gap against the flow.
The fact was that the Volos were very floppy, and I was going nowhere with them. I was quite grumpy about it, but my protests about useless fins must have sounded as feeble as deep-diver Mark Andrews protesting about the quality of his plimsolls in the finals of TV's Superhuman.
Normally Italians become very emotional when I write something they don't like, but the folks at Mares kept strangely quiet about my report on the Volos. Between you and me, I think they went away and quietly changed the mix of thermoplastics that they injected into the Volo moulds, because later examples exhibited no such floppiness (see Tests Extra, January 2004).
My recent visit to Coral Caverns put that particular ghost to rest, and if Mares did indeed change its thermoplastics recipe, it certainly improved dramatically the ability of Volos to have an effect on the water. Now it has introduced a Power version which promises to be even more effective, though it does require more muscle.
This brings us back to my own athletic prowess. It doesn't matter how good my running shoes are, in a marathon I'd break down in tears at least 20 miles before Paula Radcliffe. So any test of fins has to be comparative. I can only tell you how Mares Volo Power fins compare with the most effective fins I have used to date, the all-rubber Apollo Biofin XTs.
Just looking at Volo Power fins tells you that Mares is trying hard. The Apollos have that no-nonsense, hard-wearing look, where the Volos appear comparatively complicated, even flimsy.
The fin blades are a mass of different convex and concave channels and flutes, the result of complex interweaving of two different technopolymers. The pivoting action previously sold to us as so effective is consigned to an area that only really affects the extremities of the fin width.
The immediately apparent effect of this is that the wearer can stand comfortably on the deck of a boat with a fin blade that otherwise wants to dip sharply away from the line of the sole of the foot.
Disappointingly, the foot-pocket does not encompass the length of my foot, as on my good old Mares Plana Avanti Quattros. It's a good 2cm shorter on the heel.
The fin straps come with ABS. That's nothing to do with stopping quickly, it's Mares' patented Advanced Buckle System, which makes it possible to slip a fin on and tighten the strap by cantilevering it shut with the heel of the other foot Ð handy on a crowded boat.
People complain to me that they have trouble undoing the locking catch of the ABS, but I don't have a problem with that. Call me a slob, but I rarely find the need to lock it shut.
These buckles look a little flimsy, yet I have never experienced a failure. What I do know is that if you break a strap you need to replace it with a complete unit, because no-one is going to wait while you try to thread up another through the existing buckles. So take spares.
If I owned a pair of Volo Power fins, I would probably replace the straps with no-nonsense stainless-steel spring-straps, such as those supplied as options with the Apollos. Anything to avoid that embarrassing moment when you're surrounded by divers on a bouncing RIB and feebly holding up a short end of rubber.
I took an underwater speedometer with me to Wraysbury Lake west of London. The instrument gives an objective result as long as you can duplicate the conditions on each test.
In the past I have compared fins while wearing a sleek wetsuit and minimal diving kit. This time I was wearing the full nine yards, including a drysuit, so my speeds were rather less than those I have recorded in the past.
I made a number of short sprints close to the lake bottom at about 6m deep, alternating between the two sets of fins. With the Mares Volos, I saw 2.6km/hr come up before I felt my calf muscles start to tighten. But the Apollos still rule, with 3.3km/hr this time.
So do I dismiss the Mares Volo Power fins? Not at all, because they work. Their very lightweight nature allowed me to overcome inertia more easily and get up to full finning speed straight away, which meant that I accelerated to my best speed with less delay than I did with the heavier Apollos.
The Apollos performed better with a rapid flutter-kick, but the Volo Powers were better with my loping gait, which may be less efficient but is far more comfortable for someone long-legged.
What's good for me may not be right for you. My conclusion? I've decided not to decide! But the Volo Power fins are certainly among the front runners when it comes to the best fin for scuba-diving, and they weigh far less in my dive bag than the Apollos.
Mares supplies these Volo Power fins in sizes S, Regular and XL. There is no truth in the rumour that the company has stopped marking the Regulars as size R because too many divers complained later that they had two right fins and no left! They cost £110 per pair.
Blandford Sub-Aqua 01923 801572, www.blandfordsubaqua.co.uk
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+ High performance
+ Lightweight
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SAFETY EQUIPMENT
Halcyon Diver's Raft
THE RED SEA 12 - you've surely heard of them. They are divers who got the British press excited when they disappeared back in August. There were only two Lonergans, and they were American, but this was six times as many and some were British. They provided a jackpot for the jackals of Docklands: Twelve Gone Missing in Shark-Infested Waters.
Alas for the cause of a good story, they had not simply gone down and not come up again, as the police spokesperson in El Quesir was quoted as saying. Like flotsam, jetsam and a million flip-flops before them, they just bobbed about on the surface of the sea until they were found 12 hours later. I bet they shared some good stories during the time afloat!
Now you may think I am trivialising this issue. I am not, but it takes a movie such as Open Water to interest the media in something that happens more often than it should.
I once had a bit of non-optional sun-tanning (head only) in the Suarkin Islands in the Sudan when I came up next to the reef with my party to find that our boat had developed a mechanical problem and drifted over the horizon.
They knew where we were. It was just that we didn't know where they were. So we stayed put and waited. The first couple of hours is the worst. I'm told that the worst part was that I began repeating my anecdotes long before they were able to return to pick us up.
The Pelelui Six were not so lucky. They left a message on a slate to say that they could see boats looking for them but were unable to signal their own whereabouts. So I'm glad to see that far more divers from the UK now carry surface flags. I've been harping on about them for years.
You would not be much luckier in a small boat. Back in the early '90s, the dive guide from Colona IV lost the use of his Zodiac's outboard while waiting for divers during a night-dive at Shag Rock. He was picked up in a fraught state, two days later, by the Jeddah ferry. He doesn't do dive-guiding now.
Halcyon would have us all carrying a Diver's Raft. It's modelled on the life-raft supplied to US Navy pilots who, of course, are better at flying than swimming. It can carry around 130kg and is under 2m long. You carry it in a rather large optional pouch, if you have the money to spare, or clipped to the steel backplate of your Halcyon Wing.
It can be inflated by mouth if you think you have the time or the exhalations, but otherwise connect it to the hose of your BC inflator. It takes about 150 litres, which is around 12 bar from a 12 litre tank, so always keep a sufficient reserve.
Being bright orange, it is highly visible at the surface. Of course, it's usually windy at sea, so I suggest you make sure you're on it or clipped to it securely before fully inflating it.
Jolly fireman Nigel Wade demonstrated to me that a fully kitted diver could climb on to the raft easily enough, but both wind and waves were lacking at Wraysbury Lake, and I wondered how easy it would be in a force 8 at the Brothers. But hold it upright and it's a lot more visible than a safety sausage.
The Diver's Raft is not an Avon life-raft. There's no EPIRB or freshwater-still, but it could keep your feet out of the water if you're worried about sharks. Clipped securely to you by its karabiner and tethered by its webbing, if it did catch the wind its day-glo effect would be as visible as any flag and more so, provided you managed to keep hold of it.
And when you're picked up, burnt to a crisp and as dehydrated as a sultana, you can pull the dump valve cord to let the air out of it and carefully roll it up ready for your next dive.
The Halcyon Diver's Raft costs £165. The simple zipped purse is £25 extra.
Silent Planet 01305 826636
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+ Helps you to take getting lost lying down
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- Not a fully equipped life-raft
- Not cheap
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BC
Tusa Selene
John Bantin needed someone to help him with these Tests, writes Farzi Bantin. He thought it would be a good idea to get a woman. There was to be a long and arduous interviewing process, but I got through it when I explained that, if I failed, he would no longer get his ironing done.
The TUSA Selene is a BC aimed at women, and I qualify. There's no man who has a chest profile like mine, unless he's been on the hormones and is about to change his name from Ron to Roxanne. On the other hand, my husband denies me the budget to have a breast-reduction operation. He says I'm mad to ask because that's why he married me!
It's all very well, but it does give me a problem when it comes to buying dresses. They all seem simply to look better on a man, or a woman who's built like one. It's the same with BCs and wetsuits. Women are not simply men with small bodies and big chests. We are an entirely different shape. Often the straps of a BC route awkwardly and uncomfortably for people like me.
Not the TUSA Selene. The straps go round the sides and give me an uncluttered front. So given that it suits someone with my unusual-for-a-man shape, how else does it measure up?
It's a standard-looking BC but the differences are subtle. Its buoyancy cell is shaped in such a way that it suits someone less long in the body than a man. The main straps are padded and set for narrow shoulders, and although there is a sternum strap I found it was not needed and was tempted to remove it.
It has big zipped pockets in which I stowed things that I might or might not need but, if I did, I would need in a hurry.
This included an emergency strobe with a suitable depth-rating and a reef-hook. I wanted to be prepared, and was going on a liveaboard to the Egyptian offshore reefs, after all.
I noted that the zip of the pocket went in the right direction. That is so that I could have the karabiner of the reef-hook permanently clipped to a stainless-steel D-ring at the front of the BC, even with the zip more or less closed.
I liked the way the air could be dumped by a choice of methods, by pulling either on a toggle threaded through to where my right hand found it easily, or on the corrugated hose of the direct-feed on the left, though this needed more than a gentle tug. For quick head-down descents in a current, a rear dump valve operated by a pull-cord and toggle is just as easily located.
The integrated-weight system is interesting. The two drop-pouches themselves are simple enough, and closed with Velcro flaps, but they are retained in weight-pockets that have what I am told is a unique buckle system.
It works well enough, and I was able to put the weight-pouches in position after I had already donned the BC and cylinder and stood up. It was easy. The buckles have a positive action and snapped into place. They are part of the BC rather than part of the drop-pouches.
There are also simple weight pockets at the rear that are closed with pinch-clips and are used to compensate for a more-buoyant-than-steel aluminium cylinder, the type you get mainly abroad. I also liked the way the tank was strapped oh so securely to the BC by means of unique tank-grippers and the camband.
When the time comes to get it on, the whole thing is closed with a single buckle over a cummerbund. I was able to slip my rig onto my shoulders and be ready to dive in a moment, important in the competitive environment of a Red Sea liveaboard. First ones in the water get to see the hammerheads!
Under water, I used it without thinking. My husband got a bit cross with me about this when he asked me about it afterwards. He says I must have noticed something about how it worked but, hey, I was enjoying my diving, not constantly checking the kit. My buoyancy control was as good as it has ever been.
The weight-pockets took a bit of tugging to get out in the dry. In the water it was a cinch, but I never had to do it in earnest. I was always picked up by the RIB, and the macho Egyptian crew took pride in showing how easy it was to heave the whole set, weights in place, up into the boat. Why spoil their fun?
My husband suggests it's always best to research diving equipment for these pages accompanied by a lawyer. Katie, my lawyer dive-buddy and travel companion, said I looked as if I knew what I was doing. Appearances can deceive, but I suppose it indicates that I had no problems with the kit. Some of the plastic fittings might have looked a bit fragile but nothing broke.
So the TUSA Selene was excellent. It did the job well, was never inclined to ride up like some other BCs I have used, and was exceptionally comfortable. What else do you need to know?
The TUSA Selene is available in sizes XS, S, and M. I'm a size 34E and I wore an M. I could have used one size smaller, as it proved slightly loose at the waist. It costs £298.
CPS Partnership 01424 442663
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+ Suitable for a diver built like a woman
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- Not available in sizes larger than M
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The TUSA Selene BC - it's made for divers with a generous frontage.
Weight-pocket buckles
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LIGHT
Fa & Mi Power LED-4
My dad only ever spoke about things that happened "Before the War". It's a pity, because I was born some time after it finished. It's amazing that he never noticed things changing. Today things seem to change from moment to moment, and diving lamps are a good example.
They used to be big and heavy, if you wanted a bright output with a useful duration. If you don't believe me, you don't have to ask your dad - it was only a couple of years ago. Surely a diving lamp is simple. Not so long ago we would make them out of a sealed-beam car headlight, a battery and a length of plastic drainage pipe. It's only a battery and a bulb connected via a switch in a watertight container, right? Not any more, chum!
I've been using the latest LED lamp from Italian manufacturer Fa & Mi. Yes, I know, last month I told you about two new diving lamps that used the super-bright Luxeon Star LED. Well, I'm already out of date, OK?
There is a good reason why this lamp is called the Power LED-4 - it's powered by four AA-size alkaline cells.
They might have called it the Power LED-Triple, because it employs three high-output Luxeon LEDs, and although each consumes only one watt of electricity, the combined equivalent output is more like that of a traditional 40W.
So it's bright but it has a huge duration, something akin to eight hours from one set of alkaline batteries.
Not only that, but the light it gives is akin to daylight at 5500ûK. That means it penetrates water better than older-type tungsten bulbs, which burn at a warmer 3200ûK.
Blue light goes further than red light in water. Look around next time you're in clear water in daylight. Everything looks blue and that's why. So you get more light and it goes further for longer.
Although the Fa & Mi Power LED-4 is the first such lamp to come into my hands, I'm sure every other manufacturer will soon be on this particular bandwagon. So what else has it got?
Well, it's a neat little unit in an anodised aluminium housing that measures around 14cm long and is 6cm in diameter. It's milled to give a good grip for a gloved hand.
It has a magnetic switch - so no through-body connections to leak - operated by a large collar that pulls down and twists.
It also has a little screw that can be tightened down to prevent the light coming on in your bag while travelling. I suggest you remove this while diving, or else you will soon be missing it.
A lanyard is attached to the back end of the torch, and this end will unscrew to reveal the battery chassis. An over-pressure valve is set in this end to vent any gas given off by the batteries, and the rotating cap is protected by a large O-ring.
We have seen manufacturers try to increase light output from earlier lamps that employed the first bright LEDs. They, too, did this by grouping three or more together. However, their problem was that they always seemed to mount them in a single reflector, so that none could be positioned correctly at the point-of-focus of the parabola.
They inevitably made bright beacons, but were useless when it came to projecting a beam. Never was this more evident than when you used one under water.
The front end of the Power LED-4 is interesting in that it has three LEDs mounted each within its own reflector, and because of this Fa & Mi seems to have steered neatly round the problem. Not only is the Luxeon LED much brighter than earlier white LEDs, but this lamp has three of them, and it really throws a beam. It costs £195.
Submerge 01484 310130
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+ Compact
+ Long duration
+ Cool light-output
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- Not a cheap back-up lamp!
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The Fa & Mi Power LED-4 throws a powerful beam with its three Luxeon LEDs
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