Neck weights

I've heard of neck weights being used for things like scuba diving, but for mermaiding... I'm not sure how well it would work for mermaiding.

Safety concerns aside-- I think others have addressed that well enough-- unlike scuba diving and most other forms of freediving, mermaiding is very much performance-based and has an incredible focus on aesthetics. Obviously practicality and efficiency plays into it, to a degree, but especially as a performer everything a mermaid wears generally needs to look "authentic." It's not just gear, it's a costume. It's why everything is usually covered in fishnet, seaweed and shells.

Some mermaids may find a neck weight useful, when used correctly, but from my understanding of them (as little as that is), they're often big, black bulky things that are hard to cover up to look more "mer." It's why mermaids who use weights often prefer to use smaller weights inside their tails, or use belts that are much easier to cover up and disguise with shells and netting; they doesn't break the illusion of a mermaid in the same way a big bulky neck weight would, and aren't as immediately obvious.

That said, if there were a way to dress it up a bit, make it look more like a proper mermaid neckpiece without breaking the illusion or making it so bulky that it gets in the way of arm/shoulder movement, I think it could be a useful tool for people who have trouble sinking or staying below the surface (my current tail is also my first, and is made of super buoyant neoprene so I have to work really hard to keep myself underwater, for example) and be a bit better received overall, but in the meantime without any modification I'm not sure how popular of an option it would be as-is. Personally, I'm not currently into mermaiding for the performance aspect of it, as I've only just gotten my first tail so I'm more focused on strengthening my swim, breathing and exercise, so the current look of one isn't a huge concern for me. If I had the funds for one, I'd probably get a lighter one just to try it out, at the very least.

I think letting Raina do a review of one of your neck weights would sort of help ease a lot of people's concerns; I think she's among the most experienced of anyone here, and would be able to give other wary merfolk a better idea of the pros and cons to wearing one. :D

I don't think I personally would be comfortable with something of that size around my neck. Never mind the weight, its so big Id be worried about it feeling like I'm being strangled, then panic and not be able to get it off. I think I'll just stick to being floaty

You wouldn't use only the neckless. I think if you wanted to use weights to achieve neutral buoyancy or be less floaty "Technical term" to slow how fast you float to the top without kicking you'd use multiple pieces and disguise them. Then it's how much and how deep your working?
Pearls would be a natural find for a Mermaid.
Oh, remember this idea is for the advanced Mermaid. Someone that easily swim and can hold their breath for 30 seconds plus.
Your lungs with air float, bones don’t. Pretty much your lungs float you up. At 33 feet your lungs are half the size because they are being squished by the heavy water. If you have just enough weight for swimming at 6 feet it will be too much at 20. Scuba divers start with to much weight then fill a bag with air so they don’t sink anymore and not so much air they float to the top. They adjust it while swimming up and down. It’s called a BC “buoyancy compensator”, it’s generally a vest. Some fish swallow a rock to stay on the bottom and spit it out when done. Merfolk will need a way to add or remove their weights for adjustments.

Here a photo that Chris Crumley sent me. This was taken in a pool. Where'd they hide the weights, their good at it!
He's got great timing.
Attachment 30351

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Beautiful pics!


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If you let out all of the air in your lungs you can stay at the bottom without floating up.
5-10 seconds is enough to take a few shots.

Indeed.
That pool looks about 1,50m deep, maybe less depending on if/how much it is photoshopped.
In that depth or even less, I can lie on the bottom without fully exhaling.
Someone who is a sinker, will not even need to exhale to lie on the bottom like a rock. I've seen it.
I don't know why everyone is assuming all mermaids are floaters :p

Jeff, first of all, thank you for sharing your knowledge and videos on here regardless if some people seem rude or unappreciative. You swim absolutely beautifully and effortlessly in your monofin and your breathhold is amazing! You would have no trouble at all adapting to a silicone tail once you got use to the decorative elements of it and the way the tail pulls as opposed to a bare monofin. Please take pictures if you ever do!

Secondly, people sell their tails, their jewelry, their scale bracers, scale bras, hair clips, sea animal accessories and all manner of things are "advertised" on here. No different from what you are doing and you are just as justified doing it as any of them.

Your weighted pearl idea is genius for all the mers that swim deeper, swim in large aquariums, and certainly for photo shoots under the water. I have ALWAYS had trouble staying deep enough in my tail for still pictures as I naturally want to float. It is a very common problem with all of the mers I do photo shoots with. Your idea of the weighted pearls could be added to the girls' shell and Scale bras and easily worked into the design. They could be done as strands of pearls attached to the netting we wear as belts (weight-belt, duh) and also in arm bands, bracelets and necklaces as you said. There is a niche for that idea and it was logical for you to come to this network with it, so thank you for that.

As for the Lunocet, the design would be great for the extended tail that some mers admire. Depending on the material of the flukes, I would use that as a base to build the silicone fluke on rather than remove them completely. You need something for propulsion. The silicone by itself is too floppy in the deeper water.

BTW, the Mermaids in the salt water aquarium in Vegas at the Mermaid Show could definitely benefit from your weighted pearls. They have to use weights to keep them neutrally buoyant as well, and their costume designer used ugly rectangular weights sewn into their flesh colored part of their unitails. They looked like tumors. ugh. But they are definitely needed because they spend a lot of time near the bottom waving at kids through the glass. Decorative "pearls" would be so much more believable and just as efficient.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Keiris

Jeff, first of all, thank you for sharing your knowledge and videos on here regardless if some people seem rude or unappreciative. You swim absolutely beautifully and effortlessly in your monofin and your breathhold is amazing! You would have no trouble at all adapting to a silicone tail once you got use to the decorative elements of it and the way the tail pulls as opposed to a bare monofin. Please take pictures if you ever do!

Secondly, people sell their tails, their jewelry, their scale bracers, scale bras, hair clips, sea animal accessories and all manner of things are "advertised" on here. No different from what you are doing and you are just as justified doing it as any of them.

Your weighted pearl idea is genius for all the mers that swim deeper, swim in large aquariums, and certainly for photo shoots under the water. I have ALWAYS had trouble staying deep enough in my tail for still pictures as I naturally want to float. It is a very common problem with all of the mers I do photo shoots with. Your idea of the weighted pearls could be added to the girls' shell and Scale bras and easily worked into the design. They could be done as strands of pearls attached to the netting we wear as belts (weight-belt, duh) and also in arm bands, bracelets and necklaces as you said. There is a niche for that idea and it was logical for you to come to this network with it, so thank you for that.

As for the Lunocet, the design would be great for the extended tail that some mers admire. Depending on the material of the flukes, I would use that as a base to build the silicone fluke on rather than remove them completely. You need something for propulsion. The silicone by itself is too floppy in the deeper water.

BTW, the Mermaids in the salt water aquarium in Vegas at the Mermaid Show could definitely benefit from your weighted pearls. They have to use weights to keep them neutrally buoyant as well, and their costume designer used ugly rectangular weights sewn into their flesh colored part of their unitails. They looked like tumors. ugh. But they are definitely needed because they spend a lot of time near the bottom waving at kids through the glass. Decorative "pearls" would be so much more believable and just as efficient.

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Agreed :clap:
I also think weights could easily be incorporated into a mers outfit.


Also, Jeff, thanks for the knowledge. Maybe you could add onto our threads about breath holding? It'd be cool to hear from someone with your experience.

Chris actually edits the hell out of those photos ;) I've seen the before and after. You can often see the weights he just edits em out!

Quote:

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Originally Posted by AniaR

Chris actually edits the hell out of those photos ;) I've seen the before and after. You can often see the weights he just edits em out!

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Now see, if she had some of Jeff's decorative "pearl-weights" not only would she be able to stay in place better without waving her arms constantly for traction, she'd look like she went pearl diving and no wasted time/expense editing!

Jeff, I think this would be easier for people to visualize with an example. Say one of our mers weighs 130 lbs., her tail weighs another 30 lbs., and she's doing a photo shoot in the bottom of a tank or pool. How many strands of your "pearl-weights" would she need to incorporate into her costume to become neutrally buoyant? Keep in mind a strand might be incorporated into a shell bra, another as a necklace and another with maybe larger "pearls" intertwined in a seaweed or net belt.

I realize each body is different and requires a different amount depending on what the mer is doing and the added weight of his/her tail. :)

http://images.tapatalk-cdn.com/15/06...387fa3cead.jpghttp://images.tapatalk-cdn.com/15/06...4c54691713.jpg
I know this isn't neck weight related but this is the lunocet in a magictail

Keiris: thanks for the warm welcome!
Everyone needs different weighting in freediving and it gets WAY more individual with all of these funky tails of silicone, neoprene, etc.

I'll share the best way of determining weight placement shortly.

Cascada: I'll post a way that everyone here if decent herh can hold their breath at least 3:00 and some... 4:00 or even 5:00 within 2-3 weeks of training! :o

Labyrinth: WOW - who's tail is that? It looks like a 2014 Lunocet Pro.

How does the magictail fasten over the end of the flukes? Velcro / ties?


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:jawdrop:
looks like the Magictail is made for the Lunocet!

That aren't cycling shoes though? Looks like a "normal" footpocket?
If this version is purchaseable, I'll probably rework some of my tails and get one.

There is a newer version available that has been improved and the "flukes" are near identical in dimension and will fit if the 2014 fit.

Cool!


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magictails have little pockets at the ends of the fluke that you can fit a few monofins into. I found the pictures on Facebook a while ago from German mermaid Meerjungfrauentreff Nord

I think that if I were to don a tail... This would have to be the one for me. :D

Now to find a local meet up! :D


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Quote:

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Originally Posted by UltimateSwimFin.com

I think that if I were to don a tail... This would have to be the one for me. :D

Now to find a local meet up! :D


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The Magictail is certainly a lot lighter and more streamline than silicone. It's like wearing a bathingsuit that covers your legs. It would be a piece of cake for you, Jeff, if you already swim with that fin!

Slightly off topic, but wow, your breath hold is amazing! If you could share some tips/techniques with us, that would be fantastic!

3 easy steps:

1) inhale deeply
2) stay relaxed and swim really far
3) come up for air before you blackout

;)

In all seriousness, relaxation IS key and I'll post some drills to help get you comfortable with the discomfort of prolonged breath holds.

Of course it needs to be disclaimed that proper, trained safeties / buddies IN THE POOL (not a lifeguard - they are useless) is a prerequisite.


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I'd be willing to try one, but i'm still not sure about it inside a tail. Especially in a fabric tail. It looks fine from above, but you can bet light will shine through and show that single slender piece between the foot pocket and the fin from under.

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Originally Posted by RisingMermaid

I'd be willing to try one, but i'm still not sure about it inside a tail. Especially in a fabric tail. It looks fine from above, but you can bet light will shine through and show that single slender piece between the foot pocket and the fin from under.

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I bet that could be padded pretty easily.

The "peduncle" of the Lunocet is double-hinged and replicates the unique "ball-vertebrae" of a dolphin and replicates the swimming action of many Cetaceans.

It is a vertebrae with a large rubber spring to provide resistance and return it back to centre. This hinged mechanism is unique to the Lunocet.

Normally when I dive, I'm the deepest living thing, so not many ppl see me from below... Unless I'm breathing up on the surface. :D

A Dolphins tail is actually quite narrow before the flukes and MANY fish are as well (although rotated 90*).

I think the question is... Are mermaids fish or mammals / gills or lungs / up and down, or side-to-side!?


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There have actually been Mers on here whose tails are shaped and colored like dolphins, killer whales etc. I think most prefer the more impossible combination of fish and human because of the exotic nature of it. The myriad colors, fin shapes, scale patterns, shimmer, sparkle, stripes etc. make for more magical options. I personally, like the thought of only having to surface if you want to rather than have to.

Ha, this thread is a roller coaster. So much going on. About the lunocet, I think many people in this community, myself included have fantasized about how a lunocet could be integrated into a tail. I was so into the idea that a couple years ago I even tried to reverse engineer a poor man's version, although my attempt was unsurprisingly a failure. But if you or someone else here could figure out how to do it, man, that would be the coolest.

The lunocet intersects with another topic in this thread- the relationship between mermaiding and freediving. While for some people mermaiding is almost entirely about performing and aesthetics, I'm in the camp where swimming as a merman is about fulfilling a fantasy, and that definitely includes anything that can extend my down time and make me feel like an aquatic creature, not just look like one. So what you've been saying is possibly more relevant for people like me.

About the neck weights, I'm pretty neutral (no pun intended). I've never heard of them but I believe you when you say they're a real thing. I don't totally get it since I feel like having weights at the waist makes the most sense since it's close to your center of mass. Also 5-7 lbs seems like a lot. I wear 12 lbs when I dive with my 7mm wetsuit. Also, I think silicone tails are negatively buoyant. I'd be willing to try a little weight on my neck, but I'd probably start with 1 or 2 lbs and see what I think.

Lots of freedivers use neck weights, both for vertical diving on a line, and for dynamic events (swimming horizontally underwater in a pool.)

IME, for recreational freediving in open water, and for spearfishing, a weightbelt is better, but when diving vertically, you've have the issue of a weightbelt falling down around your chest when you're upside-down. The solutions available are to use a rubber belt and stretch it really tight (which interferes with your breathe-up) or attach a strap through your crotch (which increases drag) or use a neck weight.

You can see Niki Roderick wearing a neck weight in this video of a vertical line dive that Echidna posted previously.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XMR4VHqlvOI

You can see it hanging on her chin as she descends. This is one of the more annoying things about neck weights IME.

For dynamic it's important to be able to stay effortlessly aligned in the water. Many freedivers who tend to float heads higher in the water find a neck weight helps them stay aligned horizontally. Divers who float horizontally naturally do better with a weight belt. I have one buddy who needs a lot of weight so she uses both a weight belt and a neck weight to stay aligned.

One of the instructors at the Toronto Freediving club has published a webpage on how to make your own neck weight

http://enjoyfreediving.com/2011/03/0...g-neck-weight/

IME though, the majority of mermaids & mermen have the opposite problem to freedivers. Most I've seen swim with their tail higher than their heads, and a neck weight will only make this worse. I'm speculating that this might be from small amounts of air trapped in the tail? Cricket from Otter Bay Wetsuits makes a monofin with attached weights to help balance people wearing their mermaid suit out, but I think this is a bad idea. Fins move all the time, and heavy ones will just tire you out. Also, they are impossible to ditch in an emergency. This would also be true of ankle weights inside a tail. I think a weight belt seated low on the hips might be the way to go.

This video of the Cirque du Soleil sychro team performing in the film Journey of Man shows a solution the costume designers came up with for a weight belt that looks cool and fits in with their costume theme, instead of looking "weight-belt'y". It is also very fast to ditch because it is attached with velcro.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7putrHPNZ-w

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