With the new VBlabs Axiom a new player enters the amazing world of competition freediving fins. And what a player! VBlabs is the brand by the 18 x World Record holder freediving Champion and Vertical Blue founder, William Trubridge, and Eric Chen, the man who has transformed ideas into reality. The huge experience by William definitely brings additional interest to the VBlabs Axiom fins. The concept and materials give the Axiom the potential to be one of the strongest players on the market of high end competition freediving fins. We have interviewed the two business partners about the work behind the VBlabs Axion fins, the first product launched by their freediving brand.
Carlo Forni: When did the project of the new fins start and which were the main steps that brought to final result?
William Trubridge: I think the Axiom we’ve been working on for at least a couple of years now. I think I first had the idea for the concept for it maybe earlier than that, but I started talking to Eric about it probably a couple of years ago, and he’s the only person who I know could implement this concept and turn it from an idea into carbon and rubber and everything else. So, it was amazing to see that process. But it was about a couple of years ago, I think, and we’ve had many different iterations in that time, different prototypes that we’ve been testing. This version that we’ve come up with now is the finished one and it seems to be outperforming pretty much every other fin on the market in terms of efficiency and speed and stroke counts in depth and the pool. It really is kind of proving the concept. The main steps, I guess, was just kind of that collaboration between us, the concept, the idea that I had, and then just figuring out how that can be converted into the materials that we’re using. Because carbon obviously has its own limitations or requirements. And so, just trying to build the concept with the materials that we have. So that was the main step.
Carlo Forni: You indicate that the answers were already in the ocean. Can you make some examples of what features of the design of the fins come from the shape of the inhabitants of the ocean?
William Trubridge: It’s called the caudal keel. So if you’re looking down from above on a mako shark or a swordfish, you’ll see this kind of almost like a bulbous portion of the back of the body, but it’s flattened in the horizontal axis to make this kind of keel that cuts through the water in both directions as the body is oscillating. And this made me realize that that part of the body needs to be hydrodynamic in that direction, in the sideways direction, because it’s moving very quickly from side to side. And so if it’s pushing against the water, then it creates a whole lot of resistance that slows down that sideways oscillation of the body. And the same concept applies to our foot in freediving for the bifin kick, because our foot is moving forwards and backwards very quickly, as much as like a couple of times a second. And if there’s any resistance to that movement, then you’re basically pushing water forwards and backwards without having any propulsive effect from that. And so the propulsion is all generated further down in the blade. That portion of the blade around the foot pocket and just the very first part of the foot pocket are moving in a direction that’s like basically sideways, perpendicular to the direction of motion. And so if it’s a big surface area, you are pushing water backwards and forwards, but you’re not pushing it downward, like away from you. You’re not getting propulsion from it. So it gives the sensation that you’re doing work, that there’s resistance, but that resistance isn’t coming from propulsion, it’s coming from pushing the water forwards and backwards. And so what we tried to do is replicate this caudal keel of the apex predators. So we’ve kind of taken it back to first principles.
That’s why it’s called the Axiom, and, like, analyse, like, how do the most efficient creatures swim in the water? There’s the fin that’s causing the propulsion, but the rest of the body that’s oscillating, what does that need to look like? So we’ve tried to replicate that caudal keel in the foot pocket and in the very first part of the blade itself, like the interface between the foot pocket and the blade, so that there’s minimal resistance to the movement forwards and backwards of the foot. And that gives the impression that you’re not doing anything, like you can move your foot forwards and backwards without feeling any of that resistance that you normally would, and yet you’re still getting a lot of propulsion because the blade is doing its job. So the effect is a feeling of lightness with incredible propulsion. And we’re seeing the first people who are testing it, including some divers in Korea. There was a girl who was using a fin that was basically the same stiffness as the guys were using, and her comment that she kept on making was how light these fins are, how light they feel. And so that’s the holy grail, because it proves this concept of creating minimal resistance to the oscillation of the foot while maximising the propulsion of the blade.
But that’s just one thing that’s gone into this blade. There’s so much more. Like, every little detail has been taken back to first principles and designed to the maximum. The moulding of the foot pocket and the instep, the layups of the carbon fibre on the blade, the carbon itself that we’re using is a carbon fibre that’s not available to most businesses or in many countries. You have to sign a permit with an American organization, I think it’s like a military-grade carbon fibre. So you have to sign a permit saying that you’re not going to use it for military purposes. So it’s the most high-performing carbon fibre. And when we first used this carbon fibre, we used the same number of regular sheets, and the fin was way too stiff because each sheet, for the same thickness, the same weight, created so much more stiffness. So it’s just an incredibly performative type of carbon fibre that’s not being used by any other manufacturer. So every single thing in this fin has been maximised for performance, and the result is easily the fastest, most efficient fin on the market at the moment.
Carlo Forni: Which are the materials of the blade and of the footpocket?
Eric Chen: The Axiom blade utilizes a carefully configured combination of carbon fiber layups to achieve the optimal flex pattern. Specifically, we use high-modulus carbon fiber — the same grade used by Formula 1 race teams.
The foot pockets are one-shot molded, popped directly from the mold for consistency and precision. We offer adjustable crushing pad thickness, as well as arch position and thickness customization. The initial release will come in a standard general fit, with custom options available for athletes with specific requirements down the line.
Carlo Forni: When will the fins be available for sale?
Eric Chen: Given that fit and comfort are critical to the Axiom’s performance, we launched our first wave in Korea and Taiwan at the end of March. We anticipate opening orders to customers in Europe and the US from around May to June onwards.
Carlo Forni: Will there be a single model/stiffness or more than one?
Eric Chen: The current version of the Axiom comes in a single stiffness. Based on testing with both male and female competitive athletes, the flex has proven to be well-suited and manageable across the board.
Carlo Forni: Which characteristics of the new Axiom fins are the winning ones which you would like to underline?
William Trubridge: The horizontal resistance to the movement of the foot pocket and the foot pocket blade interface. That’s number two. The most performative carbon fiber on the market that exists pretty much. Number three, the engineers, including Eric, who’s designed this fin and the engineers who are building it, are easily kind of the most experienced and expert on the market. They’re designing all kinds of other high-performance carbon fiber products such as bicycle racing and I believe even F1. And so they know exactly how to use these materials and have the most high-tech tooling and everything else. The ability to tailor the foot pocket by altering the size of the instep, such that it becomes more ergonomic and adherent to the particular foot. So we’re using a mold for the foot pockets, which most other manufacturers aren’t doing. They’re using their kind of gluing together pieces of rubber and stuff. And the mold means that it makes it much more durable in the long run. It’s less likely to come apart or come unstuck. And this ability to tailor the size of the foot pocket by adjusting the instep is a way to make sure that it is kind of as adherent as it possibly can be. So they are very tight foot pockets. They’re not designed to be comfortable for a couple of hours of snorkeling on the reef. These are fins that are designed for single, deep, or very long dives in the pool. And in that function, they seem to be outperforming anything else on the market.
