Fraser Bathgate one of the world's leading authorities on scuba diving for the disabled tests reformulated Force Fins and gives them a thumbs up. Promoting awareness of the needs of the disabled and encouraging those who are to live their life to the fullest is a life ambition for Fraser Bathgate. The inspiration he spreads is based on personal experience as Bathgate himself was suddenly disabled from the waist down in 1986. After a period of extreme darkness he found his solace in scuba diving and has never looked back. Bathgate is currently The International Association for Handicapped Divers (IAHD) Vice President and Director of Training.

Force Fin has tested a newly formulated fin with Fraser Bathgate to find out how to make the best diving fin for the disabled. Bob Evans has taken his Original Force Fin design and modified the molecular structure. In doing so Evans created the perfect amount of flex and rebound necessary for those disabled individuals who just have use of their upper body during a dive. A disabled diver moving his upper body to create hip rotation causes the legs to flutter. This flutter causes force in the downward direction against the fin which intern leads to the the rebound effect of the fin back up to produce a forward momentum in a way no other fin can match.

Bathgate says, "When I first met Bob Evans he spoke with me about a concept for a lighter compound fin. I thought there is no way this will ever work because I have always needed a stiffness to the fin so I could rotate my hip's to move forward, Bob convinced me this was wrong. He sent a set of Original Force Fins which were made of this new compound, I can now say hand on heart he was right and I still to this day do not know how, what, or which method he used but I will never go back and I will always now say what fin to use, a Force Fin."

The reformulated fins called Jiggly Wigglies are now available for special order through
Force Fin. To find out more or to place an order please call:
1-800-FIN-SWIM (346-7946)

About Fraser Bathgate:

At the age of 24 Fraser loved his work as an outdoor education instructor and was looking forward to a trip of a lifetime, a climbing expedition to the Himalayas. With six weeks to go Fraser was training hard to be at the peak of fitness. He was on a training wall in an indoor climbing center in London when he fell 25ft. The way he fell resulted in both his heels smashing into his ankles and having a domino affect up the bone structure of each leg, ending with crushing his spine. The damage meant he'd never walk again.

Fraser says, "It was as though I had gone from living my life at 500 miles an hour to stop in less than a second.

Bathgate had thought about the possibility of scuba diving for sometime and got the opportunity in Dubai, "It changed my life in 24 hours. I loved the freedom, the weightlessness in the water and the fact I didn't have to rely on anyone else to do it."

Totally hooked on the sport Fraser became the first paraplegic PADI Scuba diving Instructor in 1994, the first person in a wheelchair to qualify to do so. He's now an international advisor for the association.

Please visit www.forcefin.com & www.iahd.org