Solutions

A brief entry for today.

So I heard back from the post office and from Maksym (monofin maker) today. Max presented me with 2 options.

One, try cutting off one wave and see how I like it. According to him, the Chinese finswimmers like their fins shorter, and some others too. Two, send it back to him and he'll make me a new fin. He apologised for the cracked fin, saying it was only the second fin to have cracked in about 10 years.

He would have cut one wave anyway off if I send the fin back, so suggested that I do it. If I still did not like the fin, I could always send it back. He says my size should fit the fin perfectly, if not, he'll find some use for the fin when I send it back for his swimmers.

So, I took to the fin with my scissors. I first cut off a wave as close as possible to the next, and then used a cheap sharpening stone (not my ceramic one) to sand off the remaining fibreglass. I then finished up with some fine grit sandpaper to smoothen the edge. That operation took me a fair amount of time.

Later in the day, I took the fin to the pool. I thought that cutting off one wave might make the fin stiffer, seeing as it is shorter now. But to my surprise, it was fine. I could not tell if I was using more or less energy. It would take more testing to figure that out.

The fin swims well. Since I had no one to film my technique today, I don't know if it has improved. This fin is not the easiest to swim with.

The left inside of the left footpocket is still giving me problems. The rest of the foot is already used to the tightness, but there is this one lump of material that sticks into my foot, which causes my whole left foot to cramp. I'll have to modify the pockets somehow. Check back to see my progress!

Photos can be viewed at: http://www.flickr.com/photos/24228903@N04/