Making a splash: 'Real-life mermaid' swims with reef sharks
Making a splash: 'Real-life mermaid' swims with reef sharks using £10k custom-made tail
By Mail Foreign Service
Last updated at 3:26 PM on 22nd June 2010
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/worl...=feeds-newsxml
Looking like an extra from Hollywood classic Splash!, real-life mermaid Linden Wolbert swims with reef sharks in the crystal clear waters of the Caribbean.
Using her unique 35-pound prosthetic tail created by a top special effects artist, the 29-year-old travels around the world to swim as a professional mermaid.
A dive master and expert free diver, Los Angeles-based Miss Wolbert is able to hold her breath for up to five minutes.
And using her custom-made tail she can propel herself at speeds up to 17 mph at a time.
She said: 'Caribbean reef sharks off the coast of the Bahamas are used to scuba divers and their bubbles. But they were terrified of me.
'Being larger than most of them, at 8ft long in my tail, I trumped the largest reef shark in size, which measured around seven feet.
'They kept darting away. Eventually they realised I was non-threatening, and we were able to capture some beautiful images of mermaid and sharks.
Miss Wolbert had a childhood dream of being a mermaid from the age of three and has dedicated her life to fulfilling her wish.
She said: 'I've been a mermaid at heart since I was very little. I was always a water baby.
'I come from a family of swimmers; my parents, sister and I were all competitive swimmers, lifeguards and ocean-lovers.
'Mermaids were always part of the fantasy of being in the water, and this idea was fuelled by watching movies like Splash and The Little Mermaid as I grew up.
'I have every line memorised that Ariel says or sings through the movie.'
Miss Wolbert met Thom Shouse - a mermaid tail specialist - after completing her university studies in film-making and science.
She featured in advertising campaigns as a mermaid in 2005 and then decided to get her own custom tail made by Hollywood special effects artist Allan Holt.
The tail took seven months to complete and cost £10,000. It was created using a body cast of Miss Wolbert's body from the midriff down.
It is made from high-grade silicon with a monofin built into the design and is naturally buoyant in water.
Miss Wolbert said: 'This tail is probably one of the most functional, beautiful and realistic mermaid tails ever created.
'It is attached with a special custom waistline that snugly fits around my hip bones so it can't come off.
'It can be worn by no one else. Since it's so hydrodynamic, I fly through the water with it.
'I can feel the "wind" in my hair, so to speak.'
The free diver has appeared in music videos and countless magazine covers in the U.S. She also has a sideline in appearing at high end parties in Hollywood.
