Wednesday, September 14, 2011

Voit Duck Feet Fin review

Hmmm! These are great fins. No wonder so many mat riders choose to use them. Plenty of power and light enough to create that often needed final acceleration that is a bit difficult to achieve with UDTs. Due to their length, the UDTs can also put a bit of strain on the ankles whilst navigating a more extreme section of a wave or when one gets dumped at the end of it. The Duck Feet are less likely to do so without sacrificing too much power wise. The waves were a good size with plenty of push so I will be interested to see how they go on a smaller day but I think probably ok from what I experienced to day. Note that MT has modified his improving their performance even further. They are a fair bit easier on the old tootsies too with only one pair of low cut fin socks needed and I probably could have got away without using fin socks at all. But it was a long trek around the bay for a wave today, so I didn't want to walk all the way back to get a pair of fin socks because the Duck Feet were eroding my toes a way? Unlike the UDTs, which are from the thigh kickers, the Duck Fins involve the calf much more, and not being used to that, both of mine were starting to cramp up good and proper. This was not helpful as a mega set came through, almost twice the size of anything in the hour or so before, and I got mercilessly trashed by the pounding lip just managing to hang on to the mat but getting a lot of air knocked out of myself and completely out of the mat. So I am left with this limp useless thing that I am frantically trying to get air back in to before the next wave took me out. Got a bit in before I finally lost my mat on the third but it popped up next to me. Thank bloody God, as my calves were cramping up so badly, by this stage, that I could barely keep my head above the copious amounts of white water. Anyway, I managed to get a decent amount of air back in the mat and made my way painfully back to shore. Ten minutes walking back around the beach and I am feeling weirdly good after having had the shit scared out of me. That's adrenalin for you I guess and why people put themselves back in those sort of situations time and time again. Me? Nuh, not me! The guy I walked back around the beach with was a lovely fellow known as Simmo. I know him from the pub where my band plays fairly regularly and he likes what we do. Anyway, he was out in the water with a camera and taking pics. So finally, when he gets around to emailing them, some pics of me at my own solo mat meet where you can see the waves were pretty reasonable before that bloody set came through and sent both Simmo and myself running for cover!

3 comments:

  1. I think you captured the ducks perfectly. A little more than a short fin and a little less than the UDT's. Which are BFF

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  2. Good on ya again for giving us all an in depth review luv to read your experiences good or bad. I'm not far off your age and believe me have suffered in the past with calves cramping but have used compression socks (on advice of a triathlon friend/nut) without the feet during and after a session and they do help. old surfer

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