Can You Swim?

[Zardnaar]

A silly question on the face of it. It's not really a topic that will come up in casual conversation.

The question also over looks that in some countries swimming isn't that common.

Or if it is swimming in an ocean, river, lake is just not done. I have had online friends in the USA and other places who haven't seen the ocean.

Anyway I don't really remember being taught to swim but have some vague memories of swimming pre school.

In NZ most people can swim. If your parents don't teach you, school will.

Primary school, intermediate and high school all had swimming pools. High school had a diving well and you could swim at lunchtime if you wanted to (at least in summer).

From age 4 I have lived on the coast. I can look out my window and see the beach and it's a 5-10 minute drive to get there. Half hour drive and we have great beaches.

As a kid the beach was a 5-20 minute drive and a food source with shellfish. Abalone/paua, oysters, mussels.

Rivers were a 15-30 minute drive and in summer you might go there every day.

One of the rivers had 3 hydro dams so Alpine lakes were 1-2 hours drive away.

And in the great outdoors you can jump into tarn which is like a mountain lake/pond.

One friend who didn't like swimming got taught the hard way ye olde sink or swim method.

You might also get thrown in a pool at high school or even at work.

Waitaki Valley

https://www.google.com/search?q=wai...7XMBHYHOB4UQrnZ6BAgBEBw&biw=360&bih=574&dpr=3

 

[abradley]

No I can't.

 

[Zardnaar]

No I can't.

Any reason you don't mind sharing?

 

[AmazonQueen]

Haven't been swimming for about 40 years and I wasn't that good a swimmer even then.

 

[Zardnaar]

Haven't been swimming for about 40 years and I wasn't that good a swimmer even then.

Rare for me now. Should get back into it.

 

[Valka D'Ur]

I've never had formal swimming lessons. Everything I know (which isn't much) was learned from my grandfather, when we spent summers on Okanagan Lake in British Columbia. He figured that I should at least learn to dogpaddle, and a couple of other things in case I ever fell off the pier or out of a boat.

My grandfather made a deal with me: Every time I swam to the end of the pier and back, he would give me a quarter. In those days (late 1960s/early 1970s) a quarter was a fortune to a kid who spent her money on second-hand comics at a second-hand bookstore in the nearest city. Back then the cheapest comics were 2.5 cents if they had no covers. The most expensive ones there were 12 cents. So I was able to keep myself in reading material, which in those days meant Archie comics and western comics (usually Rawhide Kid or Kid Colt).

I don't enjoy swimming in a pool. The chlorine bothers me and the air at an indoor pool is too humid. I feel like I'm drowning and I'm not even in the pool.

 

[Timsup2nothin]

Like a fish.

 

[emzie]

I hate showing skin and have never really enjoyed swimming. My mom and aunt were both state champions and I guess I have good genes for it despite limited practice. I can swim the length of an Olympic sized pool without coming up for air.

 

[JPetroski]

I can swim and I'm glad my mother made me learn. I had to swim for my life once and if she didn't keep forcing me to go to swim lessons as a kid I wouldn't have made it.

I won't say I'm good at it or fast or anything like that, but I know enough techniques and floats that I was able to rest/limit fatigue and prevent panic while being stuck quite far from shore and frankly in dire straits.

I used to HATE swimming lessons as a kid but my mother insisted and thank God she did. I now insist that my own children learn as well.

Unfortunately you hear about a few kids drowning each year around here. It's largely a preventable death but I dont think enough parents think to value swimming as much as they should until it is too late.

 

[Ajidica]

I was passable at it, broad shoulders and large feet help but I never put the effort into becoming good at it or developing stamina for it.

 

[Zardnaar]

I can swim and I'm glad my mother made me learn. I had to swim for my life once and if she didn't keep forcing me to go to swim lessons as a kid I wouldn't have made it.

I won't say I'm good at it or fast or anything like that, but I know enough techniques and floats that I was able to rest/limit fatigue and prevent panic while being stuck quite far from shore and frankly in dire straits.

I used to HATE swimming lessons as a kid but my mother insisted and thank God she did. I now insist that my own children learn as well.

Unfortunately you hear about a few kids drowning each year around here. It's largely a preventable death but I dont think enough parents think to value swimming as much as they should until it is too late.

That's why it's more or less compulsory here.

Might be different in big cities idk.

I'm comfortable swimming under the water. Alot are not even if they don't mind swimming.

Water over your head is also iffy for some. I don't mind it as long as swimming to shallow water is an option.

 

[Synobun]

I can. My father's method of teaching me how to swim was by holding me underwater and only stopping if I could get free and swim away. So it was either that or die, I guess. Pretty lively debate on the idea that I made the wrong choice there.

I really enjoy swimming but I haven't been able to do it for over 10 years now. I'd like to be able to do so again soon.

 

[abradley]

Any reason you don't mind sharing?

Was raised on the west coast, near the beach. Small to large waves aren't great for learning how to swim...but great for body surfing, so I body surfed.

 

[Truthy]

I learned when I was little and I did swimming as a sport for a while. This thread reminds me of something I was thinking about earlier today, which is that although I’ve spent quite a lot of time swimming in pools, lakes, and the ocean, I’ve hardly ever been in rivers.

 

[Arwon]

Not *well* but I learned like nearly all kids. I am hampered by being deeply unfit, I get tired pretty quickly even when running, let alone swimming. My freestyle is also pretty rubbish, I don't think I've got the breathing sorted at all.

 

[Berzerker]

A few decades ago at a place called the wedge - a long rock pier that piled up waves funneling them into shore at Newport Beach in SoCal - we were body surfing when a school of porpoise surfaced nearby. It took a second or two to realize they weren't sharks (grilled shark is some really tasty food). I spent many hours running those rocks, not good for the knees though. I cant believe I dont need replacements yet after all the abuse.

Swimming's easy, if you're new to it just lie back and fill your lungs with air and try to float. Keep air in your lungs as much as possible, you can feel yourself sinking into the water with each exhale. Then stretch out and kick your legs smoothly and do a back stroke to get used to the proper motion. If you're ocean swimming and get caught in a riptide, swim parallel to the shore until you're out of the current then gradually head for shore. Swimming is one of the best exercises available, I miss it.

 

[Zardnaar]

A few decades ago at a place called the wedge - a long rock pier that piled up waves funneling them into shore at Newport Beach in SoCal - we were body surfing when a school of porpoise surfaced nearby. It took a second or two to realize they weren't sharks (grilled shark is some really tasty food). I spent many hours running those rocks, not good for the knees though. I cant believe I dont need replacements yet after all the abuse.

Swimming's easy, if you're new to it just lie back and fill your lungs with air and try to float. Keep air in your lungs as much as possible, you can feel yourself sinking into the water with each exhale. Then stretch out and kick your legs smoothly and do a back stroke to get used to the proper motion. If you're ocean swimming and get caught in a riptide, swim parallel to the shore until you're out of the current then gradually head for shore. Swimming is one of the best exercises available, I miss it.

We had seals and sealions around.
You can swim with whales.

Dolphins can be around but usually don't interact with humans.

Rivers
Pools
Ocean
Lakes

Too to bottom for swimming. Not a fan of the ocean but we have a salt water pool.

Doesn't help it's cold here.

 

[Berzerker]

When those porpoise surfaced there was a brief oh crap feeling but it was quickly followed by a certain serenity and sense of security as if they weren't about to let any sharks bother us. I lived in San Francisco for several years for grade and HS so I'm familiar with the harbor seals, they took over some of the docks close to the Golden Gate Bridge. SF is really cool, before we could drive we'd ride our 10 speeds all over that city. It was roughly 7 miles by 7 miles so we could get just about anywhere in ~30 minutes from our homes. As kids we'd ride across the bridge and play army in the WWII gun emplacements outside the entrance to the bay.

 

[Zardnaar]

When those porpoise surfaced there was a brief oh crap feeling but it was quickly followed by a certain serenity and sense of security as if they weren't about to let any sharks bother us. I lived in San Francisco for several years for grade and HS so I'm familiar with the harbor seals, they took over some of the docks close to the Golden Gate Bridge. SF is really cool, before we could drive we'd ride our 10 speeds all over that city. It was roughly 7 miles by 7 miles so we could get just about anywhere in ~30 minutes from our homes. As kids we'd ride across the bridge and play army in the WWII gun emplacements outside the entrance to the bay.

Lol we would ride our bikes and go to bunkers on the hill overlooking the harbour.

There was also a small lighthouse, they've turned the area into a penguin colony.

 

[Kyriakos]

Everyone here knows how to swim