Tail Drag - Technique or Design?

[Mermaid Galene]

Hi, Merfolk ~

I just came back from my maiden voyage with my first tail. Pretty awesome experience! I first swam in just the monofin. It didn't take long to get the hang of it, and after awhile I could build up some reasonable speed underwater. Then I put on the tail and swam with it, and I was surprised at how much drag I experienced. I could only go about half as fast in the tail as I did in the monofin. Is that typical? Or is my tail design creating more drag than it should? I have a spandex tail with spandex fins and fluke extensions added:

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Do you suppose my fluke extensions are causing the drag? Should I consider maybe cutting them into a streamer-like pattern for more water to flow through? (They're very pretty as is in the water, though.)

I'm sure I'll get better at swimming with the tail with more practice and conditioning. Right now I'm a bit out of shape. I could only swim underwater, even with just the monofin, for about 10 seconds before I had to come up and breathe heavily for awhile. I don't think my dolphin kick technique was perfect yet, either. There was a brief moment when I got a really nice, fast dolphiny spurt, but most of the time I felt like I was getting inadequate propulsion out of my lower back.

Any advice from experienced tail swimmers would be welcome!

[Echidna]

don't compare your swim speed with tail+monofin with just monofin.
you'll always be faster with just the monofin.

there's a reason why pearl divers, the original mermaids, dived in the nude ;)

I can imagine latex or silicone tails aren't that noticably slower, but fabric tails sure cause lots and lots of drag, especially with streamers, and that extension on your fluke looks like a giant drag producer.

unless you're a speed junkie like me, it doesn't matter how fast you go though.
if you plan on performing in the tail, less speed and more fancy look is better, especially in tanks where you can't swim much anyway.

[Mermaid Wesley]

The more extra fabric, the more drag you will get. It's a trade off for sure. I like the extra fins though :)


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[malinghi]

Also the force of drag on an object is proportional to velocity squared: 20546
(taken from wikipedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Drag_(physics)). FD is drag force, ρ is the density of the fluid,v is speed, A is cross-sectional area, and CD is drag coefficient)


In that equation, speed is raised to the second power, so if you double your speed, drag force will be FOUR times larger. But if you swim slowly the difference in drag with and without a tail isn't as bad. Which is why people swim in slow, graceful motions with tails, rather than trying to swim quickly.


http://i.imgur.com/saUopNb.gif
http://25.media.tumblr.com/193e9513d7f0ff736d03d31cb3fa0378/tumblr_mje97ocBPs1rxojkjo5_250.gif
http://i670.photobucket.com/albums/vv65/LaraCroftFanneke22/Mernetwork%20avatar-banner/ariel-starfish_zpsad5f03cb.gif

[Mermaid Galene]

This is all really helpful! Thanks! I plan to make/buy other tails eventually, so probably what I will do is get a very sleek one for working out. I expect to do a lot of dry land gigs, too, and this tail should be great for that. Meantime, I'll just have to figure out what I can manage in it.

I suppose a silicone tail would have less drag, but I wonder if the extra weight kind of neutralizes that advantage.

[Mermaid Wesley]

Also the force of drag on an object is proportional to velocity squared: 20546
(taken from wikipedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Drag_(physics)). FD is drag force, ρ is the density of the fluid,v is speed, A is cross-sectional area, and CD is drag coefficient)


In that equation, speed is raised to the second power, so if you double your speed, drag force will be FOUR times larger. But if you swim slowly the difference in drag with and without a tail isn't as bad. Which is why people swim in slow, graceful motions with tails, rather than trying to swim quickly.




Yis! Physics and mermaids!


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[BayouMermaid]

When I was on swim team, we would wear our suits SUPER tight and wear swim caps to cut down on drag. I have a fair amount of drag in my spandex tail, but mermaiding doesn't require speed imo.

[Mermaid Galene]

I'm not disappointed that I couldn't swim fast in the tail, but that I couldn't make much forward progress in one breath. I could go 10-12 feet, then I had to surface and huff and puff for awhile. That's probably going to improve a lot as I get into better condition with practice.

[Echidna]

^^ye, but the less drag you have, the less oxygen you need ;)

I can easily go 50m underwater with just a monofin, and with tail only about half of that distance on one breath.

[Mermaid Galene]

I'm thinking I will start separating my monofin swimming sessions from my tail sessions, at least until I make a tail with less drag. In monofin-devoted sessions I can really focus on perfecting my dolphin kick technique and on getting stronger, holding breath longer, etc. In my tail sessions I can work more on presentation: graceful underwater moves, poses, etc.

Caltuna, in another thread you talked about your work with underwater dance. I'd love to learn more about the moves you choreograph. I really want to offer mermaid ballet as part of my performance packages.

[Echidna]

I'm thinking I will start separating my monofin swimming sessions from my tail sessions, at least until I make a tail with less drag. In monofin-devoted sessions I can really focus on perfecting my dolphin kick technique and on getting stronger, holding breath longer, etc. In my tail sessions I can work more on presentation: graceful underwater moves, poses, etc.

good idea!

as to underwater dance.
I created my own style/movements, because nothing like what I envisioned existed.

there is synchro swimming, but that's very different from what I wanted, not to mention a big part of synchro are leg splits which would be kinda hard with a tail xD

basically, my choreographies are graceful and not overly fast movements that can be done in a tail.
I drew inspiration from many different dance styles, not just ballet, but I dub it "waterballet" or "mermaid dance" just to give people an idea what I'm talking about.

[Mermaid Galene]

Sounds wonderful! Do you have YouTube videos?

[Echidna]

a few, of costume tests and such.

no performances of course.
those need to be booked lol.

[Mermaid Aglaia]

The drag depends to the taildesign.

The perfect objekt under water is a streamlined object like a drop. A siliconetail can decrease the drag coefficient, because you come near to a stremlined form. But a fabric tail increase the drag coefficent. The problem is the rough surface and the floppy material.
In addition, every extrafin and edge produce a vortex. And this vortices produce a lot of drag. For example, the vortices at the end of the wings of a plane produce up to 30% of the drag from a plane.
If you need a tail with a low drag coeffient, you need a strong and smooth material like silicone, no extrafins and a monofin with vortex diffusers.

[Mermaid Jaffa]

Hm! So much for my idea of having a big fluke with flowy bits...

Sounds like streamlined is the way to go, well at least for me until I have a bit more strength.

[PearlieMae]

You've never swam in a monofin or a tail before? Are you in good shape already and do you swim regularly? If not, you are going to need to strengthen up before you can expect to swim any distance before needing air. All that fabric is causing drag, so I would suggest working out with the monofin alone until you build up your core.

Silicone is neutrally buoyant, so only surface detail like scales and find will cause drag.

If most of your gigs are going to be in pools, it shouldn't be an issue, but it's better to be a strong swimmer, first!

[Mermaid Galene]

Yes, I'm definitely going to focus on working out with only the monofin until I build up more endurance.

So is a silicone tail easier to swim in than fabric, despite the weight of silicone? And what about neoprene? Do merfolk like neoprene because it has less drag than spandex, or just because it shows less leg geography? I really like the iridescence of spandex.

For now I'm working on a more streamlined spandex tail design. After that tail, I have a design for a either a hybrid fabric or neoprene/silicone tail or a full silicone, which I will also make. When I was a puppeteer, I did a lot of sculpting and casting with rigid neoprene, so I'm sure I'll have no problem working with silicone:

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[PearlieMae]

Sculpting with silicone is a breeze! If you can do that with rigid neoprene, you'll kick butt with silicone.

[Coradion]

Having a design that's a bit pleated/textured like the fabric on your fin will also slow you down tremendously. The more ruffles and pieces that stick up the more surface area you have and thusly the more drag. Your swim technique also has a lot to do with drag. Most mermaids even some of the "professionals" who have never been trained as swimmers don't have the best kicks. Make sure when you swim that your whole body is following your head and shoulders if that makes sense. Practice butterfly as a complete stroke to get the hand of the rising and falling motion your body should have when you swim. Most mers only focus on their dolphin kick and it makes for an awkward looking swim that slows them down considerably.

[Mermaid Galene]

As much as I love the look of the ruffled piece on my fluke, I'm seriously considering hacking most of it off. Either that, or I should get right onto making a new tail. Then I could keep this one as mostly a land gig tail.

[Mardoll_Star]

Having a design that's a bit pleated/textured like the fabric on your fin will also slow you down tremendously. The more ruffles and pieces that stick up the more surface area you have and thusly the more drag. Your swim technique also has a lot to do with drag. Most mermaids even some of the "professionals" who have never been trained as swimmers don't have the best kicks. Make sure when you swim that your whole body is following your head and shoulders if that makes sense. Practice butterfly as a complete stroke to get the hand of the rising and falling motion your body should have when you swim. Most mers only focus on their dolphin kick and it makes for an awkward looking swim that slows them down considerably.
Thanks this was really helpful. I am starting to swim some now to condition myself before I even get a monofin, much less a tail.
This has been a helpful thread for me.. it's good to read about your experiences before I get to the tail swimming myself!