got it Lee,
thanks
The 1mm hold up surprisingly well, nice with a shorty suit when the water gets up over 50 degrees. With my size 9 feet, I can get away with the 9-11 size fins for just about everything except dead-of-winter boots, and I am getting a little past all that anyhow.
And I cheat - with bigger fins like the UDTs, I use a slow kick most of the time. Started out with diver’s fins back when and never adjusted to smaller ones like the churchills. Plus walking and/or biking whenever I can and still being in the blue collar end of things. Alas - the body is in fair shape for once and the mind is going. Figures, doesn’t it.
Legacies of a misspent youth, I guess…
doc…
viper kick(pardon the pun) as long you wear fin socks and improve the drainage. hey mike stewart the designer of em has so many contest under the belt can’t be bad eh?
my son and i have two pair of the new feet—he has the customs and loves them and i have a pair of the black udt’s we were playing around with them in the pool this weekend and swaping on and off and camparing to very old churchills and older duck feet and the new of both types are veryyyyy much better…ours will be upsed for both bodysurfing and lifeguarding…horses for courses, as the hot rodders used to say
I allus thought the UDTs were super heavy (sink quickly) and way too stiff, and uncomfy as hell. This at Makapuu, Sandy Beach, and Pipe.
I wore Duck Feet from Mel’s Market in Waimanalo, $20/pair, size super extra large. They too will chafe holes in your feet, which then get staph infections, progressing into weeping pustular craters. They don’t heal on their own - pennicillin to the rescue.
Churchills require a flutter kick, but I never felt they gave any real power, though some get fond of the soft foot area and lack of said pustular craters. Spongers used 'em exclusively, though, until other imitators arrived on the market.
Hi Paul!
What did you think of your modified udts?
Are they about duckfeet length and to a simaler peformance?
Well I decided to go for a swim (flatwater) to compare my long flexy fins (not divers) to stiff body-board fins.
I swapped around many times but the long flex fins clearly kicked the short stiff fins arse.
The short stiff fins were quick off the mark and had no drag but we’re virtually useless and you may as well have been wearing no fins. ( They didn’t take any water with them and really relied on you having to power them really hard ). (they wern’t very comfy either).
The long flex fins completly ruled, perhaps a little slower of the mark but proprelled you really fast through water taking water with you.
I think that perhaps the UDT fins would be like Pushing off a pool wall. ie. quick to start and then gliiiide.
but bodyboard fins are quick to start and not much else.
For me i think the flexier longer fins are perfect, there so much more comfy and i don’t think i could handle udts yet being that i’m a grom.
I’m still yet to try churchills but sore a pair for $5 (second hand) unfortunatly they were to small.
I’ll keep experimenting deffinatly!
My current fins:
The modified UDT's have a foot pocket that's too stiff...
At least for me...
And their overall weight is still more...
The flex tips feel similar to the Churchill's thrust...
[center]
When it comes to packing fins for a surf trip,
I look at my choices,
Churchill’s, UDT or Moified ScubaPro Twin-Jet…
I usually grab the Churchill’s first…
The next choice is the TwinJets
(They fit over booties real well)…
For detailed info on the new Voit UDT and Duck Feet:
Prof. Greg Deets (parsimony@earthlink.net)
http://allaboutsurf.com/0503/articles/deets/index.php
If you get sore feet, you should check out Flips.
http://flipsswimfins.com/pages/5/index.htm
I have EEE width feet. Can’t wear any molded fins for more than 15 minutes without lots o’ pain. Flips have a neoprene & nylon webbing footbed. The blades are quite stiff. My legs get quite tired when I bodysurf with them for more than an hour.
But without the shoe part, they also pack very flat. I can bring them in my laptop bag when I travel and if I find a beach I can have a little fun. They fit under the seats in my car too. 
Hi Josh,
I used fins like your current fins for many (35 ) years and I’m pretty much in agreement on all points. In fact The short stiff fins were quick off the mark and had no drag but were virtually useless and you may as well have been wearing no fins is very near the same wording I have used, frequently, though I tend to add certain Old Anglo-Saxon-based terms for emphasis. I think of them as great fins for people who usually don’t wear fins. Me, I started out diving, so I was used to a large fin and how to use it.
I’m used to a lot of fin blade and using fins either in cruise mode ( kicking slowly going out or keeping position in the lineup) or giving it hell for lots of thrust (to catch a wave or punch through a sneaker set). Thinking about it, the cruise mode is a slower tempo and less actual calf/foot movement while the high-thrust mode is faster and more range of motion.
I’d bet part of your discomfort with the short bodyboard fins was the soft footpocket/hard blade arrangement. When the blade more or less hinges or swivels at the ball of your foot, it’s uncomfortable, least I found it to be so. It’s kinda like having a vehicle with a real powerful engine and good suspension with a transmission unfortunately made of Jello. You may have power, but you can’t deliver it where it’s needed.
The one time I tried churchills, I came back in after about fifteen minutes to put on my ‘real’ fins, with the comment ‘these things are f___ing useless’ and more, to the point of repeating myself. You could say I disliked 'em. Intensely.
I mentioned above that I used fins much like yours ( mine were mostly US Diver’s brand ) for 35 years. I’ve since gone to the UDT Duck Feet after a short trial of the regular Duck Feet. The latter were again smaller than I thought they should be.
Tried some older UDTs as well, one pair had stiff blades and a soft footpocket ( uncomfortable and might as well have been two planks lashed to the foot) and one had a harder footpocket and softer blades ( similar to the new production) which I liked considerably - they became my #1 fins.
I have since gotten some of the new Deets UDTs and I like 'em a lot. If anything, the compounds used are a little better than what are in my black UDTs. Weight about the same - you’ll find that UDTs are heavy fins compared to the ones you’re using now, lot of rubber in 'em.
Let me also commend to your attention http://www.rodndtube.com/paipo/Swim-SurfFinTests.html - as it says, a test of fins, along with http://www.rodndtube.com/paipo/SwimFinsMethods.html on testing methodology - well thought out, as one would expect.
Anyhow- save your money, don’t bother with the churchills. Instead, email Prof. Deets and see if there is somebody who sells the new UDTs in Australia. I think you’ll be pleased with 'em.
hope that’s of use
doc…
BY all means get a pair of DEET’s they are unreal once you get used to them—i took a pair to Panama and one afternoon went body surfing at this kool little point break ---- it was great, early in and down the line like a rocket, quick back to the takeoff ----my son got a pair of voit Customs for xmas—we took both sets and a set of real old churchills to the pool to swap and compare and got a pair of much older customs also—final decission: most power—deet’s, most comfort—old time churchills–1960’s-----best intermediate–new style customs-----and they all float!
my son also told me that the green room surf shop in san diego has bunchs of the UDT’s (rick Pavel’s place 
Hi Doc!
The Bodyboard fins did have a jelo top pocket.
Thanks for the links! it puts into perspective how little power you get with bair feet.
I’ll definatly try udts. espicelly when i get more expirence with swim fins.
Thanks for your reply.
Hi Josh
Ohhh yeah, you are definitely gonna like bigger fins, and the way the different rubbers are used really does improve how well they work.
Of interest on that chart is this:
Duckfeet Orange-Blue (vintage) SXL 28** 30**
**A lower bound for the thrust. Forgot to bring the thicker booties, so the fins rotated on the feet resulting in a smaller effective blade area and reduced thrust.
The ‘jello pockets’ can be seen to knock down the effective thrust, even from larger blades. I’ll also note that no info is given as to compounds hard/soft for footpocket/blade.
I will also note that it’s interesting how different stroke styles ( as the chart shows with the Redleys ) can affect the power by 25%. I may have to repeat those tests sometime with newer/different fins, just have to think of where I can lay hands on a large-ish hanging spring scale.
ah well - not today though, got other stuff needs doing…
doc…
Quote:
If you get sore feet, you should check out Flips.
http://flipsswimfins.com/pages/5/index.htm
I have EEE width feet. Can’t wear any molded fins for more than 15 minutes without lots o’ pain. Flips have a neoprene & nylon webbing footbed. The blades are quite stiff. My legs get quite tired when I bodysurf with them for more than an hour.
But without the shoe part, they also pack very flat. I can bring them in my laptop bag when I travel and if I find a beach I can have a little fun. They fit under the seats in my car too.
Bodysurfing with Flips has got to be one of the most compact modes of surfing possible (short of surfing with no fins). One caveat, however. In comparison with rubber fins, the moderately hard plastic blades are more slippery than snot when walking across wet rocks. I also frequently have to cinch them up tighter at least once during a session (but I notice that the strapping has apparently been changed since I got mine as the picture you posted appears to show a “flap”-like covering, rather than straps, over the upper side of the foot).
mtb
I just got some duckfeet off ebay-- arrived here today and tried them on. I note that size categorys vary between producers. I fit a Churchill L, but with the Duckfeet I’m using XL. My shoe size is 10 1/2
It’s worth noting, cuz I almost passed the duckfeet up on Ebay thinking the size XL too big. But when I read the seller’s description he said XL was for sizes 9 1/2 - 11. once I read that on ebay, I went to several sites to double check on it, and turns out to be true.
I also bought a pair of flips and was stoked with them at first. They are really comfortable, you can wear them barefoot and never get sand trapped in them. And they seemed to have plenty of power. But I noticed after a while that I never seemed to have that extra bit of thrust I need to make the drop compared to my other fins(da fin). Not sure if it is the fin’s fault or mine.However, It seems like it would be fairly easy to design your own fin blades out of fiberglass and epoxy resin and adapt the strap system to them.
OK, so I got my duckfeet, and since the surf is pretty lame right now, I thought I’d swim some laps with them at the pool. Only swam about 1000mts and got some pretty decent blistas on my toe-knuckles. Do you eventually get calluses? I don’t want to have to buy some finsocks whatever Stateside, so I’ll assume some of you use regular socks. ??
If you have a set of 2 or 3mm reef boots or something like that, they work fine under the UDTs.
hope that’s of use
doc…
Duckfeet are notorious for giving ulcers on the knuckletoes.
Although the mentioned reef boots might do the trick if you have enough space for them.
Another strategy is to use fin sox, but buy them oversized, you might experiment with thinner mfg ones vs. thicker ones. Buy them oversized vs. the just right and snug ones.
The snug ones will keep your toes curled and keep the knuckles of the toes as the impact point
with the upper fin pocket and keep the ulcers coming.
The fin sox may not completely stop the ulcers as on hard paddling days you’ll experience them again.
At this point, glue some old wetsuit into the top upper pocket and experiment with thicknesses and layers
using Contact cement.
If you do this you’ll have a perfect fin!
After you have a perfect fin, grab some super glue and do the system a final time.
Make a template of what you have done with the wetsuit cutouts and smaller overlap at the toe area for future use.