While a fabric version is not my dream tail, it is good for practice. I will say that metallic spandex looks amazing on the monofin when it's in the water.
And I have photos!
I finally had the chance to take the first swim, in my first swimmable fabric tail(!) with the Mahina monofin.
No video unfortunately. This is yet another reason I want a GoPro camera, so badly! During the entire swim I was wishing that I could get some underwater video of how the fin and fabric dorsal moved through the water. From what I could see myself, it looked really nice and fluid. Even the glitter on the fabric stayed intact and gave a little shimmer.
It felt exhilarating to swim so fast with the monofin. It was pretty comfortable once I had it on and moving through the water.
I'm not sure I'll need any swim socks with it; no foot cramps or bruises on my feet, as a few others have experienced with some monofin designs.
The gold spandex fabric did fairly well, but was a bit see-through when wet. No biggie, since I was wearing a full bikini with it. It was just the turquoise color of my bathing suit bottoms showing through as darker. My next homemade tail will likely be neoprene (except it likes to float) or made from darker fabric.
There was a little drag when swimming, as fabric tails will have in water, but thanks to the suggestion of a long-time friend and fellow mermaid, I left a good portion of the fluke open at the bottom edge. This way water can flow through the fluke and over the monofin instead of catching in it like a bubble. I know now that I want to add more of the pink ankle/dorsal fins to the back foot pocket area of the fluke.
Overall, it flowed pretty smoothly.
I can tell I need to brush up on my extended underwater swimming, and possibly grab some of those near-invisible nose plugs for a few more dives (which I know some other 'mers' use occasionally). At least until I can retrain myself to keep the water out of my nose, heh!
No green/blonde hair either, thanks to Ion Swimmer's shampoo, conditioner and leave-in conditioner spray. I didn't want to wear my swim cap, so I prepped my hair with this collection during the week leading up to this pool swim.
Speaking of which; the pool was fairly shallow, about 4 1/2 ft. at its deepest. So I did a few handstands, waving my fin at a few kids hanging out in the pool area.
I overheard one little girl say to her mom with urgency, "Mommy LOOK! ...I wanna be a mermaid, too", then *splish* my fluke would disappear below the surface just before mom would turn to look. This hilariously happened a few times, as my friend documented from the poolside.
I'd surface to hear this little girl insisting that "No, really she's a MERMAID, loook!"
My friend and I were swimming at a hotel pool near Disneyland this weekend. We were there to attend the Halloween costumed event, and she was the Anna to my Elsa. The entire time at Disneyland we had kids coming up to us asking if we were the "real Anna and Elsa?!"
Our replies were similar as those used while in mermaid form around
kids; "We are as real as you are, don't you think?". And they'd just nod
and give us big smiles.So, getting the opportunity as a mermaid, to continue little random moments of enchantment for some of the kids, was really heartwarming.
xoxo
