Hello Sweeties! from Texas

[Sea Lace]

Hi. I'm just beginning to enter the world of mermaiding and am so happy to have found this community. I have always loved mermaids and am ready to truly show my mermaid soul.

I am currently researching what monofin will work best for me. Any suggestions? I wear a true 11 & 1/2 (it takes a big foundation to hold up a castle) shoe and am 5'9. I have had ankle and knee surgery before.... so any tips in the right direction of what will propel my height and still be easy on my joints would be amazing.

I am also in the process of turning my truck into a Texas Mermaid's Dream as you can see by my avatar!

[Slim]

Welcome to the Mernetwork


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[Kaila Mermaid]

Welcome!! Sadly I don't know too much about monofins, but I'm also a Texas mer. What area are you in? I'm in the San Marcos area. Welcome new Lone Star Mermaid!!

[lotusauriel]

Hi. If your feet aren't real wide, the large mahina merfin should fit you. It has nice push, and is also nice and flowy. It does tend to rub high arches and ankles, and it takes most people a while to get used to it, but I think it's worth it. I'm still fighting with mine, but other people say to just wear the neoprene dive socks and push through it.

[TybeeMermaid]

Hi! I don't really have ankle problems but I too had knee surgery a few years ago. I also use a Mahina Merfin and I can offer you my experience with that too. I've been a competitive swimmer for the last 13 years so it didn't take me too long to get used to it. The first thing I noticed right off the bat is that you really have to exaggerate your movement in that fin. I already had a strong dolphin kick before I put the fin on, but once it was on, I had to exaggerate it even more. A good dolphin kick starts from the abs and flows all the way down to the tips of your toes. The more pointed your ankles are, the more efficient your kick will be. Another thing I noticed, is that over time the foot pockets cut into the tops of my feet. I stopped swimming in it for a week to let the cuts heal and that seemed to be enough because after I broke them in, I haven't had any trouble with it since.

I don't really know much about your ankle surgery but I would suggest taking it easy on pointing your ankles until you're confident in their flexibility. There are stretches swimmers do every day that helps us loosen our ankles up for good flexibility. The most popular is simply holding our foot and pushing our ankles down as far as they can go and just holding it for as long as we can tolerate it. If ankles are really flexible, then we sit on them to continue stretching them out. With consistent stretching, our ankles loosen up to the point where our legs are basically a straight line in the water.

As far as your knee surgery goes, I wouldn't worry about it too much. You're not really supposed to bend your knees much when it comes to dolphin kicking. The kick comes more from your abs and hips and just kinda flows the rest of the way through the legs. I'd say the most you'd bend your knees is probably 30 degrees. After my knee surgery, dolphin kicking was probably the least troublesome kick for me. I had to be careful with my down kick so I wouldn't accidentally hyper extend my knee and ruin 3 months worth of rehab but over time, as my knee healed, I was able to kick normally and hyper extend my knee again.

As far as monofins go though, I would suggest a Finis Rapid [link] for you. I've swum with one of those before and I didn't have to exaggerate my movement nearly as much as I have to in the Mahina Merfin. I think It'd be better suited for you because I don't think it would be as hard on your ankles. Or if you haven't swum in any type of fin at all, I'd recommend trying regular flippers first. The fins I use in swim practice have lasted me 9 years and have unfortunately been discontinued, but I do have teammates that wear the Speedo Trialon Rubber Fins [link] and they work just as well as mine. They're basically the next generation of fin after mine.

If you have any questions, I can gladly answer them to the best of my ability. I haven't been apart of the mermaid community for very long but I know the swimming world inside and out. I do have a video on my youtube channel that shows a bunch of swimming reference footage that I recorded of myself for animators (because I'm also an animator and there's no good reference footage of swimmers anywhere online!). It's got some dolphin kicking in it that you might find useful to look at when it comes to my descriptions above. [link]

[Magi]

Heya =) Welcome to the community!

Well, I can't speak for big feet, I have the opposite problem, but I am very aware of knee problems. Didn't get mine surgically repaired and had the long process of it healing on its own, so on occasion when the weather starts doing something funny or the humidity gets too high, or if I over use it I start to feel it.
That being said, swimming in my monofin has not been an issue one bit. I use a Finis Aquarius (Not sure I would recommend that fin though), and after 1-2 hours of swimming laps with it I'm not having any issues with my knee. Your upper body and core should be taking most of the brunt from a dolphin kick

[Sea Lace]

Welcome!! Sadly I don't know too much about monofins, but I'm also a Texas mer. What area are you in? I'm in the San Marcos area. Welcome new Lone Star Mermaid!!

I'm in the Tyler area. If you don't know where that is.... about 2 hours out side of Dallas on your way to Shreveport.

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[Sea Lace]

Hi. If your feet aren't real wide, the large mahina merfin should fit you. It has nice push, and is also nice and flowy. It does tend to rub high arches and ankles, and it takes most people a while to get used to it, but I think it's worth it. I'm still fighting with mine, but other people say to just wear the neoprene dive socks and push through it.

Been looking into the mahina! So pretty! Could you recommend a good place to buy a little cheaper or used? I have wide feet and want to try first or buy used to just make sure it's right for me.

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[Sea Lace]

Heya =) Welcome to the community!

Well, I can't speak for big feet, I have the opposite problem, but I am very aware of knee problems. Didn't get mine surgically repaired and had the long process of it healing on its own, so on occasion when the weather starts doing something funny or the humidity gets too high, or if I over use it I start to feel it.
That being said, swimming in my monofin has not been an issue one bit. I use a Finis Aquarius (Not sure I would recommend that fin though), and after 1-2 hours of swimming laps with it I'm not having any issues with my knee. Your upper body and core should be taking most of the brunt from a dolphin kick

That's awesome! I have been worried about it. I'm excited to get my fins in the water, but am anxious about

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[Satine]

I'm in the Tyler area. If you don't know where that is.... about 2 hours out side of Dallas on your way to Shreveport.

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hi there and welcome, I am also a Texas mer but I am right outside of Houston in the Tomball area !!!! Don't have my tail yet as I am trying to lose waight so I will look like I want. I am buying my tail through mernation who are awesome !!!!!! And it is 95% paid for I decided last minute to add some fins and change my monofin lol

hopeing there will be a big Texas meet up sometime after I get my tail so all of us can socialize !!!!

I hope you enjoy the community it is wonderful.

[Sea Lace]

Yes! It would be great! I'm currently on the weight loss trail myself. I'm hoping to be at my goal weight when my hubs comes back from deployment. Lol.... he promised that he would buy me a Lorelei Eco tail and him the matching long pants for a couples photo shoot if I learned to use a monofin well!

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[lotusauriel]

Been looking into the mahina! So pretty! Could you recommend a good place to buy a little cheaper or used? I have wide feet and want to try first or buy used to just make sure it's right for me.

Sent from my SM-N910H using MerNetwork mobile app

You can look on ebay, but used ones don't come up often. Though I did get my first one that way. I will say that in general it is almost always uncomfortable at first, for everyone. It takes time to get used to and break in. Maybe if there is anyone in your area that has one, you could just try it out to see if the basic fit is right, and how it feels to swim in.