Question about what you can do in your tail

[Lily]

I'm considering purchasing my first tail in the next few months and want to know just what you can be capable of in one of these tails. I know you can swim much faster, but how is maneuverability? How long did it take you to master turning, rolls, and twists? Can you launch yourself out of the water if you kick up from a great enough depth? Or breach like a dolphin?

[MerEmma]

Breaching like a dolphin, probably not so much. With a lot of abdomen strength (there are videos on YouTube, just watch a lot of those to get a feel of what we can do) and JUST a monofin, some can breach the water quite high. There is an amazing video of someone jumping out VERY high of the water.

But with a tail I imagine would cause a lot more drag. Breaching like that would be incredibly difficult--plenty of strength and depth below. As for everything else, it all depends on your strength level and many can, some can't, etc.

[Echidna]

I know you can swim much faster

you're not faster with a tail, unless "without a tail" means frog-kicking at the surface without fins...
depending on the quality of the monofin, you're slightly faster with a tail, but still a lot slower than with little coverage & fin(s).
If the monofin is crappy/cheap material, I'm faster without fins lol.

Manoeverability depends on the size/shape of the fin used, and the tail material.

Most tails (not sure about silicone since I don't have one) create lots of drag, although the awesomeness makes up for it, but don't expect to be able to do a jump out of the water with any tail.

I don't think many mers tried breaching, because not many have easy access to water deep enough for that.
I broke a monofin when trying that btw. Guess neither tails nor monofins were intended for it.

[Cordelia]

I feel like I swim super fast after I take off my tail, because there is a bit less weight. If I had to guess, I think mine weighs around 10 pounds with the monofin in it.

[Ayla of Duluth]

I feel like I'm on the opposite end of the spectrum, I feel much faster in my silicone tail. When the cameraman for the news station was filming me underwater, he had to ask that I swim slowly so he could keep up. I can lap a pool in 30 seconds in my tail on one breath, but I can't lap a pool at all without it. I can get to the other end at best.

Maneuverability hasn't ever been an issue for me in the tail. I can't quite turn on a dime like I can without it, but I can if I am swimming in place and not swimming around. As for breaching, I can go to the bottom of an 8 foot pool, swim up as fast as possible, and when I breach I go out to my waist. My tail won't come out of the water, but it does weigh like 30 pounds. But I can sort of hover there for a few seconds by kicking my fluke a bit.

[PearlieMae]

I can't breach all the way out of the water, but I can come up and out about waist high. As for being faster, I ZOOM in a tail/with a fin, without it, I feel like I'm practically drowning!

[Joy&RaptorsUnrestrained!]

I found it's possible (though somewhat tiring) to raise yourself out of the water about belly-waist height, and suspend yourself there, similar to a dolphin "tail walking." Raina referred to it as "dolphin wiggling" since you're basically doing the same full-body serpentine motion of a dolphin kick and rapidly moving your arms as if treading water at high speed in order to help lift.

[Triton-Mahtlinnie]

I find that I am a lot faster in tail than out of tail. I am fastest with a monofin and no tail because, of course, the extra material of the tail creates drag.

Front flips are the easiest to do with a tail on (though it takes a bit of practice), and if you do it right you can flash your fluke out of the water and bring it down with a nice slap. I find this is the most impressive trick to people watching from the surface. Back flips are a lot harder, since you can't really use your fin for propulsion. I can manage it easily with webbed hands to give me an extra push, it's more of a struggle bare-handed.

Barrel rolls/twists are impossible for me. My monofin is too wide and stiff to twist laterally like that. It may be managable for those with smaller or more flexible monofins. As for breaching, I can usually manage to get at least my upper body out of the water with a good run-up. It depends on your fin, water depth, and how powerful a swimmer you are.

In general, you will find yourself much less maneuverable with a tail than without. Monofins aren't really made for twists and rolls, the larger/stiffer the fin the more difficult it will be to twist and turn.

[Mermaid Kelda]

Barrel rolls/twists are impossible for me. My monofin is too wide and stiff to twist laterally like that. [...] Monofins aren't really made for twists and rolls, the larger/stiffer the fin the more difficult it will be to twist and turn.
Yeah, I tried to do a roll in my Finfolk and nearly sprained my ankles. Competitors were not made for spins!

[Mermaid Jaffa]

I did manage a small Fish Hop in my current tail + merfin 2 weeks ago. I did one and a half jumps out of the water which left me breathless for 10 mins!

My current tail has swimsuit lining from waist to ankles and extra fabric along the fin edge. So it is much heavier than all my other tails.

Though it wasn't very high, I don't think it was even waist high jump, but it was enough to get the lifeguard's attention and some of the swimmers'.

I must add too, I'm not in the topmost bit of health in terms of strength and stamina atm. But I think with practice I can achieve a higher jump. Just got to work on the strength first.

I swim faster in a tail. I'm pretty slow without a tail, especially since I only know how to do frog and dog paddle. They're pretty slow ways to swim!

[Mer-Crazy]

I think with people struggling with barrel rolls/ flips in tails (especially with a competitor) it's the tail bulk and weight and pool depth to blame. Not the competitor monofin itself, because I've seen a video of a girl dong the most amazing flips, spins etc in just a slightly cut to shape competitor monofin, so it's not impossible with just the fin anyway.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UjdHVyPYb0Y

[Mermaid Jaffa]

Today I did forwards and backwards rolls in my foil + tail. It seems easy enough in terms of tricks. Now about the water up the nose, I cheated and was using a snorkel mask!
On Sunday, I'll try it with tail + Merfin... It can't be that hard can it? Bigger tail. Lots of push.

[Mermaid Kelda]

I think with people struggling with barrel rolls/ flips in tails (especially with a competitor) it's the tail bulk and weight and pool depth to blame. Not the competitor monofin itself, because I've seen a video of a girl dong the most amazing flips, spins etc in just a slightly cut to shape competitor monofin, so it's not impossible with just the fin anyway.
I think it might also be the fact hers is cut down - when she spins, you can see one side of the fin bend, but not the other side, as if the water is escaping through the empty space in the middle. If it weren't cut down, it'd force the entire fin to bend instead of just one side, making it a lot harder to twist against the water.

Or, maybe she just has strong ankles ;)