The Seawing Supernova caused a stir on release, with its innovative two-piece design, and now this foot-pocket-and-blade set-up has been carried over on to the S-Tek Fin, aimed at technical divers and those who need maximum power.
This ‘next-generation’ technical diving fin, as Scubapro refer to the S-Tek Fin, is also made from durable Monprene, and you can choose to make them positively buoyant, neutrally buoyant, or negatively buoyant, simply by adding or removing supplied stainless steel weights to the blade – an innovative bit of design.
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This unique feature means you can put two weights on to have heavy fins when you are diving in a drysuit, but then remove them to have lightweight fins when you are travelling abroad and will be in a wetsuit. You are diving the same fins, just with different characteristics.
I have to say, I was a little dubious as to how much difference this weighting system would make, but it does work. The basic finning characteristics of the fin do not change, so your diving style can remain the same regardless of whether you are in a drysuit or a wetsuit, but by being able to make them negative, neutral or positive does make it easier to retain a nice flat trim position and not be fighting to either keep your feet from floating up, or from dropping down.
It is a matter of just a minute or two to change out the weights, so not a massive chore, and it isn’t really something you’d be doing on a dive-to-dive basis – it would be sorted prior to a specific diving excursion.
At first glance, the S-Tek Fins look very similar to the Supernovas, and this is partly because both of them use the same foot pocket. The handy thing about this is that if you already own a pair of Supernovas, you can just buy the S-Tek blade and fit it to your existing foot pocket, you don’t have to buy the complete set of fins.
The foot pockets are very comfortable, and don’t ‘suck’ onto your boot, so removing them at the end of a dive is not a chore – slip off the heel strap (easy to grab thanks to its large thumb loop) and the fins just slide off easily. The nonslip sections embedded into the sole of the foot pocket work well on a wet boat deck.
It is the blades that show the biggest difference. The Supernova was a massive improvement on the Seawing Nova, offering more power, control and thrust, especially with frog kicks, etc. The S-Tek Fin takes this even further, though this is down to blade design more than anything, as they are much the same size.
The S-Tek does away with most of the channels, ridges and fins of the Supernova, and has a plain vented blade akin to the trusty Jet Fin, which is more severely angled to 30 degrees, which Scubapro says is to reduce leg cramps and ankle strain while still delivering a superior performance. It certainly generates some power – you can really pick up a turn of speed using a flutter kick, and the frog kick has plenty of thrust. It was also easy to back fin, make helicopter turns, and so on.
The full S-Tek Fin set includes the complete fins, a Multi-Tool, two sets of lock plates, a stainless steel weight system, and a boat bag. Of course, the S-Tek blade is compatible with the full-foot pocket that is also available as an option if you were going to be diving bare-foot in the tropics.
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This article was originally published in Scuba Diver UK #78
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