What's New in the Molchanovs Competition Monofin 3?

Our Molchanovs Competition Monofin 3 (Molchanovs CM3 for short) will be the monofin used by the best competitive freedivers around the world. Developed by world champion Alexey Molchanov and team over two years and tested by the world’s strongest athletes, our monofin, designed by freedivers for freedivers, provides the highest performance and efficiency for your dives.

Improving the Foot Pockets

The Molchanovs CM3 is a unique combination of our handbuilt open-heel foot pockets (now more comfortable thanks to the new Comfort Lining), paired with the highest quality fiberglass blade. It will now be available in both standard EU sizes as well as custom sizes. The Molchanovs CM3 comes with our new M-Stripe design in a variety of colors. Get one of our popular recommended standard configurations on color, flex and blade size or create your own configuration.

Refining the Blade

Why are Molchanovs Monofins the best? It starts with the blade, and not all monofin blades are created equal. For the Molchanovs CM3 blade, our masters start with the highest quality fiberglass and resin. They then apply ultra-high compression (UHC) to produce the highest fiber-to-resin ratio of any blade on the market. Unlike other blades on the market, our masters orient the fibers of the blade at a 45-degree angle to the blade-edge.

This makes the layering process much more painstaking, time consuming and expensive, but it produces far superior torsional rigidity in the blade as compared to the industry-standard practice of orienting the fibers perpendicular to the blade-edge. Every single Molchanovs blade is then carefully hand-layered in a labor-intensive process by experienced craftsmen who have over 15 years of experience crafting Molchanovs monofins.

The protective blade stripes are now added, and have a lower profile and are longer to provide superior protection along the blade. The end result is a durable monofin blade that is also the softest, most flexible and most responsive blade on the market with our signature feel. 

Assembling the Perfect Monofin

A key design decision is the new composition and placement of the foot pockets and the introduction of a cutout in the blade between the foot pockets (the Quick-Transition Blade design). These changes both reduce resistance and drag during the kick-phase of the stroke and allows the blade to quickly and efficiently transition between the strokes. These changes also have decreased slightly the overall length of the monofin which allows for more precise control with greater efficiency.

Choosing a Blade Stiffness

Our monofin blade stiffness is based on 3 stiffness flexes (Soft, Medium, and Hard) and two blade sizes (1 and 2). Size 1 blades are slightly narrower, shorter and softer than size 2 blades although the difference is quite small (2 centimeters of length and width). As an example, a Blade Stiffness Soft 1 is a Soft flex blade of size 1 and is slightly narrower, shorter and softer than a Blade Stiffness Soft 2.

View the Molchanovs CM3 shop page here.