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I can say luckily my apartment pool loves having a mermaid, the management even leaves it open after hours on Tues, Thurs, and Sat for private practice for me. Provided I allow others to swim with me during normal hours and not make a spectacle of myself lol
Oooh that's an awesome deal, Kaguria! Private practice after-hours must be like heaven :3
Nice! I'm hoping to swim in the big wave pool near my new home down in Sydney (without the wave machine going). They are a much bigger pool facility than what I'm used to swimming at here on the Central Coast. They also have another pool with lanes, a deep end for diving and water polo. Just basically swimming free without being stuck in a lane! I rang them months ago to ask if I could bring my tail and even posted a photo of it on their fb page, they said "Yes", so I'm pretty excited at finding a new splash home so quickly.
Oh and the Sydney Aquatic Centre, where they held the Olympics, also said yes to my tail. So am very happy to have two places to swim in!
My community pool has no problem with either monofins or my tails. Even when my fabric tail accidentally got glitter in the pool (oops!). In fact, they invited me to wear my tail at the community party on Labor day. Of course now that fall is here, the pool will be closed and I don't have anywhere to swim until next spring. :(
In our city no indoor oools allow to swim with a tail
Its so sad. In Austria Mermaiding is not so much there.
Inconsistency, even well-meaning, would bother me more than a straight-up ban. I know I'd constantly be paranoid about being called out and publicly shamed. :biting nails: For now, I can enjoy my apartment complex's outdoor pool to the fullest, but I know I need to start shopping around for some water for winter.Quote:
Originally Posted by Candytails
Quote:
Originally Posted by Blondie
I am a lifeguard manager, and personally I have no problem if someone wanted to come in and swim with a tail.
The best thing to do is simply ask before you go swimming. You need to explain how the tail works, what its made of, how that you're a good swimmer with and you wont annoy anyone on purpose. The Shoreview YMCA allows me to swim in my tail as long as I don't splash anybody with my fluke and that Im careful when swimming with little kids. Im also a employee of the Shoreview YMCA, but that hasn't affected my mermaiding time there.
Asking sometimes is less than helpful.
It can come down to simply if the supervisor is a jerk or not :p
When I asked about fins at the only deeper pool we have here, I was told "no fins allowed" by the chief guard.
But reading the pool's rules later, I found fins ARE allowed in the fast lane, and if not too thronged.
(It was pretty empty when I asked)
The same pool has hours and lanes reserved for the diver club and even for mermaiding courses lately, but still will selectively hinder other people using fins, no matter if the pool is otherwise empty or not.
I'm pretty done with pools and stupid staff.
Looking into other alternatives now. I've been saving for my own pool for a while.
In normal public hours in our local swimming hall I was actually told not to DIVE as long as I did :D :D I was training to dive long distance and after I dived few times back and forth the pool one of the life-guards came to tell me that it was forbidden. I was like uhm, well, how long I'm allowed to dive? And he told me that only one time from one end to another. It was SO weird... :D
But after joining in diving club we have our own turns at that same hall and our club really loves having a mermaid as a member so they actually encourage me to swim with them, and usually they have few their own kids with them to come to check out the mermaid :) And now I can even practice my free-diving skills XD
Its a worry about shallow water blackouts. The last update of ARC lifeguarding puts some emphasis on it being bad.Quote:
Originally Posted by Merenneito Nerissa
Ooh, ooh, I sometimes swim at the Sydney Olympic Park pool too with my Oceanika! Though most of the time I swim in a privately owned pool near my house, and the lifeguards have zero problems with it.Quote:
Originally Posted by Mermaid Jaffa
Ooo! You're not the other mermaid I've heard about at Ryde are you?Quote:
Originally Posted by SeaStarShimmer
No, I live in the east. I only really go there occasionally, like a day trip kind of, but the pool there is awesome! I would love to live closer!
I swam with my monofin at a leisure centre in Claremorris, and they were fine with the monofin. We asked at the desk before we went in, and they said it was fine. ^w^ I was kind of freaking out, because the pool in my own town doesn't allow fins, nor does the indoor waterpark in Bundoran, and the one I swam with my first crappy tail in is only open in summer. I haven't used my tail there yet, though. I went yesterday, and brought the tail with me, but I was a little anxious about using it. I felt kind of embarrassed. I wanted to almost sneak by the lifeguard, but they were standing right outside the changing room lockers!
In summation, I wimped out and just used the monofin ._.
This may be a little out of topic, but do any of you think snorkeling with a mermaid tail would be allowed, or are their certain requirements to be certified?
Introverting,Quote:
Originally Posted by introverting
Most snorkel places are not monitored (if you're thinking in the open ocean). Sometimes in big tourist spots they are, like some spots on Catalina Island or if you're with a guided group or a cruise ship. If you're going on your own, it should be fine almost all the time. If you're going with some kind of guide, I would get approval on it beforehand. (I did snorkeling with my college in La Jolla Cove, a pretty touristy area, and they were cool with my mono fin but I needed a wetsuit-- it was during the winter so too cold for tail!) If there's a lifeguard where you are, it may be best to talk to them first before you start swimming just so they know-- idk if they can refuse you swimming in the ocean in a tail since it's public, though. I've swam at the beach in my tail and as long as i stuck to areas designated for swimmers (i.e. not surfer areas) the lifeguards were just fine.
Also, ocean swimming can be pretty tiring, so if there won't be a lifeguard where you are, at the very least make sure you have at least one swim buddy, and take breaks!
When I rang the pool at Ryde, the receptionist said yes, but I also made her go ask the boss in charge of all the lifeguards. When she came back to say he said yes too, I was very happy!
I've seen the boss, Andrew, sometimes at the pool. He looks happy to have me there, and as far as I know, there is no complaints from other people about my swimming. I do stay in a lane if its crowded but when its not, I treat the whole deep end like my private cove!
AHHH!!! Was listening to Wait Wait Don't Tell Me from last Saturday, and the first limerick is about this topic: http://www.npr.org/2015/06/06/412448284/limericks