Self-adjusting fin straps are one of the best ways to don and doff your fins. It also makes it easier to use different size booties. Steel spring straps are a relatively new product for fins. It was invented by cave divers that didn’t want their rubber straps breaking on them in the middle of a cave. So, they took screen door springs and made fin straps out of them. Typical rubber straps also have a chance of breaking at some point. If you are lucky, it will happen when you are putting them on before a dive, not in the middle of one. I had a strap break on me in the middle of a dive. Lucky the suction between the fin and my booties kept the fin on.
I noticed that the fin was slightly lost, but we only had about 30 minutes left in the dive, so I just went with it. I was also lucky that I wanted to drive and hang out and make sure we didn’t run into anything. I did have a very small bungee that I used to hold the fin on. It wasn’t great, and I should have tried it in the pool before I was out doing a combat swimmer dive. It would help if you always carried a spare strap on you. Replacing a strap can be a pain in the middle of a dive. So, as I said before, and I have said this a lot in the articles I post, always practice things before you are in the field.
The self-adjusting strap helps avoid most of these problems. You can find them for almost every type of open-heel fins. The spring straps typically attach using rust-resistant metal hardware. SCUBAPRO Steel Spring Straps are available for SCUBAPRO Jet fins, Twin Jet Max, Veloce fins, and the Seawing Nova fins. They are made from High-grade marine steel. These straps can replace the traditional fin strap with the added benefits of being easier to don and doff, and they will compensate at depth for the pressure underwater. The flexible nature of the spring strap tightens as you descend to compensate for the crush on your boots, meaning your fins stay on at the exact tension you set them to at the surface. They are also a lot less likely to break when entering the water from a helicopter. The Steel Spring strap for the SCUBAPRO Jet fin has also been added to the 2020 Naval Aircrew Systems State of the Art Catalog. This allows SAR swimmers the ability to start using the Spring heels on their fins.
Spring straps are strong springs with a rubber or nylon heel cover for comfort. Instead of adjusting the tension every time you put them on like with traditional straps, you simply stretch the spring over your heel. This decreases your time and energy spent putting on and taking off your fins before and after a dive. Several fins models now come with pre-installed spring straps, but they can also be added to many other fin models.
The other type of self-adjusting straps is made from quality marine-grade bungee designed for years of reliable use. Marine-grade bungee is design and construction, making it ideal for prolonged exposure to saltwater, sunlight/UV radiation, and the general wear and tear that fin regularly go through. A denier Dacron polyester cover is thick and long-lasting, repelling water and resisting abrasion better than nylon.
This bungee is made from a top-quality first extruded latex rubber with a consistent 100% stretch and high modulus that won’t lose its elasticity as many others do. Like the steel spring, the bungee is self-adjusting at depth. Upon ascent, they decompress, keeping fin straps comfortable throughout the dive. Straps have a large rubber finger loop to aid in donning and doffing. Marine bungee is highly reliable and has a very low percentage of breaking. All this being said, I know you can break it if you “test it” to try and prove me wrong. They come standard on the SCUBAPRO Go (Barefoot fin) and GO Sport fins (Boot fin).
They are made from 100% Monprene construction avoids de-lamination problems, broken blades, and torn foot pockets that tend to plague average thermoplastic fins. This enables the Go Sport to stand up to long-term, heavy-duty use.
The Go fin excels in strength, comfort, and convenience, but where it shines is in kicking performance. The Go is built with a 25° pre-angled blade with a central power panel that provides longitudinal rigidity and channeling effect. Power bars on the underside of the rails prevent over-flex; this helps maintain the optimum angle of attack under high load conditions. The result: you get a lightweight fin that delivers speed, power, stability, and maneuverability with a minimum of effort.
The Go Sport fin is genuinely one of the best fins I have ever used. I have giving them away to a lot of people. This is because when I let someone uses them, they usually won’t give them back. I have used them diving in a strong current, swimming over the beach, pushing a ruck, and for surface swims. I have never had a cramp while using them. They are light and do not take up too much room, making them the ideal river and stream crossing fins. I am 6’2″ 225, and they push my big butt around.