SCUBA Theory is following the wet sessions of a unique, semester(three month) long university level Advanced Open Water SCUBA class. Last time we hit the snorkels, today we're moving on to fins. We cover the basic kicks and then start bringing things together under the water.

With each session until now, we've added another piece of gear. For today, everyone will have mask, fins, snorkel and a weight belt. Dive shops usually require the student to furnish these basic items. For this class, we provide everything. We keep a selection of full foot fins for the students. Scubapro's full foot floating fins have served our pool sessions well for years. They seem to handle the chlorine very well and they're thick enough to take lots of abuse. (I personally prefer something with a slightly stiffer blade, especially when assisting students)

Our first kick of the day is the dear old flutter kick, but we start out with the students facing up. In full gear this makes sense, but considering that several students are still getting used to the mask/snorkel combo it's a good way to start out. (Each class varies, today I saw plenty of people spitting out their snorkels to get more air.

The dolphin kick is next. It's an air intensive kick, but it's very powerful. If you're not familiar, it's practiced just as it sounds. The feet stay together and the kick starts at the upper torso, moving down the body like a wave. If speed is needed, it's always a good one. (It's more difficult in full gear, but manageable)

Our last kick is the frog kick. This one is my favorite. It's very, very efficient, and you can slightly vary it to keep from getting fatigued. The kick itself it a matter of spreading the feet apart and bringing them back together. Despite the name, you don't push with your feet, but keep your legs extended. When the legs are spread, the fins are parallel to the direction of movement, but when you bring them together, the feet are turned towards the perpendicular. As your legs come together, you're thrust forward in a nice smooth motion. This kick is flexible. You can make slight adjustments so you don't wear a particular muscle group out. You can turn the fins on the opposite stroke. Flaring on the spread and parallel on the press.

Once we've covered all the kicks, we let them swim a few laps with whatever kick they want. We keep an eye on them and help smooth out any kinks. People who've never used fins before come up with some uh, interesting ways to use their fins.

Next we move on to donning the skin diving gear under water. We place the mask/snorkel, fins and weight belt on the bottom of the pool. Then we practice donning the weight belt, managing and putting on the fins before they float off, clearing the mask, surfacing and clearing the snorkel. It may seem odd to teach students to do breath hold skills for a SCUBA class, but these all build to harder skills later on.