USdiver wrote:Freddo, Here are the fins that I have been lusting over for about three years. They are made in Turkey using the molds from the original Beauchat Jet-Fin, which as you can see were first full-foot fins, before Scubapro licensed and produced them as open heel.
http://www.free-sub.com/eng/acs_fin.html
I'd really like to get together a group buy on these, if we could find a reliable means to get them here.
I suspect that Free Sub carry these fins for sale to their Turkish customers (note that they're not offered in the English-language section) and they don't actually manufacture them. The manufacturer of the fins is
Adalilar Kauçuk, an Istanbul rubber products company with a website at
http://www.adalilarkaucuk.com/
If you click on the
Ürünlerimiz link you will navigate to a page illustrating all their products, including the closed-heel Jetfin clones:
Recognise the long-bladed fin next to the world's only existing full-foot model fin with heelstrap? Older freedivers certainly would, because they're reincarnations of
Mares Concordes, complete with the Massimo Scarpati signature at the tip of the blade. Mares must have sent Adalilar the moulds after they abandoned making all-rubber fins. You may also recognise while you're on that Products page a pair of
Mares Sea Kings, a Mediterranean favourite in the 1960s and 70s, brought back to life as
Süper Jets:
I had a little look around to see what the price of these reborn Jetfins might be:
and found a pair of size 44-46 (US 10-12) on sale here:
http://www.avistanbul.com.tr/asp/produc ... -JET-PALET
115 TL is about US$39.
I can understand Bryan's reluctance to smooth the passage for purchasing these fins. I doubt that the Avistanbul online retail company is used to customers outside Turkey and my Turkish is non-existent so I certainly wouldn't know how to go about getting hold of this gear, which is why I've never tried to purchase any of it myself.