Merle Moves Mermaid Swim To Miami – World Record Attempt
Courtesy of WOWSA, Huntington Beach, California.
At the Redondo Beach, California, Merle Liivand swam along the 10 km course at the WOWSA Ocean Fest, but she choose to do the race as a mermaid swim. That is, she used a monofin throughout the race. The rules of the mermaid swimming requires no use of her arms to take a stroke or make any forward progress. The 10 km world record swim took her 2 hours 54 minutes 7 seconds in the out-and-back course along Redondo Beach on October 6th 2019.
It was the longest mermaid swim in history – and set the bar for the future.
“I used a normal FINA racing suit and 100% silicone Mermaid Monofin. I do these swims to raise awareness for the significant micro plastic problem in our oceans,” said Liivand.
The next year, Liivand upped her game and attempted a 20 km mermaid swim in South Point Park Pier in Miami Beach, Florida which she finished in 6 hours 8 minutes 27 seconds. She set her second world record in two years. She explained, “This long distance mermaid swim was done without using my arms to take a stroke. I wore a normal FINA racing suit and used a 100% silicone Mermaid Monofin to cover 20.66 km on August 20th, 2020.
Now I am ready to set another record of 30 km following the standard mermaid swim rules. It will be held on April 17th. I want to bring attention to the fact that during the COVID-19 pandemic, there is more face masks in the ocean than ever before. Plus, this is a fish killing emergency event in Biscayne Bay in Miami, Florida. The 30 km attempt was original scheduled to be held on April 17th in Exumas, Bahamas, starting at Peace & Plenty Resort. But recently Miami has been in the news for negative reasons. The Mayor of Miami wants a little bit of positive news on Miami. So I will attempt my 30 km world record Mermaid Swim at South Point Beach in Miami on April 17th, just like the 20 km swim last year.
For this swim, I want to bring attention to the oceans and hope there will be more fish and less plastic in the world’s oceans by 2030. I am 30 years old and will attempt a 30 km mermaid swim with hopes for improvement by 2030. 30-30-30.
We plan on doing two 15 km loops, starting at 7 am with escort boat pilot Joe McLean guiding me along with the Miami Ocean Rescue team along with the Miami Mayor’s support. Sadly, the spring break crowds in Miami doubled the plastic and trash problems in Miami Beach.”
To follow Liivand on April 17th in Miami, visit here.
To donate to her chosen cause, visit here.
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