Every summer, if we are lucky, at some point we take a dip: in the sea, in the pool, or in the river. When we get out of the water, whether we have swum a lot or a little, the bodily sensation is different, it relaxes us and even - as science says - it can lower blood pressure and make us feel really good. For those who practice what is known as mermaiding, which involves swimming with a mermaid or merman tail, there is a special connection with the aquatic environment, but also a lot of discipline, great skills, and a certain art.
For mermaids and mermen, this is a sport, more than a hobby, a passion, or a pastime. They know that many do not understand it, also that it is still a minority activity in Spain, but they have already started their revolution: at the end of July, they held their first national convention, which brought together about fifty mermaids and mermen from around the country. In other countries, especially the United States and China - also Germany - the gatherings are numerous and massive (mermaiding is accepted as a sport and as an artistic expression). But here, "people have prejudices because they only focus on the artifice of putting on the tail and pretending to be the little mermaid," says Alek, a young merman who claims that "behind mermaiding there is much more that people do not see until they attend a class." "They focus on the surface and do not see that there is something deeper, which has its risks and also its difficulty," he adds.
Mariano Valverde Tortosa, director of Aquópolis in Villanueva de la Cañada (Madrid), where the event took place, says that "they have had a Mermaid activity as part of the park's offerings for some years now." "This year we made a commitment to support the convention, and it was a success, so we will continue with it: we will surely repeat these types of events," he adds. "It is progressing, and there is an increasing demand. It is a fun activity, outdoors - well, mostly in the water - that instills values of conservation and environmental preservation, making it a perfect activity for everyone, as we see every year, as the number of girls and boys practicing it is growing. We also have some adults," he reflects.
And he admits that "there are few parks that offer it," but he maintains that "it is on the rise, and more will join." In the case of the recent convention, the organization and direction were led by the Madrid Mermaid Association, founded in 2019 "as a dream of two girls who adored water, history, and mythology and wanted to be mermaids since they were little." This is recounted by Silvia Recuero Herreros, the woman - or the mermaid - you see above: "My partner Patricia and I loved the movie The Little Mermaid and Splash, and for a long time, we wanted to have a mermaid tail, which we discovered was sold outside of Spain, to learn to swim like that. Destiny brought us together for work reasons, and we decided to found the Mermaid Association to bring mermaiding, which is the sport of swimming like a mermaid or merman, closer to more people."
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They went to Germany to train as instructors, as this country was one of the few that offered "a somewhat regulated education." "In addition, we studied other disciplines such as apnea, lifeguarding and rescue, diving... We wanted to offer the best quality and safety in our classes," Silvia explains, for whom the Spanish convention was a success because "mermaids and mermen from all over Spain attended, as well as people who wanted to learn about the activity." "We had been considering the possibility of getting together, both veterans and newcomers, to delve more deeply into this world, but due to logistical or economic issues, we had not been able to." Since then, many people have approached to learn more closely about what is behind this sport.
Let us tell you: at the convention, workshops were held on underwater interpretation, breathing, apnea; mermaiding activities for people with disabilities, workshop on "mermen breaking stereotypes and mermaid manicure," underwater video editing, jewelry making with polymer clay, body language of mermaids workshop, and meditation workshop. As a finale, performances and a gala dinner.
Ángel Herreros - the gray-bearded man you can see above with his wife and daughter - was in charge of the workshop on mermen breaking stereotypes. In 2018, his daughter, who has ADHD, discovered the gear (monofin and tail) in a toy store in Alicante and said, "I like this." His wife, who is blind, had always been passionate about water sports - as a teenager, she was even offered to be part of the Paralympic swimming team, but declined - added, "Well, I want to do it too." "And a devoted father and husband has to teach both of them to be mermaids, for which he has to learn himself," he tells this newspaper.
"We spent a year learning and practicing swimming with a monofin on our own, they as mermaids and me simply as a speed apnea diver. Since I had learned to teach them, I continued with the sport to improve the health of my sore back. Then came 2020, and when the lockdown ended, we decided to treat ourselves to a visit to Aquópolis, where we met Silvia, with whom we shared interests: marine biology, archaeology, historical reenactment...".
The three became members of the Mermaid Association: "Yes, as a family, why not? I went from just swimming with a monofin to knowing how to mermaid to be able to teach it myself," he elaborates. "It's like swimming at speed and apnea, but with the added difficulty of making it look good." "Performing acrobatics - aquabatics? - is the closest thing to flying you can experience without being Superman."
He also warns that "it is a demanding sport - don't let anyone tell you otherwise - and I have the added difficulty of keeping an eye on my daughter - who with her disorder could as a child shoot off, and another on my wife, who needs guidance to stay on the right path or do the choreographies correctly." For all these reasons, Ángel is the only merman in the group who, instead of a tail, uses merman tights, so that at any moment "I can release the monofin and go be a merdad to my girls, but this is not because mermen cannot use a tail. Just ask my colleagues Alek and Hugo...".
The first, whose real name is Iván Piña Alfaro, has been interested since childhood, as he has always been passionate about mythological creatures. Later, on social media, he met Eric Ducharme, who was one of the pioneers in the United States and starred in Mermen (Netflix), and decided to buy a fish tail. "I go to a pool in Villaverde (Madrid) where they let us use the tails and where Silvia teaches her classes. "For me, the most difficult part is the apnea. There are people with greater lung capacity than me, but as I do artistic gymnastics, I have better body control. You have to stay calm underwater, be relaxed, make slow and controlled movements to not consume excess oxygen and be able to do certain movements... while people only think it's a show, putting on a tail, climbing a rock, and taking pictures."
For Alek, who also did competitive swimming but found himself bored, mermaiding is yet another sport that has yet to experience its peak in Spain: "We spend many hours in the water, and the tail is heavy; we work with weights to be able to dive. I see it as another form of swimming, but less common and boring. It's a shame that some people are swayed by prejudices and only see the artifice of putting on a tail and pretending to be a mermaid. There's much more behind it than people see until they go to a class," he concludes.
Like Silvia, who has always been "very aquatic," in Villaverde. "Since I was young, I trained in swimming, as well as in the world of diving in every discipline I could: recreational, professional, technical, cave diving... All that aquatic experience helped me when I discovered the existence of mermaiding and received my first tail in 2016. I entered the professional world by starting to sell mermaid tails, started my own brand related to it called Nereid Tails, and continued when we created the Sirénida Association," she says in an interview.
And she says that, "beyond the aesthetics and being able to take dreamy photographs, it is a very complete aquatic sport." «For those who don't enjoy surface swimming as much as diving, reaching depth and enjoying weightlessness and being able to move freely, this sport offers the opportunity to train many disciplines in one, which involves training different skills such as apnea and lung capacity, buoyancy, coordination, strength, artistic posing, acting, monofin swimming, rescue techniques, group synchronization, while overcoming many difficulties such as lack of visibility, the effect of chlorinated or salt water on our eyes or sinuses, cold, weather, restricted movement, shortness of breath, muscle cramps...».
And she maintains that "the hardest thing is letting your body flow and coordinating your lower and upper body, letting it glide, and knowing how to use the water to your advantage with proper technique so you can perform tricks as if they were easy." "It's a sport that requires strength throughout the entire body, even if it doesn't seem that way at first glance," she points out.
And it's especially ideal for athletes with an artistic streak, like Rayodeluna Sirena, who has been dedicated to theater and, for the past four years, also to mermaiding: "This discipline combines the best of both worlds, sport and art. It allows you to stay in shape and, at the same time, you can create a character, perform, interpret, sing underwater..." Something similar happened to Eva Quimera (her stage name), who, since she was a child, spent the summers in Cullera with her grandparents and loved imagining she was a mermaid while diving. Now she has a brand, La Quimera Coqueta, with which she creates accessories and crowns.
"I discovered it existed when I was 16, but it wasn't until I was 23 that I got involved in the world. From the very beginning, I wanted to create accessories. My grandparents were painters, and my family is very artistic. My mother made my first crown out of natural shells, and now I make silicone accessories, which are more valued and sought-after for their durability and lightness. There's a big difference between wearing a ponytail with a regular swimsuit and accessorizing it with objects that immerse you even more in that fantasy," she says, before saying a friendly: "You have to go to Silvia's classes..."