Tailfins were born because Lee Price just wanted his 10-year-old daughter Chloé to have as much fun in the pool as her friends.

"I recalled the portion of her swimming lessons where they would wear swim fins in the water in the pool, and it was just a part of their curriculum and during those moments she was able to keep up with the best of them in the water," said Price during an interview with CBC Radio's Saskatoon Morning.

But, Price found that traditional swim flippers, while they work great in the water, can make for a clumsy day at the pool.

A pair of prototype Tailfins Lee Price designed for his daughter. (Rosalie Woloski/CBC News)

Ideas on paper

"Living in Saskatoon, we're at the pool a lot and wearing flippers at the pool just isn't very practical, with the ladders and walking around, and at 10 years old she's always in and out of the water playing with friends," said Price.

"[So] I decided to put some ideas down on paper."

The design Price came up with moves the flipper fin from the front of the foot to the sides — a change he said makes it possible to walk, run and climb easily while still having the benefit of flippers in the water.

Seeing her face light up was huge. She swam the whole length of the pool. - Lee Price, creator of Tailfins

"Instead of having the long fins in front of your feet that everybody trips over when they're trying to get into the water. We remove that and place them on the side of the feet, allowing, in this case, my daughter to be able to walk around the pool without worrying about tripping," said Price.

With the help of Saskatoon's Create Cafe, Price brought was able to 3D print the first pair of Tailfins so Chloé could give them a try.

"Seeing her face light up was huge. She swam the whole length of the pool, that was a moment to remember, for sure," said Price.

Feedback encouraging

Price had his first satisfied customer in Chloé, but positive feedback from friends and family has encouraged him to take the idea further by marketing his invention on Kickstarter.

"My wife and I had a talk and we saw an opportunity. So, we took the measured approach, working with our prototypes and getting them as nice and functional as possible and taking them to a crowdsourcing platform like Kickstarter," said Price.

Right now, Price is mainly focused on making Tailfins for kids like Chloé, but he does see a potential market for adults as well. But for now, he's one of the few grown-ups that have taken a pair for a spin.

"I needed to stand behind the product. I did have some made in my size and I have to tell you, when I first put them on and got into the water, they were everything I hoped they would be."