FINA banned the shiny suits partially because they gave some people an unfair advantage.Then they turn around and OK adding the fins to the blocks.They supposedly make starts 0.2-0.4 faster.That is not a trivial amount especially in a 50.Being able to practice with them before a meet that has them is undoubtedly beneficial.Very few swimmers will have access to them on a regular basis.Is this fair,what say you?
Back in the day, people who swam well in the surf were probably upset when those wave-calming lane lines allowed the weaker among them to now stay up in the race... :bolt:
The angled fin should have been engineered to slide forward enough to lift the heals for grab starts. Normally, all the weight and force from the jump is concentrated on the leading edge of the block. This bruises the bottoms of my toes and makes it painfull to walk.
I had my first go off the fin blocks this weekend. My attitude was that if they were there I might as well use them. Although I generally seemed to loop up a bit high on my starts, I quite liked them. However, I also messed up my 100 *** start and went in at a really sharp angle.
I'll probably never get the chance to practice with them. If they could realistically be accepted as standard by your average swimming pool, then I'd be fine with them, but as they won't I'd be just as happy to see them removed from the sport.
