Finally, after Summer is over, I have my monofin.

[logansrogue]

With all thanks to Apolla and NO THANKS to the shoddy couriers that screwed me over two months ago, my monofin, or monopalme in French, has finally arrived this morning.

I've had four hours sleep but I just HAD to get up and have a look at it. It's BIG. And LOVELY. I'm glad I left lots of room for a larger fin in my mermaid tail designs, cause I'll need it. It'll be a pretty impressive tail, I think, given the size of the monofin. I now quote the email I sent to Apolla just now:

I sat there for a good fifteen minutes on the floor with it on my feet.   Then I laid on my back, put my legs in the air and flapped it about like a tail.  I can still feel the spots in my feet where the fin leveraged from my bone structure, and I got to say, it's a nice feeling.  Flapping with the tail caused quite a bit of a breeze, and it caused the light fitting to swing about a metre or so above me.   I can't fucking *wait*to take it swimming this arvo (after some more sleep, cause I finally got rest at about 5:30 am, cause I'm crazy and played Spore all night!).

I ended up going swimming in the rain this afternoon. It's harder to use than the flippers, I will say. Flippers are "in stereo" as it were. All the power of the stroke in the monofin is in the down stroke, and the fin has the tendency to slip sideways if one isn't firm in that stroke. What the thing really needs is a keel, like dolphins have. Dorsal keel. That way, the fin would be more stable. It's something I'm going to add when I make a fabric mermaid tail, any way.

The guy that runs the local pool has been totally cool about me using the fin there. He was even intrigued and came to watch me swim. Hopefully I'll get the mermaid tail overlay finished before long, and can give it a shot with that. It'll be more difficult to swim because, with just the monofin, I can still part my legs at the knees and that makes it easier to manoeuvre in the water. I won't have that luxury in the tail sheath.

The other problem is that the ankles are far apart in the fin, but they have to be like that for the feet to press against the fin to push it up and down in the water.

I have footage of me swimming in the fin, but I'm paranoid I look pudgy and uncoordinated. I'm having a "fay" day. You know, the days when the messages of the kyriarchy get to you and make you feel bad for not looking like an arbitrarily chosen body type that's held aloft as the beauty ideal.

Comments

[sugaryfun.livejournal.com]

Sounds awesome! Please post pics of the tail when it's done!

[logansrogue.livejournal.com]

I meant to say in the post, if people want to see the video, just prod me. I'm a bit shy.

[bunny-m.livejournal.com]

*wants to see vid/pictures, but respects shyness and boundaries*

[logansrogue.livejournal.com]

No, I just don't want to be putting up a video that nobody is interested in. :-P I can easily overcome my "ahh fat butt!" shyness if people are interested.

[purrdence.livejournal.com]

*gets sticks*

*prodprodprodprod*

[bunny-m.livejournal.com]

Yay, fin!

You know, the days when the messages of the kyriarchy get to you and make you feel bad for not looking like an arbitrarily chosen body type that's held aloft as the beauty ideal.

Whilst I totally understand* the whole "I'm fat/ugly/unco/etc." feelings, and how some days are worse than others, I'd like to point out that there is no small number of people that find you amazingly cool/sexy/impressive, both for your physical looks and the amazing effects your personality has in enhancing those.

(*) Gods know I have more than enough of those voices in my head, I also get (intellectually, at the very least) that it's much worse for women than men. Stupid societal constructs/limits/rigid gender roles. *phbbbt!*

[logansrogue.livejournal.com]

It was the video of me running out of the pool in my bathers like a kid, my butt wobbling around ridiculously that did it. I was cold and couldn't run properly. It's a ridiculous video. I couldn't run like the chicks on Baywatch, no. No I ran like Tinky Winky.

(And my 90s pop references are overflowing!)

[callistra.livejournal.com]

Even the chicks in Baywatch don't run like the chicks in bay watch...
I'd like to see the vid/fin. Which ever, and in whatever way.

[shantari.livejournal.com]

You know, the days when the messages of the kyriarchy get to you and make you feel bad for not looking like an arbitrarily chosen body type that's held aloft as the beauty ideal.

Hmm. *looks up kyriarchy* Every day, I learn something new. :D

Also everything about this fin sounds awsome!

[logansrogue.livejournal.com]

Well, it's a little more elegant than "patriarchy", I think.

The fin is all awesome. :)