What was your first swim like in a tail?

[TheChimera]

Hey fellow Mers! I was wondering what your experiences were like? For the very first swim in a tail, was it exciting ? Terrifying? Any challenges faces ? Feel free to share!

Btw mine was a little terrifying lol, mostly because thats when i 'came out of the closet' as a mer so to speak? So believe it was more of a social pressure thing, Can't wait for my next dip!

[Merman Arion]

Hi Princess :)

My first swim was in a public indoor pool. I was wearing my tail which is a blue magictail and in the past, i never swam with a monofin so the whole thing was exciting, terrifying and a challenge, all three in one! The lifeguards granted me permission to use it since it was not crowded in the morning.

I was happy to feel the water on my tail and people (adults!) next to me were smiling : they never saw a merman in a pool and they encouraged me to show them. I was pressured but i finally did it. I watched enough youtube videos to memorize and reproduce the dolphin kick underwater, i was worried to do it badly at first but it actually came naturally. I had fun and it was great! Still, i shallowed some water at the first trial but that was to be expected. Back then, i couldn't hold my breath for 20 seconds and now that i swim twice a week, i'm getting better. My record is 45 seconds for now. I hope to reach 1 min by Christmas Eve.

I'm planning to do pictures and a swimming video soon. I just have to find someone to come with me and take care of the camera :p

[Mermaid Cecelia]

My first swim was with a fabric tail that I had made. I was at my neighbors pool while they we out of town, and I videotaped it :P my tail was kinda crappy, no monofin, lots of drag, so my breath hold was so so so sooooo low. It was kinda freaky having to breathe so often, cuz usually I barely have to breathe. Also the tail was pretty heavy.

It was fun nonetheless :D

[TheChimera]

My first swim was with a fabric tail that I had made. I was at my neighbors pool while they we out of town, and I videotaped it :P my tail was kinda crappy, no monofin, lots of drag, so my breath hold was so so so sooooo low. It was kinda freaky having to breathe so often, cuz usually I barely have to breathe. Also the tail was pretty heavy.

It was fun nonetheless :D

Just about sums up my first go! Lol also in self made tail, took pictures too, will upload soon as possible, but the experience is lifechanging, no? Since then , whenever i swim without a tail, it just isnt the same, like you feel less like yourself without the tail

[Merman Arion]

Since then , whenever i swim without a tail, it just isnt the same, like you feel less like yourself without the tail

I totally hear you. I feel the same as well. ;)

[AniaR]

I wrote about my first swim in my tail in my book at length. But to sum it up: not great. I had a fabric tail with two swim fins, and I could barely do it. It was frustrating and a little embarrassing. But I didn't let it stop me ;)

[Mermaid Oshun]

My first swim in a tail was in my pool in my backyard. It was a great work out! When I finished every muscle in my body was sore the following few days. I am very weak and my leg muscles and all other muscles in my body are nonexistent. So for me this was very difficult. Yet it was a lot of fun! Somehow I managed to swim in it all summer in the privacy of my own backyard. I have never appeared in public in a tail.
PS I forgot to add that for me mermaiding is totally a spiritual experience. By mermaiding I connect with and pay reverence to water spirits.

[Mermaid Cecelia]

I wrote about my first swim in my tail in my book at length. But to sum it up: not great. I had a fabric tail with two swim fins, and I could barely do it. It was frustrating and a little embarrassing. But I didn't let it stop me ;)

Mine had broken swim fins, there was no ankle strap so I tied ribbon around them to keep them on my feet :P

[Mermaid Lorelei]

My tail ripped right at the beginning of my first swim. I had to hold the waist up the whole way down the lane. Oh well. I fixed it and the following swims were much better.

[Fun123joker]

when i was waiting for my monofin to come i would practice by swiming with my feet together. then i started swiming with just my monofin and waering it around the house to break it in (first few times to wear it i got blisters on my feet) . I didnt know how to sew at the time so my mom's friend made the tail for me. but she had no idea what to do so she only made it that it would cover my legs and not my monofin so i would swim with my monofin exposed.
my first swim was in my aunt's pool. the only word i could use was finally! it took time to figure out how to go back up more naturally to breath. man that was so cool.

[thevirginiamermaid]

I swam in my college's gym pool the first time I swam in a tail. It was so much harder than I thought. The monofin was SO heavy, I couldn't and still can' t lift my fin out of the water. But it was awesome, and the lifeguards expressions were PRICELESS! Everyone loved it

[Echidna]

My first swim was terrible.
I had never done the dolphin kick before, had spent the last decade in my house with only occasional trips to the hospital,
thus all my muscles were gone, and I'm super buoyant, so I just spent two hours flopping around at the surface.

For the next swim, however, I used a weight belt, and voilà, another mermaid ;)

[Seatan]

Mine was pretty good. I had a few "blooper" moments--you know, coming up with hair in the face, spewing water and snot out the nose, feeling like a fool in general--and I spent a lot more time swimming with my head out of the water than I had anticipated (which didn't feel very mermaidly), usually only going under once a lap for maybe ten or fifteen seconds. The reason? Cause I'm out of shape as hell and can't take both major physical workout and breath holding without ending up panting. One of my biggest problems was trying to go too fast. The dolphin kick would exhaust and frustrate me, because I was trying to shoot through the water so fast. This would also stress me out and make me feel like I needed air. Now I try and remind myself that mermaids aren't in a hurry, and if I want to go fast and stay under, I put myself in "mermaid mode" and pretend I'm chasing a fish!

[halesloveswhales]

Mine was actually amazing. I had been practicing with a more professional monofin for a couple months before I got my tail (with an Oceanika/Mahina MerFin), so swimming in the tail was a lot easier than I expected. The scariest/most awkward part was that I was at a dive quarry, and I had to put my tail on on a dock and then roll off the side of the dock to get in the water. But I was amazed that I could keep pace with the fish swimming around. Pretty cool :)

[drucilla]

My first swim in a tail was odd at first. It was a fabric tail and for some reason I just could'nt stay down in the water I just kept floating up, so my husband had to hold me down in the pool by my waist, lol. While he was holding me down he watched my movements and taped them, they were great (suprisingly), but for some reason I just couldn't stay down lol. It felt great though, it was around 10Pm in the apartment complex pool, the water was freezing, but the moon and stars were out. It was beautiful, and it just felt right.

[Mermaid Melanie]

My first swim was so much fun but was for sure pressured as we were being filmed for a German tv show ( Auf Und Davon ) we got on the boat on the first day of the workshop and headed out to the dive site. On the way there we practised our undulating techniques and then we got in our tails and into a dinghy and then back rolled into the water ! we had to perform as best we could with no previous mermaid training and it was very challenging to have our eyes open in the ocean and try to make your face nice AND hold your breath long enough to get decent shots ! if you guys wanna check out the journey heres a link to a short summary of the course -

Trailer - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G4e1AYwaQIU
Course - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9b6b-uJ1ZpM
Swim with Sharks - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TrG3hVv2Tg8

Hope you guys enjoy em ! its amazing seeing how far you have come - keep filming yourself and you can learn from looking at the footage :) xx

[Merman Arion]

Hi Melanie

I loved your videos. They are great!
Could you tell me what music song you used for the course? It's beautiful and i would love to use it for my swimming video :)

Thank you very much :hug:

[Mermaid Oshun]

Mermaid Melanie your videos are wonderful! I vacationed in Thailand about 25 years ago and it was a pure dream! I visited a Buddhist temple late at night on the full moon and it was totally magical! There was also a festival to a sea Goddess that night and people were placing offerings in the water. Do you know what festival that might have been?
PS I found my own answer. I think it was Loy Kratong. Here's an image of the festival of Loy Krathong I found online. Although thought to honor Shiva and Buddha, it also honors Phra Mae Kong Ka (พระแม่คงคา). Kong Ka is the Thai form of Ganga, the Hindu goddess of the sacred Ganges river in India.
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They also release laterns at Buddhist temples
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[Mizuko]

I'd swum in a monofin previously, but my first swim in my tail was in the ocean :) It was magical! I was hooked! haha!

[Anahita]

My first swim as a mermaid should have been terrifying....

I was in a homemade fabric tail (not even swimsuit material, mind you, it was wool, because that's what we had laying around and no one thought "hey, not a good idea") no monofin (I don't even think there's a way to get those in Iran - I'd never seen one until I came to America), and early EARLY in the morning when it was still pretty dark still on the beach before it opened to every one (because even though I was still very young, I was old enough to be considered inappropriate by the law to be seen in such a state by unrelated males). Oh, yeah, and on a freaking beach, in the ocean, not even a nice pool.

Somehow though I didn't drown - though I did get caught by a wave at one point and dragged out a little further than I was comfortable with, but I swam back just fine. I actually remember having a lot of fun before my mom started screaming at me that I had to go. I had already been very used to swimming fully clothed in a manteau, headscarf, etc. because on public beaches, that's the only way to get into the water, so I guess the weight of the wet wool and restricted leg room didn't feel all that different.

I had to get out of the tail almost immediately after I got out of the water because my mother was paranoid that the wool would INSTANTLY shrink-wrap itself around me and cut off my circulation... After that we ran back to the car, me wearing a huge chador so no one could see that I was in underwear, and dragging a waterlogged tail behind us.

The tail did get pretty messed up from that swim though, and I never fit into it afterwards. After that we made my tails out of cotton or linen and left holes in the bottom of them for my feet so I could shuffle away on my own without being in nothing but underwear. Lol

[TheChimera]

I have always loved the freedom i have when swimming, the seemingly weightless world that I'm exposed to when underwater, but swimming with a tail made me fall in love all over again.

Thanks for all the replies! Mine was a little embarrassing too, my first swim was in my boyfriend's pool, he swam with me too and helped out, i dared not do it in my own pool at home, since my father would not approve, so my boyfriend and his family are the only ones to know about it and support me fully, my tail was a fabric tail i had made myself from a strong-ish wire type of frame and fins made from tooling leather, my own idea lol, then the whole thing is skinned over by lycra which i painted with fabric paint, all held together by silicone sealant, which worked great if not for the frame that let me down. The central part of the frame warped when i tried to swim but held it's general shape, almost drowned a couple of times when the fabric started to take on more and more water and the fins didn't have much propulsion, but I kept going, and the moment i started relaxing a bit , it all got better and felt so insanely serene , i couldn't swim very fast but that didn't stop me from putting on my swimming goggles and watching my tail glide through the water,

so a few lessons learnt , got better ideas for a more efficient tail design, got a very sincere 'i'm proud of you for following your dreams' from my boyfriend, and I'm never going back to swimming with legs ever again! :3

[TheChimera]

My first swim as a mermaid should have been terrifying....

I was in a homemade fabric tail (not even swimsuit material, mind you, it was wool, because that's what we had laying around and no one thought "hey, not a good idea") no monofin (I don't even think there's a way to get those in Iran - I'd never seen one until I came to America), and early EARLY in the morning when it was still pretty dark still on the beach before it opened to every one (because even though I was still very young, I was old enough to be considered inappropriate by the law to be seen in such a state by unrelated males). Oh, yeah, and on a freaking beach, in the ocean, not even a nice pool.

Somehow though I didn't drown - though I did get caught by a wave at one point and dragged out a little further than I was comfortable with, but I swam back just fine. I actually remember having a lot of fun before my mom started screaming at me that I had to go. I had already been very used to swimming fully clothed in a manteau, headscarf, etc. because on public beaches, that's the only way to get into the water, so I guess the weight of the wet wool and restricted leg room didn't feel all that different.

I had to get out of the tail almost immediately after I got out of the water because my mother was paranoid that the wool would INSTANTLY shrink-wrap itself around me and cut off my circulation... After that we ran back to the car, me wearing a huge chador so no one could see that I was in underwear, and dragging a waterlogged tail behind us.

The tail did get pretty messed up from that swim though, and I never fit into it afterwards. After that we made my tails out of cotton or linen and left holes in the bottom of them for my feet so I could shuffle away on my own without being in nothing but underwear. Lol

I have the utmost respect for you, good on you for following your dreams in the face of such adversity!

[Elle]

I don't have a tail, I only have my merfin at the moment.
I grew up around water, I learnt to swim at the same time I learnt to walk. I can't remember a time when I couldn't swim even when I was very little.
And growing up with competitive swimming I'm pretty confident with my kick (even though I haven't done any competitive swimming in a very long time and my health hasn't been great since I hit 16)

I first swam with my merfin in a man made salt lake. And even though with crappy health and the fin rubbing ridiculously on my poor feet, I've never felt more free.
While I'm having to re teach myself my breath holds and the pure relaxation I felt when I was younger, just being in the water with my fin on is without a doubt the best feeling in the world. It's pure joy for me.

[TheChimera]

It's amazing to see everyone's own unique stories , and connect via our similar experiences, thank you everyone for your beautiful replies, and keep em' coming! :D

[Mermaid Melanie]

[QUOTE=Golden Pearl;97877]Mermaid Melanie your videos are wonderful! I vacationed in Thailand about 25 years ago and it was a pure dream! I visited a Buddhist temple late at night on the full moon and it was totally magical! There was also a festival to a sea Goddess that night and people were placing offerings in the water. Do you know what festival that might have been?
PS I found my own answer. I think it was Loy Kratong. Here's an image of the festival of Loy Krathong I found online. Although thought to honor Shiva and Buddha, it also honors Phra Mae Kong Ka (พระแม่คงคา). Kong Ka is the Thai form of Ganga, the Hindu goddess of the sacred Ganges river in India.
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They also release laterns at Buddhist temples [QUOTE]


Hey Golden Pearl! thanks glad you liked em ! and yes we are preparing for Loy Kratong soon ! its a lovely festival - you light your candle on the float and the ones whose lights stay lit and make it out to sea have good fortune in love - although some of the fairs at the festival can be a bit weird lol last year they had ladyboy dunking - you know you hit a target to soak someone lol … ahhh Thailand

[TheChimera]

Those lights look so romantic! I would have loved to be there, i have a brother over there in thailand at the moment, miss the bejeeezuz out of the guy, would be nice to swim there too, here are the pictures i promised from my first swim :D

Be gentle

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[Gem Stone]

i almost died during my first swim with a tail. I was excited because my grandmother had literally just finished sewing it. we were at my uncles house and he had a deep pool. so my cousin and I got into our brand new tails and jumped right in the deep end. yeah, we were idiots. neither one of us knew what we were doing, but we thankfully landed on some pool noodles. it was cool, floating around for a bit. when I tried to adjust myself, I slipped off and sank to the bottom. I didn't understand a dolphin kick or even know what it was. all I knew was that unless I used both legs, I wasn't going anywhere, and I didn't know how to do that yet. so I sat at the bottom of the pool while I watched my cousin try to get help. It was actually pretty cool. I wasn't scared of drowning, I was amazed at how different being underwater felt with a tail on. and then I saw an old hula hoop at the bottom of the pool, so I used my hands to half swim half crawl over to it. I picked it up and swam through the hoop, feeling very ariel like. but then my lungs so politely reminded me that I needed air so I crawled over to the steps and pulled myself out of the water. my grandmother was screaming at my grandfather, the dive master and ex marine, for not saving me and he responded with "She's a fish now, can't save her from the water anymore" but he was persuaded to come swimming with us. that about sums up my first tail swim. I had no clue what I was doing, my lifeguard was having a beer, and my cousin never let go of the pool noodle

[PearlieMae]

"She's a fish now, can't save her from the water anymore"

Your grandfather must have already known about mermaids! :cool:

[sashiyoop]

Aside from the fact that I was swimming in water I couldn't see in, my first time wasn't all that nerve wrecking. The lake was glass that day, and I had been practicing swimming with my legs together with normal swim fins for a while. It took a while to figure out how to tread water with my feet together, but it was honestly one of the greatest felings in the world.

[sunrise]

My first swim in a tail was pretty strange for me. I'd practiced with my monofin a few times before, and I've known how to do the dolphin kick since second grade, but I didn't really put much thought into how it would feel to have my legs held together without being the one to do so. It was unnerving to realize that I couldn't get out of the pool, or push myself sideways off the pool wall with my foot to turn. I loved being able to swim so fast, and just the overall freedom of it all, but I spent the whole swim trying to hide my tail from my dad, who was outside and would come by the pool every so often to check on us or the filter. When he came over, I had to hold on to the ring on the edge of the pool and hold my lower body under the edge of the pool so he couldn't see. I'd follow him around like that so that he never saw me in the tail. Looking back, the whole situation is pretty funny, since my dad doesn't really mind as much as I though he would. He just rolls his eyes and teases me about it, calling me a fish and such. :)

[TheChimera]

My first swim in a tail was pretty strange for me. I'd practiced with my monofin a few times before, and I've known how to do the dolphin kick since second grade, but I didn't really put much thought into how it would feel to have my legs held together without being the one to do so. It was unnerving to realize that I couldn't get out of the pool, or push myself sideways off the pool wall with my foot to turn. I loved being able to swim so fast, and just the overall freedom of it all, but I spent the whole swim trying to hide my tail from my dad, who was outside and would come by the pool every so often to check on us or the filter. When he came over, I had to hold on to the ring on the edge of the pool and hold my lower body under the edge of the pool so he couldn't see. I'd follow him around like that so that he never saw me in the tail. Looking back, the whole situation is pretty funny, since my dad doesn't really mind as much as I though he would. He just rolls his eyes and teases me about it, calling me a fish and such. :)

I have to hide it from my father too, but he wouldn't laugh and tease, he would probably disown me. As 21 year olds aren't supposed to be doing anything he doesn't like in his opinion.

[sunrise]

I have to hide it from my father too, but he wouldn't laugh and tease, he would probably disown me. As 21 year olds aren't supposed to be doing anything he doesn't like in his opinion.
That stinks :(, people can be so narrow minded.

[MermaidClara]

my first swim in my tail was at my boyfriend's pool, he'd been getting pretty sick of the whole idea of me being a mermaid, when i pulled out my tail and slipped it over my monofin, then my legs his whole attitude changed which made my swim so much easier! He even took pictures and videos of me! I have a mahina monofin in my tail and i had practiced with it before in pools and the ocean on both choppy and glassy days but i still had problems with my first swim, i realised that i left way too much room for my butt and my waist, which left me with sooo much drag that after 2 hours of swimming i took my tail off and just resumed to swimming in the monofin

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[TheChimera]

Yep, I'm pretty much a caged bird, or should i say a fish in a very tiny constraining bowl. Thats why I value mermaiding so much, because i break free, and even though i do it behind my father's back, i still have something that i CHOSE To do for myself

[TheChimera]

I swum at my bfs pool for the first time too, but he liked it from the get-go, so im lucky

[Echinacea]

Got my tail from Fin Fun on Friday, went to the pool Saturday morning at about 7:00 AM, didn't leave till 11:00 AM! It was wonderful! :D I had one lady come over and ask where I had gotten my tail from, that she had always wanted one. As I was getting out of the pool, after taking off my tail, I had one guy ask if I was working on my mermaiding skills, to which I replied 'YES!' with a huge smile. I didn't do too much, just swam back and forth, but I liked the way my tail looked in the water, it was fairly easy to put on (I had put the monofin in it at home, so I just put my feet in the monofin on the side of the pool, dropped into the pool and pulled it up.) It was very comfortable to wear - nice thick material, well sewn. So happy to finally have a tail, not just a monofin! :dance::thumbs up::mermaid kiss:

[Merman Arion]

Echi, we want PICTURES!!! :D :D :D

:rotfl:

[mermaidm]

My first mermaid swim was like the 'perfect first swim'. I really wasn't worried, I just jumped in with my tail and started swimming. I was so surprised at how easy it was to swim like that, and I was so fast! I swam it in all day, I was obsessed, haha. From then on i was in love!

[MermaidBrandie]

When I found my oceanika on craigslist I was SOOO excited to try it out. I was really really nervous because I'm a terrible swimmer even though I LOVE being in the pool, and in the water in general. Me, my boyfriend, our roommate and our friend all went to the pool for my first swim in my merfin. I slipped on my swim socks, pulled the fin on and slid right into the deep end. It probably wasn't the smartest idea to go immediately in the deep end, but I'd been scared of it for so long (my whole life, I'm 26) that I just thought "I can do this" and went right in. I didn't even think it through, I held onto the edge for a few seconds then pushed off and dove down. It was the most amazing feeling ever, I could swim. I could swim well, and I could swim fast. I was never ever going back to normal swimming. I couldn't hold my breath very long, and my stamina wasn't up there, but I started going back to the pool two or three times a week and now I'm much better.

I just finished modifying a wetsuit to be a mermaid tail, and I wore it for the first time ever at the pool sunday to test the fit (I had to take it in). Even with the gapping, being in a tail in the water was amazing. Now that I've got it tight (might make the knee area tighter still), I can't go back to swimming without it. I wore myself out swimming in it the first time, it takes so much more effort now with the extra weight, even though it's not much. I can't wait to cover it in sequins. ^.^

[Arella]

Mine was in a teeny public pool in the middle of winter and there were little old ladies doing aerobics...

[Mermaid Sirena]

The first time I swam in a tail or used a monofin I was auditioning for Alasea of Blue Mermaid Designs. It was exhilarating and I wished that moment would never end.

[Mermaid Wesley]

My fist swim was in the coldest frickin pool in Southern California. It hurt to go underwater and I was shivering for 20 minutes after I got out. But it was magic. :D


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[Mermaid Harmony]

My first swim was after a swim meet here (I wasn't competing) but I changed downstairs and had my mertender carry me up the stairs so kids wouldn't see me change, and it was so cool getting into the water, but I didn't realize what a workout it is to keep constantly moving and in the correct way, after an hour I was exhausted, and I couldn't feel my feet after about 30 minutes because of the oceanika was biting into the top of my foot, but I didn't want to stop. I loved it. First swim in my merbella was awesome and I felt fast and sleek and felt real. I still need to do a review of my hybrid merbellas. I'll hop on that this week. :-)

[Mermaid Jaffa]

This Sunday will be my first swim in a tail, I'll be wearing the Aloha Tail that I finished yesterday.

Previous swims, I have been practicing with the monofin.

The first time I went swimming in it, I spent most of my 2 hour swim floating on my back because I was panting so much! So out of shape!:$

It felt so weird, I forgot I couldn't use even one leg to help with the balance if I went crooked with trying to swim in a straight line.

Then it was, "glub glub glub" the rest of the way down the lane. My body didn't understand what my brain was telling it to do!

Bumped into those plastic lane things a lot, and the pool ends three times because I wasn't paying attention to the streamers that pool has, strung across the ceiling to let you know you are near the end of the pool.

I ended up in that very first monofin swim, going backwards because I couldn't figure out how to swim forwards like normal mermaids!

Also not helped by the new goggles that was flooding inside because my face has no nose bridge to make a complete seal.

Things went better the next 2 times I went swimming, and just last week, I finally go the hang of the mermaid swim. And I got new goggles, well actually, they sent a prototype, it still leaks a little but not as much flooding as the first one.

[Mermaid Galene]

I am taking my tail and monofin for their maiden voyage at a nearby pool next Monday. When I was a kid, I swam underwater all the time with an instinctive dolphin kick, pretending to be a mermaid. In the 50 years since then, I haven't done much swimming - mostly just snorkeling on vacation. But I hope the dolphin kick will come back naturally. I can feel that little girl mermaid, all grown up now, ready to burst out and stun the world!

[Kamanaka]

I went for my first monofin swim yesterday which i loved! I have practiced swimming underwater with my legs together before my monofin arrived so i think that helped,my monofin is huge though- ops! Going to get a finis foil to parctice in hotels! :-) It felt great when i think i got the motion right and i was practicing with my arms in front of me doing the up and down movement and then by my sides!

[Mermaid Sirenia]

I still remember my very first swim in a tail, it was a mermagica tail I got in 5th grade, I was so excited the day after I got it I went swimming. It felt a little strange at first but once
I started swimming it felt so natural! And the power behind the monofin was amazing! I wish I would have taken pictures of when I swam in it when I fit it!


~Mermaid Sirenia~

[Triton-Mahtlinnie]

My first swim was in a homemade spandex tail with a pair of swim fins inside. I was with my friends camping on Mt. Hood, and went swimming in the lake there. The water was great, nice and warm, but the wind blowing was freezing cold so getting out was miserable.

It was a bunch of fun though, and got me hooked. I immediately set about finding a way to glue my fins together though.

[Mermaid Jaffa]

Oh and the muted sounds underwater is pretty fantastic!

Apart from the tail excitement and the monofin, going underwater is the best part! Especially now with the aid of prescription goggles, I can actually see where I'm going or who's coming down the lane etc. Everything is so clear underwater and above. If only I could hold my breath longer, I'd be lurking under the lane like the seaweed siren I always wanted to be!

[Mermaid Galene]

I had my first swim in a monofin and in a tail today. It was awesome, but also a bit humbling. It takes way more effort to swim in a monofin than I expected, and even more to swim in my tail, which has a lot of drag due to fabric finnage. I expect once I get into better condition it will get easier, but today I could only hold my breath for about 10 seconds. So I could only swim 10 feet or so in one breath, and when I came up I had to huff and puff for awhile before diving under again.

Still, it felt very natural to swim in a tail, and I have made a start as a mermaid!

[Arejay]

AMAZING!! It was incredible although very odd at first. My first tail swim was yesterday, I've never swam with a fin or flippers before. I've always swam with bare feet so it took some getting used to the delay between my feet and fin. Lifting the tail and fin out of water takes a lot more effort than I was prepared for (totally didn't get to that point; thought I had done a big lift and video showed it was just my fin maybe 2 inches out). But I love it and can't wait to go practice more.

[Dancing Fish]

My daughter (7) met a mermaid a little over a year ago, and it totally lit a fire in her imagination. She's not very athletic or comfortable in her skin yet, even with dance and gymnastics, and she's one of those über-cautious kids who's always had a fear of water. Well, this summer she discovered Fin Fun and saw the mermaids swimming on youtube. She saved her allowance until she could afford a monofin, and in the meantime taught herself the dolphin kick by watching the H2O girls. The first day with just the fin, I was just astonished at how quickly she caught onto it. When she slipped that purple tail on, she became a completely different kid in the water-- confident, graceful, daring. My shy kid was the center of attention and loving it, and by this time shed picked her mermaid name (Opal) and developed her own mythology. (And whenever I compliment her, she shrugs and explains "well, I AM a mermaid, mom" like this is all no big deal.) :)

My own first swim is pretty anticlimactic in comparison to watching Rowan's transformation! I was simply amazed at how natural it felt. My childhood came rushing back! And now I'm eying the silicone caulk and fabric paints...after years of making my own sequined belly dance costumes, making tails? Challenge accepted!

[Mermaid Jaffa]

It is awesome fun isn't it Ashmorelj? I haven't been for a few months or so, I've been sick with a cold. In the meantime, I kept having dreams of being in one of my tails swishing, frolicking and swimming in pools. In my dreams, I wasn't so awkward like I am currently when I have my tail on, it felt natural. I had the swim technique right and everything!

[Princess Pearl]

I had my first swim about two weeks ago now. My best friend had said she'd come out with me to make sure I didn't drown, but earlier in the day she let me know that she'd forgotten about having to go to dinner with her boyfriend's family. I considered waiting for tomorrow when she'd be able to come by, but I was so excited I couldn't wait any more.

I lugged my monofin, my Fin Fun tail and my iPad in it's brand new waterproof case down to the pool in the basement of the building. I all but tiptoed to the back corner of the pool, away from other swimmers. I sat on bench along the wall and wiggled into the tail, then waddled to the edge of the pool to pull on the monofin and tuck it in to the fluke pocket. Then I lowered myself in.

I have never swam so fast in my life. I zipped around the pool, going up and down the lanes. I was actually able to do the dolphin kick on the top of the water! Without the tail that had always ended up as just ineffectual splashing. Once I felt like I had the hang of using the tail, I grabbed the iPad, hoped really hard that the waterproof casing was as good as it was supposed to be, pressed record, and started swimming.


http://youtu.be/IzQ4PXGjZ6Q

I've gone swimming almost every day since. Whee!

[aqua_dot]

Had my first swim last night, it was wonderful!

[Mermaid Morgann]

My first swim was in my backyard pool, late at night, in a Fin Fun fabric mermaid tail. It was quite an odd experience. I remember that every time I read a mermaid say that they felt more natural in a tail, I thought that it was a bunch of malarkey. Once I got into the water and started swimming, I finally understand what everyone had meant when they said it just felt right. I did do a lot of rocketing around the pool, but it didn't last long because of how late it was. Next day I was right back in the water.

I plan on taking my first swim in my silicone Merbella Studios tail today. Much more nervous about this one because the tail is much, much different. Fingers crossed!

[Genevieve]

The day was hot, and the water was frigid. I hadn't been swimming in years. I was slowly immersing myself in the shallow end to adjust to the water temperature (it was a bit like one of those loading bars, from fin to head), and fully expected to make a fool of myself.


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When loading was complete, I took off and shot around the pool, opened my eyes underwater, loving every minute. The most satisfying moment was probably when I was swimming underwater and saw my mermaid-shaped shadow stretched out on the pool floor.

[Cerulean]

Had my first swim in full tail today! It was so much fun, for a couple weeks Ive been practicing in just the monofin part but finally took the plunge.

It was in a nice hotel pool nearby. A family friend had her grandson at the pool and when she took him off to the jacuzzi I grabbed my blue FinFun tail, tossed a towel down at the edge of the pool, and unrolled it over myself then put on the monofin part and slid into the water. When they came back he was surprised the see Id transformed into a mermaid and was swimming around. We hung out together or swam around a little with him on a noodle, then eventually the other kids that happened to be at the pool came around and I talked to them and swam with them or watched a few do cannonballs. When it was time to go I waited for him to be taken into the bathroom then I slid out of my tail and scurried to hide it in a towel before they came back.

It was tiring but fun, and the kids seemed to have a good time. I didnt choke like I was worried about because I really dont deal with kids often or at all, I can thank reading threads around here about how to speak with children for that. The only kind of worrisome part was when two kids were trying to ride me at once or one wouldnt let go of the monofin portion of my tail and was demanding I swim around with him holding onto it.

[catchan1980]

I had my first mermaid swim only last month. My training was at a hotel pool. Normally, it is done at the beach in the island called Boracay here in my country. But it was the rainy season so the waves were larger and my intructor thought it was unsafe for a beginner like me.

Anyway, I was surprised that the tail was heavier than it looked. It was from Magictail.de

It was difficult at first but once I got the hang of the weight of the fins, I was moving along in the water. My teacher was surprised because she didn't expect me to go fast. I told her i've been watching too many mermaiding videos on Youtube before I took the class :)

To end the lesson, we went to the beach for a short photoshoot (see my avatar). Some tourists were gawking and some of them came up to me for pictures. It was kind of embarrassing to be the center of attention but hey, mermaids WILL always get attention :)

[PhaylennMurúch]

My first swim was an almost religiously profound experience

[Tolgarr]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B0Gdjb8364E

This is actually my first swim, I was about 14 at the time. :) I commented, "And it keeps falling down!" because I mis-measured my waist. I had to tuck it into my bathing suit.

[Mermaid Nessie]

My first swim was in a fabric tail that was 3 times too big for me, I don't think I really swam, just thrashed violently in the water. I was scared shitless.

[Mermaid Gipsy]

My first swim was absolutely amazing. My grandparents were leery of my tail at first, and seemed to sort of expect me to drown, so for some reason I expected swimming with it to be kinda difficult. Fortunately, I have a strong dolphin kick, and with the monofin it was actually incredibly easy. That's when I knew how much I loved being a mermaid. The way it feels, the way the monofin propels, and the aesthetics of looking down and BEING a mermaid all had me hooked.

I have a clip from my second swim here :)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AEZ-_CmR5E0

[Mermaid Isla]

I had my first tail swim this morning. Before that, I practiced for two/three weeks doing the dolphin kick. I got to the point where I could swim at 10ft deep across the Olympic sized pool in one breath.

I figured the tail would just make me faster, but when I put it on, it felt slow and dragged me down. I swam with it for about 45 minutes today- it was hard work! It also made my ankles hurt. Anyone else have that problem?

Maybe I just need to get stronger. Or maybe I need to focus less on speed. By the last five minutes or so, it started to feel more natural. The farthest I swam in one breath was maybe half the pool, no goggles. That's okay for my first try.

It did feel like a magical experience though. A magical, SLOW experience. Maybe it will just get better from here :)

[Echidna]

^^
you will always be slower in a tail compared to without tail + monofin, even a silicone tail adds drag and will feel more cumbersome than without.
That's why many mers like to swim slowly and dreamily and wave and smile rather than shoot through the water at high speed lol.

[PearlieMae]

I beg to differ, I swim more than twice as fast in a tail!

[Mermaid Isla]

I guess I need to slow down and get on Island Time ;)

[PearlieMae]

Then again, I'm a distance swimmer :D

I have a hard time just puttering, I always want to dart around, push myself...but I have been learning to relax and just otter my way around. :rollover:

[Seatan]

I'm with you, Pearlie. I am as slow as Christmas swimming without fins or tail and can fly through the water wearing a monofin or a tail. I am at least twice as fast on a tail, probably three times as fast if my tail has the Competitor in it. SCUBA diving I have chased down fast moving sea creatures using the dolphin kicks with my diving fins, something I could never do without fins. And I don't find that having a tail gives me that much drag. Having the big monofin in it makes up for that.

[Ashe]

My first "tail" was both my legs in a pair of tights, and then swim flippers at the end. I remember it being so fun! I never had any issue swimming like this and it was so natural.
When I got my first real tail and swam in it, it just felt so right. I loved how I glided through the water with ease and I was in the pool constantly.
Fast forward to years later and just a couple months ago when I got my Finis competitor monofin. I nearly hit my head on the opposite side of the pool because I was just so fast! I definitely hadn't expected anything like it.

[PearlieMae]

The underwater photographer at Merfest complained I was swimming too fast to photograph. She said "you're one of those zoomy mermaids, aren't you?"

[Mermaid Galene]

I love that; mermaid gets the zoomies!

[Mermaid Menanna]

I had my first swim yesterday and I have to admit it was nothing like I expected it to be. I was excited but happy, and nervous. I have been a strong swimmer my whole life, but the past 10 yrs I haven't had an opportunity to get into the water at all. Add to that my age (I'm now 45), increased health and disability problems, and an extra 60 lbs that I have gained due to lack of exercise and inactivity. I was not prepared for it to be so difficult, which also made it kind of scary.
My first swim was in a pool at a swim school, so the water was shallow 3 1/2 ft deep on one end and 4 ft deep on the other. (I never made it to the 4 ft depth) It was family swim day, the only chance I had to get there, and it ended up very crowded full of small children and their parents. The first 30 minutes was all I got for swim time. I started out just swimming a couple of quick laps to remind myself what it felt like to be in the water, and then realizing how much kicking I was doing with both feet, decided it was better to go right to my monofin and start out fresh, relearning with the fin and dolphin kick. I spent about 15 minutes with the monofin by itself and found it very awkward at first. (finis foil) Once I had a feel for the motion needed and was comfortable in the monofin then I slipped into my tail and everything changed. I was grateful to have the shallow pool to be able to stand up at the end of each lap across the pool (side to side, short distance). After 2 laps I was winded and had to stop and rest for a few minutes before trying again. I discovered that I still sink like a rock in the water, and adding the weight of the tail only made that worse. I struggled to keep my head above water when I surfaced without standing up or holding the sides of the pool. During 1 lap I went down so fast I managed to scrape my arm on the bottom of the pool, so when I came up I found my elbow raw and bleeding.
After 15 minutes in my tail I found the parents with their kids were crowding me out so badly that I simply couldn't swim anymore... they left me nowhere to go and basically backed me into a corner where I barely had enough room to stretch myself out while holding onto the side of the pool. (they made it very clear that I was unwanted there, even though they didn't say anything to me directly) I decided to try floating on my back, but quickly realized that stationary floating in a tail doesn't work, lol. Anytime I moved my feet/legs the fin propelled me in the water... so since I couldn't go anywhere without bumping into or swimming over the top of someone, I held onto the side of the pool and tried to keep myself stationary while floating that way... which also didn't work so well. Hubby managed to snap a few cell phone pics of me doing that and then we decided it was pointless to stay, so packed it in and went home.
There was 1 moment of panic where I was trying to surface for air and struggling to control my movements in the water. If I hadn't had the side of the pool to reach for and eventually grab hold of to pull myself up I don't think it would have been a good outcome. I tried to get my feet under me to stand up and found it just wasn't working... my fluke was twisted around my fin and I felt totally helpless to get any sense of balance or control.

Overall I would have to call this a humbling experience. I am now faced with the reality of just how weak my body is after 10 yrs of idleness. Considering I don't have a good place to swim right now, and am limited to only 1 day each weekend at most... I fear it's going to take me a very long time to feel confident and safe in the water again. I will not give up, but I am not as happy and excited as I was before my first swim. Today my entire body hurts and I'm finding it difficult just to stand or walk. If I had my way I would spend 30 min/day in the water practicing, rebuilding muscles that haven't been used in a decade, and relearning confidence and comfort in the water, but since that isn't possible I'm really unsure of what's going to happen from here on out. It is going to be a battle to find somewhere safe to swim at this point, but I will fight to the very end for this because I want it so badly. I'm praying I am not forced to hang up my fins before I truly get a chance to start.
Today I will start the needed modifications to my tail to fix the many issues I found... air holes needed in the corners of my fluke, velcro to replace the snaps, taking in the waist band by a couple of inches so it doesn't fall down every time I go underwater, and the hardest part... figuring out how to make the fluke more rigid so it doesn't curl around my fin while I'm swimming, creating more drag and making it much more difficult to control myself in the water. I plan to try again at this pool next Sunday to use up my last free pass, but after that I will be a land locked mermaid until I can find another place to swim. I am very obviously NOT ready for lake swimming yet.. not safely. (not that it matters since the lakes are still way too cold to swim in yet) :(30206

You can see in this photo where air kept filling the corners of my fluke, making things more difficult
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[Mermaid Freyja]

My first mermaid swim was at a huge fitness club pool that my grandparents belonged to in Eastern Washington. We'd go there to cool off in the summer when we'd visit from Seattle. I really miss it, actually; it was built in the 1920s and absolutely gorgeous. I'm not even sure if it's still there.

I was probably about 7 or 8 years old, and I had gotten my first pair of real dive fins. Well..."real" as kids dive fins go, but they were long and powerful, and more like the adult style dive fins.
The first time I wore them in the water, I tied my ankles together with a scarf. I tried to swim with them separate for a little before that, but it still felt weird to swim kicking with two legs, especially in the fins. The foot pockets were an aqua blue rubber, and the fins were a translucent flexible plastic material similar to the Triton Hydra monofin.
My mom was a bit worried at first, but when she saw how fast and agile I still was with my ankles tied her worries evaporated.
It was amazing, and I pretended that the loose ends of the scarf were part of my dorsal and fluke ;)
I wanted to somehow wear the mermaid tail mom had made me earlier that year over the fins (sparkly dress fabric and pillow stuffing in the fluke. I'll have to dig up the photo and post it, lol!). It was for dry land dress-up only, so my only swimmable tail was the dive fins and a pretty scarf. Even after making a second Splash themed dry tail later on, we never got around to making a tail skin to go over the fins.
My first swim in a monofin with a tail over it was more recent, at a hotel pool next door to Disneyland. It was life-changing moment part II ;)

[Merman Lir]

I still haven't finished my full tail (neoprene/latex) but I did take swim in my monofin for the first time. I had to wait till after midnight because of work and it's an apartment pool so I can't really swim when it's full of neighbors and kids...

it felt so easy and natural, I loved it! Makes me want to finish my tail and try it for real. I've also already placed an order with a tailmaker for a silicone tail... so the latex may not see that much use!

[Chaemy]

My first swim (about a week ago) in the sea was great!! It felt so good and tha tail is so beautiful! Many people says that it was hard for the first time and that it felt weird to have the legs forced together. But I didn't thought it felt bad at all! Except all the jellyfishes. >.< They were everywhere! They aren't dangerous in Sweden but it hurts if the strings (which can be long) touches you. So well I couldn't swim as far as I wanted because of the jellyfishes. I've been swimming with the tail more after that when there wasn't as much jellyfishes and that was AWESOME!! <3 I like my tail so much!

[IllynReaver]

My first swim in my tail I was nervous, but I had a lot of fun. Tail needs some tweaking but overall I really enjoyed myself. Couldn't get video but my mother took a few pictures. http://images.tapatalk-cdn.com/15/07/20/ecf4628664a39e067192423d2174cd8d.jpg


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[KayNS]

I had my first swim last night. We were in a shallow protected ocean bay. The water was quite shallow because the tide was low, but this actually worked in my favour, because I could just put my hands down and touch the bottom if I needed to rest (which I did a lot!), or I could flip over and sit on the bottom and my head would be out of the water.
I was definitley awkward, but I feel like I did well with the dolphin kick. Once I got out to water that was a teeny bit deeper so I could submerge I felt like I could really get going. I had a bit of trouble with the waist and hips of my tail being too big (must've measured wrong) and the heel strap of my monofin slipped off one foot a couple of times, but all in all it was still pretty good.

Overall, I just loved it! It was so great to finally "be" a mermaid!

Here's a photo:

32326

[Echidna]

Looks great!
But wasn't the water cold?

temperatures.net lists Halifax with 14° atm.
Holy mackerel.

[Ciriun]

Just did my first swim in my tail yesterday! It actually wasn't all that different from swimming with just the monofin. My tail is really stretchy so it only kind of restrains my legs. But it is just a practice tail so it is doing its job well. Except for the part where it kept slipping down because I was so excited to try it I didn't wait until I could put the waistband in. :$

[KayNS]

Looks great!
But wasn't the water cold?

temperatures.net lists Halifax with 14° atm.
Holy mackerel.

This was in a sheltered, shallow bay, so it was much warmer. I didn't even flinch getting into the water! I was amazed. I'm excited to go back next week when the tide is high and we have a bit more depth. (Plus I'll have Raina with me, which makes it even BETTER!)

[lulubelle]

I had my first swim today! Felt awkward for about 3 kicks, then felt so incredibly natural. Like this is how I should have been swimming my whole life. I can't wait to swim again!

[suzanne86]

Before I got my first fabric tail, I had already had quite a lot of practice swimming with Finis monofins--a Shooter, Trainer, and Competitor. I started out practicing the dolphin kick and breathing using a kickboard at the YMCA pool. When the tail finally came and I tried it for the first time, it wasn't that much different because I already had the basics of monofin swimming mastered. But in my mind, it was a lot more fun with the tail--and that's what really counts! :-)

[peripheral mermaid]

I just went for my first swim in my tail and it was the most natural feeling ever. Though I did learn the hard way that putting a fabric tail on wet is not the best idea...

[Mermaid Summerlilly]

My first tail swim was in North Carolina when I was vacationing to Florida with my family. I was in a lazy river at this beautiful hotel, but it was rough concrete and all the sparkles from my mermagica tail all came off. The swimming came so naturally to me, but I can't hold my breath too long, so I kept standing up on the rough concrete to breathe. I ended scraping all the sparkles off my tail, and I was pretty disappointed, but oh well. The water was pretty shallow, so I couldn't dive and I kept scraping my face on the bottom of the pool, which hurt, but I was so happy and excited to finally be able to swim in my tail. I had gotten my tail for christmas, and that was the first moment of extreme joy because I had been asking for a tail for months, and I finally had one. The first time I used my tail was actually in a play, when my teacher unexpectedly told us he forgot to add a mermaid character on the audition sheet, so I immediately scribbled it in in caps so he would see it. I then proceeded to write a message about how cool it would be to be the mermaid character, and, needless to say, I was the mermaid queen in the play that year, with my own song and everything. That was fun, getting carried around by my teacher and sitting on a library cart as they rolled me onto stage. I still wished I could swim in it though, so when I finally got to swim I was super happy. SO that about sums up my entire mermaid story in a nutshell, Christmas gift, fifth-grade play, and first swim. My tail got too small for me after a while and the straps on the monofin broke, but that was my fault, because I kept forgetting to rinse it off after swimming in the ocean. Oops. I recently got a Mermaid Kat shop mermaid tail, and it works like a beauty, she originally sent me the wrong colour, but I received the proper colour, and the orange-green colour I originally received has really grown on me, so now I have two colours for that go with the monofin. Notes on the monofin, it works a lot better that the mermagica fin, it's a tiny bit floppier and it's great for ocean swimming. Yeah. There's basically my life's history. Jeez, I wrote a lot. Ok so yeah. Thanks! :cool:

[zeemeermin.lilly]

I had my first swim last week. It was awesome!

[midwesternmermaid]

my first swim in a fabric tail was awkward at first. I wasn't sure how people would respond. I took to the swimming part very quickly. It's like I was born to be part fish! and people loved me. Yeah, there are haters and imagination crushers, but what can you do? question about silicone tails - i'm on the verge of making one - how does it flex around the bum, knees and ankles? should I allow some extra slack? or is bending simply to be avoided? I'll check other threads for an answer to my query, but if any of y'all here have some insight, I'd appreciate it.

[Hydra1337]

I don't have a tail yet (money saving projects are in the works) but I started practicing the dolphin kick. I figured I might as well start practicing since I need the exercise (I just gave birth in September so I'm a tad out of shape...lol).

I'm one of those people that was...less than talented at swimming on top of the water but swam pretty well beneath the surface. Based on past experiences in the pool I felt pretty confident that I'd at least figure out what I was doing wrong after one session. Apparently I shouldn't have been so confident.

I made a couple normal laps before attempting the dolphin kick. It was REALLY awkward at first because it made me realize I hadn't gone swimming for a few years on top of just recovering from giving birth. After a couple laps I got better with the technnique but for whatever reason I couldn't make myself sink down far enough to not flop around on the surface. My husband jokingly implied that I looked pretty ridiculous while doing it.

Then I kicked too hard to make myself stay down without realizing I was still in the shallow end. I scraped my chin because I didn't think I would need my snorkeling mask to see the bottom of the pool. ._.'

Now I know better for when I actually get my tail.

[mermanRoman117]

My first swim was with my cousin's tail. My heart was beating so hard when I was putting on the tail and once I did I was so happy. But I didn't think out how to get in the water. Luckily my cousin just pushed me in and the rest came naturally.
It was so amazing and it was one of the best moments of my life so far

[Mermaid_Sarina]

My first swim as a Mermaid was technically only in a monofin, but I do have the Mahina Merfin so it felt similar! I loved it! It was so crazy and cool and different. The only annoying thing was these girls that saw Mermaid Leina and I and were chatting really loudly and basically yelled across the pool "Oh my god look at the whales" but other then that it was perfect! Also I met a little girl on that first swim who told me all about her cousin who was a Mermaid. Very cute!

[Mermaid Lily_Pad]

My first swim in a Monofin was at Weeki Wachee. A man and woman were there snorkeling with big monofins, my husband and I got to talking with him and he found out I wanted to buy one but had never swam in one before. He asked if I would like to try his and I was like "heck yes!" He showed me how to out it on then explained how to swim and told me that diving, treading water, turning were very hard and to be patient with myself. I was like "okay cool" and I took off like a rocket LOL. I got to the end of the lane, turned around, came up, traded water, and waved. The guy turned yo my husband and said, "never it'd, she's a natural, you need to buy her one of these. *laughs*. A couple of months later I had my MerNation tail! The first swim in that was frustrating because my feet kept slipping out of the foot pockets. We ordered booties and the second swim went perfect!

[Merman Andrew]

I'm really lucky that for my first ever swim I was able to find a professional Mermaid to teach me, which helped a lot with my confidence of taking my tail out for the very first time. I think had I just tried it on my own with no other mers around I would have felt much more self concious and probably taken much longer to get around to doing it. Also it was helpful that we had found a pool that still supports tail swimming otherwise I would have felt even more self conscious if the life guards were glaring at me like I was conducting some kind of criminal activity (because thats frankly how I feel about the pools that have enforced the tail ban).

The class was really relaxed and casual, the teacher just got us to try a few laps and down in my monofin only, in the shallow end and each time she gave me some great tips on how to improve my technique.

At first trying to do the dolphin kick in my monofin felt weird. First thing I didn't realise (though kind of obvious when you think about it logically) is that Mermaid swimming even for beginners is all about swimming underwater and that it works better if you swim for as long as you can underwater. It kind of reminded me of when I was a kid and used to try to swim along the bottom of the pool for as long as I could before coming up for air.

I had been watching some videos on how to do the Dolphin kick a few days earlier so I was so worried about getting my technique right and the ensuring that I wasn't using my legs too much that I think I was hampering my own progress. My teacher said my legs looked too stiff and I that I should try to use them more. After she said that I found just the right balance and very quickly I found myself rocketing along the bottom of the pool!

After about half an hour I put my full tail on and hopped in the water again, by this time I had pretty much figured the dolphin kick out so it felt much better and smoother and more natural. After about 10 minutes more practice I even suggested to the teacher that we go swim in the deep end, and there she showed me some tricks like how to float at the bottom and how to do flips.

The hour with her went so quickly but I also felt I had progressed so much in that time. I am definitely addicted because now want to go back and have another swim!

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[Mermaid Ankhali]

My first swim in my golden Fin Fun (no longer suitable for swimming, unfortunately) was amazing and unforgettable! I felt like a real mermaid, just gliding naturally through the water. It felt like the water was a part of me! I was surprised at the speed that I could achieve when I did a length in one breath! I was so enamored with it that I swam for four hours straight! (My abs were destroyed btw! I couldn't sit up for a week because of the pain. But, so worth it! And, when I finally took off my tail to get out, my little feet felt powerless in the water! From that day on, I never swam without a tail again! That was almost 3 years ago! Never going back! Tail swimming is too amazing!


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[Sabrina the Selkie]

My first swim was in Lake Michigan on a particularly choppy day, in a tail made from a dissected, resewn, and then painted leg from a pair of leggings. My monofin was duct tape, with an interior of coat hanger and poster board. Of course, I learned that duct tape is not particularly waterproof. The poster board turned to mush instantly.

BUT. Despite having no rigidity and struggling against strong waves, I'd been doing the dolphin kick my whole life. So I was in the water and I could move. And it was magical. It felt so natural and right.

When I went home I resolved my monofin issues - I made another with PLASTIC two pocket folder and binder innards. Those worked beautifully.

[Hydra1337]

When I went home I resolved my monofin issues - I made another with PLASTIC two pocket folder and binder innards. Those worked beautifully.

That's awesome! How well does it hold up structurally? Youtube commenters say duct tape monofins hold up well underwater if the core is plastic but they're Youtube commenters so I try to not go by what they say. lol

I made one too except the core is a layer of a plastic container (it had grooves in some areas that gave the plastic a surprising amount of rigidness) with A LOT of Gorilla Tape but I haven't been able to test it out yet.

[Sabrina the Selkie]

They held up WONDERFULLY. I still have all three of the ones I made. Even though I've bought a rapid.

[Hydra1337]

That's awesome! I hope mine holds up too but I have to fix the foot pocket on mine because one foot ended up slightly crooked. It was my own fault since my feet weren't in it when I did the final touches.

I'm done derailing the thread now. Promise.

[HamptonsMermaid]

My first swim was 2 days after this Christmas. My sisters and I had got tails from Mom and we were spending the holidays in the Bahamas with 26 family members and friends. Everyone was hanging out on the beach and a bunch were surfing a small beach break. I walked out close to the ocean with my mermaid headdress and slipped on my 2 Tails fin. My uncle took some pics and then I traded my headdress for a snorkel and a GoPro and started crab walking my way into the water. Not so graceful! Waves were splashing me but as soon as I had 8 in of water I zipped out into the ocean like a real fish and omg it was the most natural swimming sensation ever! I swam right up to the surf break and started filming myself doing flips and the surfers paddling around. The water was tropical turquoise! I even got on my boy friend's surfboard and almost caught a wave on my stomach (monofin actually slows you down here haha). I had always dressed up as a mermaid and I had worn a monofin tail before but only on land. Swimming in it was so incredibly natural, I just knew I was home!


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[Merenneito Nerissa]

I just loved it, I was so excited that I didn't even realise how heavy the fluke was... I was just beyond happy, like all my dreams had come true. I have told in few interviews how it felt like I had gotten back a limb I didn't know I had lost :) That's pretty accurate how it felt :)

I actually have a video filmed by Mermaid Riia of my very first swim ever :)

https://www.facebook.com/merenneitonerissa/videos/vb.295526760640116/301901330002659/?type=3&theater

[Merman Andrew]

I just loved it, I was so excited that I didn't even realise how heavy the fluke was... I was just beyond happy, like all my dreams had come true. I have told in few interviews how it felt like I had gotten back a limb I didn't know I had lost :) That's pretty accurate how it felt :)

I actually have a video filmed by Mermaid Riia of my very first swim ever :)

https://www.facebook.com/merenneitonerissa/videos/vb.295526760640116/301901330002659/?type=3&theater
You look so fluid and natural for your first ever swim! I love your tail too, where is it from? What monofin is it using?

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[nyghtelf22]

My first swim was at a friends pool. I had just purchased a Mahina mono fin to go with 2 beautiful mermaid swim gowns that I had bought from a friend. Our Elks Lodge Luau was coming up and I wanted to win the costume contest. I also had a 2 Tails Catalina green tail I had bought for the same event but was afraid it wouldn't come in on time. I started the test with just the Mahina fin. It felt amazing! I found it easier to maneuver in than swimming without a fin. Then I took the 2 Tails for a test swim. My friend started jumping up and down and had to run in and get her husband. They couldn't believe how realistic it looked. The next week we did a photo session for their Christmas card and their grand daughter got to swim with a mermaid. On a side note, the Lodge never told those of us out at the pool that the costume contest had started, so I wasn't even entered.

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[Mermaid Rowie]

I had my first swim today, in my Fin Fun Caribbean Blue tail, (which is my first tail), it was amazing, it felt so good underwater in it. I have had trouble finding a pool that will let me swim in it, that was until a mermaid school opened quite near me and I went to one of their open day events. We took every thing step by step, and before long I was whooshing around the pool with ease, I just had some issues standing in the tail, but I soon figured that out, can't wait to swim again!

[Merman Andrew]

I had my first swim today, in my Fin Fun Caribbean Blue tail, (which is my first tail), it was amazing, it felt so good underwater in it. I have had trouble finding a pool that will let me swim in it, that was until a mermaid school opened quite near me and I went to one of their open day events. We took every thing step by step, and before long I was whooshing around the pool with ease, I just had some issues standing in the tail, but I soon figured that out, can't wait to swim again!
That sounds awesome! I have the blue FinFun tail too! Which swim school was it that you went to?

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[Mermaid Rowie]

Monofin Mermaids in Hastings, Sussex, UK, I emailed first and asked if I could go as they only give child prices on their website, the instructor said that it would be OK, but I paid for tail hire even though I had my own tail. I used my own tail as I wasn't sure if they had adult tails. (I think they have a flat rate that includes tail hire though) .

[mermanRoman117]

My first swim was with my mermaid cousins. They knew how much I loved mermaids and wanted to be a merman, so one day one of them got a mertailor tail and we all went swimming at their pool. But she gave me her old tail to have. I was so happy when I put it on and began to swim and of course it came naturally. I felt like I was really part fish.


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[Sheira Seastar]

It felt like the most natural thing I've ever done. Keep in mind, without my self-made spandex tail I can only doggy paddle. But once I'm in my tail, somehow I can swim and not embarrass myself. Weird, I know.

[Mermaid Jaffa]

It felt like the most natural thing I've ever done. Keep in mind, without my self-made spandex tail I can only doggy paddle. But once I'm in my tail, somehow I can swim and not embarrass myself. Weird, I know.

Not weird. Because I can only doggy paddle too!

[mermaid_selene]

My first swim in my fabric mermaid tail was when I was 6 years old. It was amazing because I felt like a real mermaid and it was so magical. But the only problem was that I barely knew how to swim. It did end up falling apart because it was hand sewed and the 2 swim fins broke it completely.


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[Merenneito Nerissa]

You look so fluid and natural for your first ever swim! I love your tail too, where is it from? What monofin is it using?

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Sorry for this late response... :) Thank you so much, I was so happy at that time :) Tail is mertailor's partial silicone. It doesn't have a monofin at all, it only has this solid silicone fluke, which actually made it so heavy. It still looks lovely though.

[MerMaiden Lissa]

I haven't gotten a tail yet, but I have a homemade monofin. I'm wondering, once you are in a tail is it harder to float on your back? I've read that a few people had trouble swimming in a tail at first and I just thought "why don't you just relax and float to the surface?" Maybe I'm just more buoyant than some?! lol

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[The Water Phoenix]

My first swim was when I was 11 years old in a tail from magictail.de. It was nerve racking but I was so excited!

[Sapphire Mermaid]

I just got back from my first swim with my monofin on. I haven't had the first swim with a tail yet, but with the fin felt so normal! I can't wait for my tail to be finished to try it!

[MerMaiden Lissa]

First swim in my new Finis rapid was a fail! The water was too cold, the rocks were sharp, and there was tons of pollen and garbage in the water [emoji19]
Guess I'll have to wait for the water to warm up and go to the sandy part of the lake.

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[Coral Corey]

My first swim was in the lake near my house. I had practiced the dolphin kick before so when I got in my tail it felt so natural to me. I swam around for over an hour until I started getting foot cramps. I had sore feet for a day or so after but it was totally worth it.

[Mermaid Arabella]

I'd practiced the dolphin kick for a month and then with just the monofin for a month, so I also felt very natural when I finally got to swim in my tail. The biggest thing that I remember is being worried about sucking down water b/c I was grinning like an idiot the whole time. (I didn't tho, just pressed my tongue to my teeth/roof of my mouth)

[Coral Corey]

I was very excited as well. :)

[vicemage]

My first swim was about a month and a half ago, and it was definitely an interesting experience for me! I recently moved to an apartment complex with a nice lap pool (not very deep, but long and rectangular), and ordered a fabric tail from Swimtails as a starting tail. And I could not get the monofin on my feet! It took me a lot of struggling to just get my feet to stay in place the first time, and then I had a hard time getting into the rest of the tail and into the pool. Once I was in the pool, it just felt strange having something extra on my feet, so I floated around getting used to the weight and extension before swimming around on my back until I got tired. I felt awkward, and definitely not as graceful as the videos I've seen, but I had so much fun I couldn't wait to get in the pool again for more!

[KateyMermaid]

So this isn't the FIRST time I swam in a tail, I think it might have been the second lol. This is April of 2009. I was a newbie mer and 18 years old. This was my first spandex tail. I made it using the sawing machines in the home economic classroom at the high school because I didn't have one at home.

For me the toughest thing was getting used to the drag and confinement. I had been practicing with my finis wave
For close to a year before this video was shot, but your knees aren't stuck together in a monofin alone lol. My technique needed a lot of work.

And yes. I'm wearing a scuba mask. A stuffy nose and contacts called for it.

(Fun fact, I frequent the pool where this was shot, and now teach swim lessons there. Full circle I guess)

https://youtu.be/olrRz9Fnqcw


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[Jade Forrest]

I just got back from my first swim!! LOVED it! I practised the dolphin kick last week first and sucked at it! But as soon I got in the monofin it came so much more naturally, and was even better when I got the tail on! Beinf a mermaid was amazing!

[A_Koi_Mermaid]

Just had my first tail swim today after a year and a half or so of just a monofin. I got a finfun with their monofin (instead of my finis wave) and I expected a huge change...Not too bad of an adjustment. A finfun was a lot more work but being in a full tail was really magical and I took lots of GoPro footage! I even caught myself making bubble hearts which I was never able to see if I was doing right before! I'm very happy with my first tail, I spent hours in the pool and hope to get back in tonight!

[Sabrina the Selkie]

Congrats!

[Mermaid Whisper]

I had my first swim today at a pod meetup in Shenandoah National Park! The water was crystal clear and so cold, but it was so good after hiking all that way!

I splashed around and really enjoyed it; everything was so fluid, so fast, so free. When I rose out of the water on my arms, I felt like me, not what everyone wanted me to be. The little fish swimming all around me just added to the magic ❤️


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[Mermaid Ankhali]

That sounds beautiful! I hope to have an experience like that someday.


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[MermaidLiara]

My first time was a little over a month ago, during my holiday in Greece, in the very salty sea. My tail had arrived just two days prior to my vacation, so I didn’t have time to try it out in a pool.

When I wore my tail I was relieved that it fit perfectly. I was really worried about that.

In my enthusiasm/nervousness, I forgot to secure (strap) my feet to the monofin.

I rolled myself into the sea, and…

It worked! I could do it! Despite it being my very first time, not wearing it properly and being in a very salty sea, I was able to swim using ‘mermaid motions’ and I was actually able to swim pretty fast!

Despite that, however, it did not feel as amazing as it should have due to the salt level. Makes you float too much; hard to swim freely and you cannot really go under.

So a week ago, I finally tried it out in a pool for the first time…

…And I can say, if this were hypothetically my last day on Earth, swimming with my tail is one of the things I would definitely do. Such an amazing feeling! I love it even more than I hoped! I love the feeling of freedom a tail gives and how fast you can swim with it.