[Music: The Poet and the Pendulum by Nightwish]
Finally managed to take my Spellbound Lotus for its first swim! It was really easy to handle in the water even though it's my first silicone tail. As you can see, the fluke is really flowy and makes such beautiful curves in the water when you swim! The only problem seems to be the gapping at the back of the waist, which was quite literally a bit of a drag. It was also a challenge for me to adapt to the changed buoyancy distribution of my body due to the solid silicone fluke! I used to have really floaty legs when wearing fabric tails, but as you can see in the side stroke portion where I struggled a bit, it's suddenly my upper body that's floating up all on its own! Floaty body is easier to handle with enough practice than floaty fluke though. Oh, and it's super easy to do barrel rolls in this tail because of how floppy the fluke is! Another thing worth noting is that because of how far out the fluke is from the foot pockets (it kind of dangles off your toe area), compared to conventional monofins that tend to 'wrap' around most of your foot length, you feel more force on your toes when you swim, which can be *slightly* uncomfortable. Ankles were really comfy and stress-free as a trade-off though, which works out for me because I'm prone to ankle impingement.
Also took the opportunity to bring my matching Clamkini by Hamptons Mermaid Soluna to see how it holds up when swimming. Very happy with the Clamkini as well! As promised, it hugged my chest firmly and never shifted.