How to become a mermaid?

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Chris Schenker / Mermaid Kat

Mermaiding is the new water sport, which is gaining in popularity, especially among many young girls and women. Surely it is easy to push this sport into the "Barbie-category", but in a matter of fact, it is much more than just gliding through the water with colorful fins.

To properly practice the mermaid swimming, mermaids must learn to dive with their legs together, move underwater gracefully, to look natural without wearing a mask and be able to hold their breath for a while. It is, therefore, a mixture of swimming, apnea diving, and underwater modeling.

What are the basic requirements for becoming a mermaid or a merman?

New mermaids and seamen should be able to swim safely before they try to swim with a mermaid fin. Participants should be able to swim at least 200 m without any assistance before they start swimming in mermaid tails. Also, a minimum age of 8 years is recommended, because the integrated monofin can be somewhat bulky in the water, especially for young children. Accordingly, certain physical fitness should be present. Mermaiding is a great full-body workout and therefore a popular workout method among more and more adults. The body measurements and the figure play less of a role in mermaiding. Mermaid fins are now available in all different sizes and mermaids should come as well as humans, in many different sizes and shapes.

Where can I learn how to swim like a mermaid?

In the beginning, a visit to a professional mermaid school is recommended. In the basic courses, participants learn the correct and safe handling of a mermaid fin and practice their first mermaid tricks. The Mermaid Kat Academy was founded in August 2012 by the German Katrin Gray (aka Mermaid Kat). It was then the first public mermaid school in the world and has since trained more than 7,000 junior mermaids and men. The Mermaid Kat Academy currently offers regular mermaid courses in Germany, Austria, Australia, Singapore, and Hong Kong.

Today also SSI offers lots of mermaid schools worldwide and they are helping future mermaids and merman to grow their tails. If you wish mermaiding to be more than just a pure hobby, you can learn techniques for long-lasting air retention, underwater modeling skills, tips on mermaid equipment and much more in Apnea Mermaid Workshops.

After participants have learned how to use their tail safely, they can continue their mermaid adventures in buddy teams or small groups. More and more places even have mermaid pods where local mermaids meet up regularly to splash their fins.