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That's really sad that they are starting to ban mermaiding in various beaches and public pools :( And it can be a problem for people who don't live by the ocean and have to rely on public pools unless they have their own. I hope it doesn't keep happening.
Maybe the places that have bans don't understand what mermaiding is. Maybe if the mer could take extra time to educate them and maybe schedule times they would be in tail,it might put the managers of the facility and life guards at ease... Maybe the spontanious showing up in tail and lack of education has left them ill at ease...
I'm sure it can cause a disturbance to see someone in tail and suddenly you have a small crowd gathering,maybe it's distracting.. Maybe once they're educated on it, they might devise a sign that lets people know a mer or aquatic performer or whatever they may choose to call you, could let people know so hopefully it would minimize any potential distractign situations. I group of people spontaniously gathering could be distracting to lifeguards,if they don't know the situation. They could possibly assign a specific area so it won't be a surprise,they'll kinda have a heads up...
Hopefully working together can be beneficial for all...plus a blanket liabilty form like th eone already posted could be a good idea too.
well the reason apparently cause VA beach has RIPTIDES and quite alot of them too so i totally understand why..
http://hamptonroads.com/2012/06/high...ia-beach-today
Just a quick FYI everyone... I recently read that YMCA is banning mermaiding/freediving mostly due to the holding of one's breath underwater. They actually had a man die while practicing breath holding in shallow water. They are basically trying to ban people swimming underwater all together (ridiculous). They also said they didn't want to have people with tails encouraging kids to swim with their legs bound.... I don't know about you but every video I've seen of kids swimming around in tails/monofins, etc they are usually outswimming all of us!
Might be a good thing ....you know what put the "p" in ool! ;)Quote:
Originally Posted by Mermaid Marla
That's why our next house must have a pool!
Hey Lanai--
is that other male mer from NYC Me?!? :D
... and HEY! (acts all offended) what's wrong with being a male mer?! hehe
Here in Antwerp (Belgium) it's not even aloud to swim with anything that covers your knees and the underside of your legs. So no tails here in the public pools :( In most public pools you aren't even aloud to use duo-fins and monofins. That makes it very hard to find a pool where I can practice. :( I've finely found one and it's about 3,50 deep on 1 end. :)
Wow! How times have changed lol.Quote:
Originally Posted by MermaidFenicia
Blame "hypoxic training".Quote:
Originally Posted by Mermaid Marla
"A method... is hypoxic training. The theory is that modifying the muscles’ response in an anaerobic (without oxygen) environment will lead to enhanced performance. There are two types of hypoxic training – static breath holding and dynamic breath holding... Both methods of breath holding are dangerous and can lead to a condition called shallow water blackout (SWB).
The YMCA Lifeguarding textbook On the Guard II states “Do not allow swimmers to swim underwater or to hold their breath during recreational periods.” "
from The Redwoods Group Insurance Program for YMCAs RISK MANAGEMENT ALERT (pdf)
Luckily the beach where our beach house is, is almost deserted! No one can see me swimming in the reefs, jet the few that do know about the beach does tend to stare (rudely) at mers.
I guess I need a pontoon boat so I can go out to Belews Lake for a swim.
Honestly, if it isn't posted, pretend you don't know. The person that someone heard this from may not have been as strong a swimmer and would cause some concern to the lifeguards. Swim like you normally would but before you get into the ocean, if you have never done it before, Know that it is much harder to move with the current pushing against you. Be smart and know your abilities and the conditions. Take a safety swimmer and show you are taking precautions and you should be fine. The worst they can do is tell you to come in and you can take pictures on the beach with the tourists instead. :)
I'm kinda torn, because obviously I want mermaiding to be permitted at beaches and pools, but the fact is I'd be a hypocrite if I just say those people were being thoughtless and unreasonable. I was a lifeguard for two years, and while no one ever tried to swim in a tail at my pool, I already know that we didn't allow basically anything in the pools- flotation devices, toys, swim aids, fins, none of them.
Then again, that kind of policy probably isn't the norm at most pools, many of which do allow things like swim fins. While our policy didn't discriminate against people in tails since we simply didn't allow anything, the same can't be said for pools that allow fins but not tails.
That's not cool! I don't want it to be banned. Not before I've even started...aww shmucks! DX
I haven't even made my tail yet and places are banning mermaiding/mermaning!!!???!?!?
From a few places that I have been they had told me that using a monofin is like using flippers and some but not all ban flippers but are allowed to use anything else. I still don't understand why and to me it makes no sence .
Luckily most of the pools/beaches in my area understand that people need somewhere to train using swim-aids... the only bann I've heard of locally is the brand new State Swim center in Marion banning the wearing of cotton and velvet, t-shirts or streetclothes in the pools. The why there is completely understandable... such fabrics shed fibers in chlorine pools and clog the filters. So I wont be wearing a stretch velvet tail to there... That's okay.
My local pool even has scuba training lessons... so banning flippers seems kinda silly.
I think sometimes you have to weigh up whether the pool is a training/swim safety lessons pool or a purely recreational pool.
If it is the first then the rules need to be relaxed for swim aids, with the understanding that there are fully qualified lifeguards and swimtutors.
If it is the second, stricter rules for patron safety and less trained lifeguards might be more the norm.
From the sounds of it a lot of the banns/rules come from misconceptions via the safety risks of mermaiding... In which case, sitting down to calmly educate the boss/manager on the mechanics of mermaid tails and the Dolphin-Kick would be the best way to go.
I think that one of the main reasons places are banning mermaiding is because they don't want inexperienced children to copy tail swimming without the proper training and get hurt. Swimming in tails has been pretty popular this summer, and a lot of the new mers excited by the novelty of it all may fizzle out in a short amount of time. Maybe when this happens, the rules will become more relaxed?
I know this thread is old, but I was just at the Y and asked about the monofin and they said it's okay. I was like, sweet! And the lady at the desk was asking me all sorts of questions Haha I forgot to ask about the actual tail, though. But the website says nothing below the knees, so probably not /:
Same here in Antwerp (Belgium), sydthefairebrat :(