do you know how to swim?

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wcwbf

Member
this was the topic on radio earlier today. here in NJ, you're never much more than an hour from the atlantic ocean. tons of rivers and lakes for recreation. a zillion ways to drown.

seems a significant number of those who think they can swim probably couldn't save their own butts if required to. then they jump in to help a friend/child and TWO people drown.

i'm no michael phelps but i will say i can swim. back in stone age, being able to swim (and passing swimming test) was a REQUIREMENT in PE... in college... state college in PA poconos. you had to swim 2 lengths of pool and then stay afloat (any way you wanted) for something like 5 minutes... i chose to just float on my back.

my first job ever was as a day camp counselor. we had 4 groups of employee's kids for a 2 week stint of fun/games... included swimming. the first day of each group, kids could take the "deep water test" in order to play in water over their heads. test was back/forth across width of pool and a minute of treading water or doggy paddle. first kid jumped in and went straight to the bottom like a stone! he thought he could swim!?
 

I'm not a strong swimmer but I won't drown.

senior-woman-floating-in-pool--eyes-closed--side-view-200153603-001-5c762713c9e77c00012f8117.jpg
 
Today in my area a father and child both drown when they went into an unmonitored fishing area of a lake.

I'm assuming that the child and the father probably weren't strong swimmers but it's sad.

My father taught me how to swim but I didn't pick it up very well and I'm not a good swimmer.

I can probably do the dog paddle and that's about it.
 
Can't swim a lick! At almost 75 years old, never had a swimming lesson or was around a "real" pool. Grew up on a farm where the nearest pond was a half-mile away and the nearest creek... probably 20 miles away. Don't fish. Just stay away from water.
 
Have had backyard swimming pools at our homes over the years. I would swim laps every day in warm weather.
We always made sure all the kids, grandkids and anyone else who wanted in the pool knew how to swim. That was a rule at our house.


Murrmurr said:
But no matter how well you swim you have to learn how to swim your way out of undertows and weird currents. Even Phelps couldn't swim against those.
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That is so true @Murrmurr .
Down here in Galveston on the Gulf Coast, people drown every summer because they don't take those situations seriously enough.
Logic doesn't give people the sense to try and swim parallel to those rough currents.
But they shouldn't be in that situation in the first place!
 
Swam both recreationally and competitively in my teens.

Learned how to swim around the age of 4-5, started familiarizing my kids to water when they were babies.

As a young child I thought everyone knew how to swim, but as I got older I was shocked to learn just how many people didn't know how to swim.
 
I'm no Esther Williams but I can get where I need to go in most waters
Bonnie said:
Down here in Galveston on the Gulf Coast, people drown every summer because they don't take those situations seriously enough.
Logic doesn't give people the sense to try and swim parallel to those rough currents.
But they shouldn't be in that situation in the first place!
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Heh, my first time at Galveston, I couldn't believe the water temp (northern boy)
...and coasted with the tide out about a quarter mile
Folks on the beach were hollering something
Couldn't hear 'em

Back on shore I found out they were yelling 'SHARK!!!.....SHARK!!'
 
Yes I can swim...in Spain where I have a pool I swim 30 lengths of a 20 metre pool most mornings... sadly here it's only public pools and all lane swimming and I hate that because the leisure centre pools only allow one hour a day for adult swimming and it's packed like sardines in those lanes *ugh*..

My ex husband took my daughter to the local outdoor pool when she was age 6 to teach her to swim, .. at school she won medals for swimming, and at age 11 she swam 37 lengths non-stop of an Olympic sized swimming pool for charity
 
Gary O' said:
I'm no Esther Williams but I can get where I need to go in most waters

Heh, my first time at Galveston, I couldn't believe the water temp (northern boy)
...and coasted with the tide out about a quarter mile
Folks on the beach were hollering something
Couldn't hear 'em

Back on shore I found out they were yelling 'SHARK!!!.....SHARK!!'
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Oh Gary!

The water can get bath tub warm .. don't know about this summer though .... we're one of the cooler places to be this summer ... lots of rain and cooler temps in our general area.
 
I can swim enough to save myself if needed but certainly not someone else.
I was caught in a rip tide many years ago but it wasn't very strong, I swam with it until it petered out a ways down the shore. It was frightening though.
We are only a few miles from the Delaware water gap between PA and NJ. Not a year goes by when you don't hear of people drowning in the river.
It looks so calm on top but underneath it is treacherous and loaded with hidden boulders and dangerous drops.
 
hollydolly said:
My ex husband took my daughter to the local outdoor pool when she was age 6 to teach her to swim
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Yeah, I got swim lesons around age 13

Met an early sweetheart there

Wrote a bit about it;

Never went to the same schools, as she lived in St John’s, and I lived up in the hills twenty miles outta Portland.
But I met her at swim lessons in Portland, lessons that near drowned me as I tried so hard to get hold of that long ass bamboo pole the bitch of a swim instructor kept poking at me, pushing me away from frantically hugging the edge of the pool.
Very frustrating for her, as several times I’d glommed onto that pole with both arms and legs, while she tried like hell to push me off the ledge and into the deep end.
I’d just climb the pole, hand over hand, like a waterborne lemur, as she’d whisk me back and forth across the pool.
It only took a half dozen lessons to figger out that one really can’t breathe water…
 
Learned to swim when I was a kid. Had to be able to swim reasonably well to get out of the U. S. Coast Guard boot camp which happened to also be in New Jersey. Cape May to be exact.

The most interesting swim that I ever took was while our ship was on Ocean Station Echo for one of our 3 week stays. Located on the airline flight path halfway between Bermuda and the Azores.

We had "swim call" to break the monotony. They put the motor lifeboat in the water, a net over the side and a couple of guys with M-1's in the gun tubs in case of sharks, who trailed along with us, "on station" to collect the garbage thrown overboard by the messcooks.

I often wondered how far down you'd have to go to touch the bottom with your feet (as we used to say when we were kids}. I assume a mile or two but never looked it up. LOL
 
Sliverfox said:
Although I grew up beside a creek,,can only do a doggie paddle.
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I can doggie paddle if I am holding on to the collar of the Newfie that is doggie paddling beside me. No, I can not swim but I can float. Most fat people can float, the trick is to do it while you are still alive so you are not referred to as a “floater”. Or buy a Newfoundland and a collar.

😉
 
Patch said:
Can't swim a lick! At almost 75 years old, never had a swimming lesson or was around a "real" pool. Grew up on a farm where the nearest pond was a half-mile away and the nearest creek... probably 20 miles away. Don't fish. Just stay away from water.
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Do you bathe in milk? 😊
 

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