Hello. My name is Eric Haury. I am a writer of fiction. None of you would have heard of anything I‘ve written. But you might be interested in the novel I am working on right now, because it centers on mermaids. And that means swimming is a key element of my research.
What I want to do is take mermaids (and mermen) as we typically think of them but put them in a rigidly realistic oceanic environment (fictional but based specifically on the waters around the English Channel Islands) and create a realistic society based on how they would have to adapt to that environment. To this end, I have researched everything from the Channel Islands environment and fishing techniques to flint knapping (they have to get their tools somehow). Naturally, I need to know more about swimming and the experience of the ocean environment.
I’m a mediocre swimmer myself, and I live inland to boot. So my ability to learn some of these things for myself is sadly limited. I’m hoping to get some answers to questions either directly on this thread or through e-mail, whichever you would prefer.
I’m sending two different posts to sections of this forum. The other one focuses on thee Channel Islands. This post focuses on swimming with a monofin, the closest equivalent to mermaid or merman swimming any of us could do. I’m sure I’ll have to come back and add questions later. But here are some things I would like to know:
How fast can one swim wearing a monofin?
(Of course, the question can’t be that simple. I’m thinking of a Finis Competitor fin or equivalent. And I’m thinking of someone well trained and well practiced. I’m sure that’s a vague category to those of you who know monofin swimming well, but that’s the best I can do. I don’t know if I’m only asking about competitive swimmers or if I’m including very good non-competitive swimmers. Whatever seems best to you. Also, does gender make a difference? Are there enough children or young teens swimming with appropriately size monofins to say what their typical speed is? And finally, I recognize that there is variety from person to person and time to time. Just get me a sense of what’s normal, and perhaps, what the known limits are.)
OK, restarting the questions now:
What’s the typical sprint speed for monofin swimmers? How long can swimmers typically sprint?
What seems to be a normal, sustainable non-sprinting speed? How long can a well-trained swimmer swim at that speed before tiring?
With pregnancy, is there any difference in any of these swimming speeds or any other change to how one swims in a monofin?
I am familiar with the normal “arms out” way of undulating. However, my mermaids will often have to carry things while swimming. Have any of you swum without arms out. How does that change the different swimming speeds I’ve asked about or swimming techniques?
What would you say would be typical calorie burning for the kinds of swimming I’ve asked about?
I’ve seen a few mentions on this board – I’ve looked around for a few days – of cutting pieces out of a monofin to see how that affects swimming. Have any of you swum with a purposefully unevenly shaped monofin, the equivalent of a mermaid/merman with a damaged tailfin? What is the result for speed or maneuverability? How would you compensate for the “damage” if anything needs to be done?
Have any of you swum with your feet bound together but no real fin – a nonofin, if you will? What sort of speeds could you get then? How does it compare (in any way) to swimming without fins and with two unbound legs?
I’ve seen comments that swimming with a monofin leads to less maneuverability. This is more on the speculative side (as is the next question), but would any of you know if a mermaid or merman, not having femurs and other bones that limit bending to knees or ankles might be able to maneuver better than a human with a monofin, or would maneuverability be essentially the same? Let me encourage whoever guesses to make as educated a guess as possible.
OK, here’s the last question (so far). And it ties into the last one. Postulate a mermaid or merman with a fairly flexible tail. Much more than human legs. Would there be any advantage for them to use that flexibility to swim? Or could a “floppier” tail hurt speed or some other swimming quality? Based on your knowledge of swimming with the semblance of a tail, would there ever been and advantage for your legs to be “floppier” when swimming? What about disadvantages? My assumption is, merfolk would try to bend their tails’ like a dolphin or some sort of small whale would – more of a bend than a human can achieve but not “floppy.” Does that make sense or not make sense?
Thank you to any of you who took time checking out this post. Forgive me if I mangled any of the terminology or was a bit confusing in any of my questions. I look forward to any replies I get.
What I want to do is take mermaids (and mermen) as we typically think of them but put them in a rigidly realistic oceanic environment (fictional but based specifically on the waters around the English Channel Islands) and create a realistic society based on how they would have to adapt to that environment. To this end, I have researched everything from the Channel Islands environment and fishing techniques to flint knapping (they have to get their tools somehow). Naturally, I need to know more about swimming and the experience of the ocean environment.
I’m a mediocre swimmer myself, and I live inland to boot. So my ability to learn some of these things for myself is sadly limited. I’m hoping to get some answers to questions either directly on this thread or through e-mail, whichever you would prefer.
I’m sending two different posts to sections of this forum. The other one focuses on thee Channel Islands. This post focuses on swimming with a monofin, the closest equivalent to mermaid or merman swimming any of us could do. I’m sure I’ll have to come back and add questions later. But here are some things I would like to know:
How fast can one swim wearing a monofin?
(Of course, the question can’t be that simple. I’m thinking of a Finis Competitor fin or equivalent. And I’m thinking of someone well trained and well practiced. I’m sure that’s a vague category to those of you who know monofin swimming well, but that’s the best I can do. I don’t know if I’m only asking about competitive swimmers or if I’m including very good non-competitive swimmers. Whatever seems best to you. Also, does gender make a difference? Are there enough children or young teens swimming with appropriately size monofins to say what their typical speed is? And finally, I recognize that there is variety from person to person and time to time. Just get me a sense of what’s normal, and perhaps, what the known limits are.)
OK, restarting the questions now:
What’s the typical sprint speed for monofin swimmers? How long can swimmers typically sprint?
What seems to be a normal, sustainable non-sprinting speed? How long can a well-trained swimmer swim at that speed before tiring?
With pregnancy, is there any difference in any of these swimming speeds or any other change to how one swims in a monofin?
I am familiar with the normal “arms out” way of undulating. However, my mermaids will often have to carry things while swimming. Have any of you swum without arms out. How does that change the different swimming speeds I’ve asked about or swimming techniques?
What would you say would be typical calorie burning for the kinds of swimming I’ve asked about?
I’ve seen a few mentions on this board – I’ve looked around for a few days – of cutting pieces out of a monofin to see how that affects swimming. Have any of you swum with a purposefully unevenly shaped monofin, the equivalent of a mermaid/merman with a damaged tailfin? What is the result for speed or maneuverability? How would you compensate for the “damage” if anything needs to be done?
Have any of you swum with your feet bound together but no real fin – a nonofin, if you will? What sort of speeds could you get then? How does it compare (in any way) to swimming without fins and with two unbound legs?
I’ve seen comments that swimming with a monofin leads to less maneuverability. This is more on the speculative side (as is the next question), but would any of you know if a mermaid or merman, not having femurs and other bones that limit bending to knees or ankles might be able to maneuver better than a human with a monofin, or would maneuverability be essentially the same? Let me encourage whoever guesses to make as educated a guess as possible.
OK, here’s the last question (so far). And it ties into the last one. Postulate a mermaid or merman with a fairly flexible tail. Much more than human legs. Would there be any advantage for them to use that flexibility to swim? Or could a “floppier” tail hurt speed or some other swimming quality? Based on your knowledge of swimming with the semblance of a tail, would there ever been and advantage for your legs to be “floppier” when swimming? What about disadvantages? My assumption is, merfolk would try to bend their tails’ like a dolphin or some sort of small whale would – more of a bend than a human can achieve but not “floppy.” Does that make sense or not make sense?
Thank you to any of you who took time checking out this post. Forgive me if I mangled any of the terminology or was a bit confusing in any of my questions. I look forward to any replies I get.
