Do you know how to swim?

[The Yen Man]

I guess I can kind of swim? It was mostly self taught with my uncle back in the day when he used to take my brother and I to Lindsey Park after 9 (1 dollar entrance for the last hour). I can't stand getting water in my nose, ears and eyes, so I swim like an old guy, with my head above water at all times. Probably not the most effective, and I honestly can't say with confidence that I wouldn't drown if I fell into a lake without a life jacket.

[ranchlandsselling]

Originally Posted by Hack&Lube

I learned how to swim as a child (did the whole thing with green, yellow, maroon, blue, grey badges, etc.) from whatever organization it was (what was that?) since my immigrant parents insisted it was a skill I needed to have. It was hard. It was painful. They really push you and test you, even if you are an undersized kid. I hated every moment of it. The only solace was after showering and drying off and getting to buy some potato chips from the vending machine

You just recited my childhood swimming lessons down to the chips!
Minus the hard part or being pushed "shrug"

Amazes me people cant swim, agree its a life skill.
Cant imagine getting on a boat like the Victom did and not being able to swim, let alone try a backglip. Sad story though.

I love swimming, could do it for hours if I had the time, agree that going all out us exhausting,

not much else to add.... well other than wtf re: a triathlon and swimming in a river??? Where and what river?

[DownhillGoat]

Originally Posted by Hack&Lube

from whatever organization it was (what was that?)

Red Cross I think.

[bluck]

I also come from an immigrant family and my parents felt it was a life skill as well. I did the whole red, blue, green color thing then went on to do the auqa levels until I hit 12. Let me tell you I hated all of it.

This weekend I went up to Fairmont and we had a boat and the opportunity presented itself to go water skiing and wakesurfing. I def wore a lifejacket but needless to say I had a blast! It's such a fun activity that I would encourage anyone to try it, even if you have a fear of open water. Another thing I tried that I was too scared to do when I was little was go off the 3/4 meter diving board. I saw all these 5,6,7 year olds jump off doing all these dives and flips, so I said screw it Im going in full dive head first, first try. What an AWESOME experience. It was a cool feeling when you hit the water smoothly. I now see the benefit of swimming lessons, not only because it is a life skill which I feel everyone should have but it also made my weekend a hell of a lot better.

I encourage everyone, old or young, to learn how to swim.. who knows it may save your life one day

[Yasa]

I can swim. I'm not a swimmer. I learned this when I was being certified for SCUBA. In order to begin the course (which is pretty much a certification-mill, lets be honest) we had to swim 20 lengths in their pool. I don't know what that works out to in distance, but on the "holy #### I'm tired" scale, I sat at a 10. I made the mistake of thinking it was a race. I'm not sure why. I haven't won a competition since I played U9 soccer, and even then I was kicked off the field because apparently it's "appalling" for a 25 year old to practice gladiator-style fighting against a bunch of 8 year olds. I bet 100% of the people there have asked themselves "how many kids can I fight before I get overwhelmed?," so I get punished for actually testing it out.

Anyway.

The first 5 laps were great. I was ahead of a French Canadian guy named Yann. I was in first place. First place for a non-existant, non-competition against people that didn't care. But I cared. I wanted to - needed to win. This was my time to show the world what I made of. My German instructor would be so proud of me. Every time he glanced above his People's Magazine, roughly once every 10 minutes, I just knew he was swelling with pride. These last 15 laps are for you, Dirk.

It was at lap 6 that I realized that a combination diet of cigarettes, Chang Beer, noodles + whatever bottom crawling sea-bugs and chili peppers probably wasn't the greatest for even a normal human being, let alone one that had to attempt any physical activity. My body was giving up. 14 laps to go.

6-15, what torture! All of my muscles were cramping, and screaming. This was a full on civil war between body systems. My legs were trying to seperate themselves from my torso. They had enough of this ego-driven horse####, which meant kicking frivolously. My arms decided to go into stand-by. Lungs? They checked out 3 laps ago. But my stomach. What a spiteful prick, the stomach.

Lap 16. Here it comes. I'm in dead-last by this point. It's not a competition any more. It never was, but now I had actually realized it. My front crawl wilted into a sad, uncoordinated water seizure with enough forward movement to technically keep me going. Not even a doggy paddle. A dog would be depressed by what it saw. I can't stop though. If I stop, I'm disqualified from training. My stomach knew this though and had begun the final stages of disruption.

I'm in the pool alone now. Everyone else has dried off and gone for lunch. Dirk was stuck waiting for me to finish. 4 more laps and I'm done. Free! Batten down the hatches, boys, there's a storm brewing in my colon and this geyser is about to go. 3 more laps and I can unleash this ICBM into a strange foreign, waterless toilet. 2 laps. No time. I can't leave, but I can't stay. Final length. I can do this! My energy is down to zero. One last consolodation of effort and I can pull this off. Just push. Oh...no. No. Nope. Nuh uh. Not today. Not any day. Why? The aqua-blue pool now divided by a line of brown, spearheaded by a crying man reaching his arm out for the edge of the pool. Gasps of "WHY?!" coming from all angles. I was done by the time I realized what had happened. A beautiful wave of relief washed over me. Relief felt a bit more viscose than I remember...

Well, to sum it all up. I'm a certified SCUBA diver. Eat my shorts, children!

[WhiteTiger]

I can swim quite well. My parents taught me as soon as they were able to get me into classes in a sort of self-defense/preservation reasoning.

My wife could keep her head above water if she was forced to. Earlier this year she took some adult classes, and is more competent, to be sure. She was doing some laps by the end of the classes.

[normtwofinger]

I also did the Red Cross colour badge program growing up. Not sure if it's still around.

[cDnStealth]

I'd classify myself as an experienced swimmer. Growing up I took the Red Cross lessons that others have mentioned and could have gone for lifeguard certification but never did (though now I wish I had). Spent my summers swimming in various lakes and/or the Atlantic so I am extremely comfortable on open water.

This story is pretty sad and unfortunately very preventable.

[habernac]

I can swim. Poorly, but I can do it. Did the Red Cross lessons thing. Having an older brother who liked to dunk you a lot as a kid didn't help my confidence in the water much. Made sure my kids were in lessons as well. They have done ok.

It has always haunted me that one of my childhood best friends drowned 20 feet off a dock in BC because he had never learned to swim. He was 22 years old. His older brother could only watch as he didn't know how to swim, either.

[shermanator]

Originally Posted by JiriHrdina

I can't swim. If you throw me in water over my nose I will die. Simple as that.

I had a couple of bad experiences when I was very young that created a fear of water - coupled with some very poor attempts to teach me that just made that fear worse.

I tried to learn when I was a teen and then again as an adult - with private 1:1 lessons. Though it made me more comfortable with the water - I still can't swim at all. Trying to learn to swim as an adult, when every part of you thinks you can't, is like trying to learn how to fly - it feels completely unnatural.

It isn't something I'm proud of and I'm working hard to make sure I don't replicate the mistakes with my daughter - who has taken well to water so far.

+1 to this, minus having taken adult swimming lessons. One day I will give that a try.


As a 4 year old I decided to try and impress some 7 year olds and slide into the deep end at Village Square. Needless to say I would have drowned had our teacher not jumped in. My elementary school had mandatory swimming lessons when I was 8, and my mom pulled me out. By the time I took swimming lessons when I was 12, I was so terrified of being under water that I failed.


I'm somewhat okay in deep water if I have a lifejacket on, but if that lifejacket were to come off, it's panic time. If I'm on a boat I just wear a lifejacket from the time I get on until the time I get off.


My fiancee was a lifeguard for 5 years so my kids won't have the same problem. When we have kids they will be in those swimming lessons that teach babies how to float on their back in water.

[#-3]

Originally Posted by Cameron Swift

Unfortunately, this is me too. A horrible bully of an instructor when I was 6 or 7 plus being forced to jump into the deep end put me off water completely. It gave me a slight phobia for a few years as a kid too.

This thread has scared/shamed me into wanting to learn soon though. Especially because I want my 5 year old boy to have that ability.

Here's a quick, dumb question. Neither my wife or I can swim, and we had been looking to take our son out on a canoe on the reservoir. Are life jackets enough if we did happen to fall in? Or should we just scrap the idea altogether?

I probably spend ~80 days a year on the lake in living Alberta, which I think is pretty good.

In terms of going out with a life jacket if you don't know how to swim, I think you should all go to a shallow calm water first and try floating for a minute.

Even floating in an Adult life jacket takes a little bit of control, with absolutely no swimming skills you need to focus on keeping your chest facing up, and just pushing backwards with your arms and feet to move, that's why baby life jacks have no floatation on the back, they always end up chest up.

If you are canoeing on something with a current, and happen to go in the water it is also important to point your feet down stream. You would rather have your foot hit a rock or some driftwood than your head.

[troutman]

http://snltranscripts.jt.org/84/84aswimmers.phtml

Gerald: Oh, it's not going to be easy. My brother and I know. Men have never done synchronized swimming in a sanctioned competition in this country. Officially, it's got like a zero acceptance rate.

Lawrence: I don't swim.

Gerald: Lawrence doesn't swim. So.. I mean, no, of course not.. no one's going to just walk up and hand us a gold medal. Men's syncro isn't even in the '88 Olympics yet.

Lawrence: That's okay, because we could use the time. 'Cause I'm not.. I'm not that strong a swimmer.

[Buff]

I can swim. I'm not a strong swimmer though. Part of that is due to technique not completely developed as I quit lessons too early. The other reason is my current conditioning. I just get tired too quickly, but I'm working on that and haven't had a chance to test my conditioning in the water for about 7 or 8 months.

[troutman]

I never learned to breathe properly, and panic when doing the front crawl. I also could never open my eyes in the water.

My mom put me on a swim team when I was a pre-teen. I remember the crowd cheering wildly for the "special" kid (me) that came in a minute after everyone else in the butterfly.

I saw some creepy fish when snorkeling in Maui, and never went back in the ocean.

Nightswimming deserves a quiet night
I'm not sure all these people understand
It's not like years ago
The fear of getting caught
The recklessness in water
They cannot see me naked
These things they go away
Replaced by every day

[surferguy]

I can swim but I am firmly planted in the "not the best" category. I can tread water but I am not going to be the guy swimming across a lake. When I go surfing I like fast beach breaks, mostly because they tend to be hollow waves that are about 30ft from water you can stand in.

I remember the first time I left the place I really learned to surf - a small punchy beach with waves that will toss you around but there was not a lot of water moving. Fast forward a week and now I am in the southern ocean of Australia (next door to Bells Beach). I paddled out about a 100m to the break not really knowing anything about it. The waves were consistent, a solid 9 ft wall about every 20 seconds. I went for the first one available, which was a big mistake - mostly because I will stilled gassed from the paddle out.

The surf here was much different, tough to describe but the wave was more of a wedge vs a peak. I was too late and was taken out by the white water and pushed over the front of my board. Down I went, down down down...ever tumbling in the dark unknown below. I did know at this time to just go into a ball and wait for the laundry machine to stop but i couldn't because the force of the wave had grabbed my board and was dragging me along by my leg rope, which then snapped and I was alone.

Panic set in and I did my best to scramble to the top but I was still lost in the wash underwater. Finally the wave passed me over and I get some traction to swim to the surface. When I broke the surface I toke a massive breath of relief only to figure out that I was now 300ft from the shore, with no board and trying to tread water. The tough part was that the sea surface had about 4 inches of foam on it, so I had to tread water hard enough to keep my face above that in order to breath properly. It was very tough.

On top of all of this, the waves were still coming - lather rinse repeat. Getting caught in the impact zone of serious surf without a board led to one of my scariest moments in the water. I fought very hard to stay afloat. I took about five waves on the head before I realized that I could just turn to shore and dive under and let the power of the wave push me back to shore. Once I figured this out the panic subsided and I quickly made my way back to the rocky beach. It was very enduring and I was bagged. I sat there for an hour thinking about what had just happened. I never went back in the water that day.

In the end I was tested and barely made it out but now I know that if needed I could swim in a distance in significant waves. Now I will not surf alone, and will not go out at a break Ive never been to without watching and studying it from the beach for about 30 mins.

I went back out the next day in similar conditions and got some of the best waves of my life.

[undercoverbrother]

I can swim, it is a lot of work, but I can swim. I trust me ability to swim. When I was in Uni, I took a swimming course as part of my degree. There was me and 2 buddies and 25 girls between the ages of 18-24 (good times).

My kids are both part fish, and now that they are 8-10 we will drop them off at the pool to swim on weekends. They love it.

I am a firm believe that swimming is an important life skill, which sadly was shown this past week in Calgary. It is hard to believe that someone could drown in Sikome Lake, but it goes to show have dangerous water can be.

[Ruttiger]

Used to lifeguard and teach lessons, and swam competitively growing up, briefly in college as well.

We have a one year old now and my wife had her in swimming lessons this spring. She loves the water and if for no other reason than our peace of mind and her safety we'll follow through on all her swimming lessons. I think you do your child a disservice, and potentially grave danger, if you don't.

[GreenLantern]

I think the biggest problem with people who can't swim is they just panic right off the bat. Exert all their energy in the first 30 seconds and then it is over.

I grew up at the lake and just got increasingly comfortable with water, I also took swimming lessons in the winter.

[Hemi-Cuda]

Originally Posted by Yasa

It was at lap 6 that I realized that a combination diet of cigarettes, Chang Beer, noodles + whatever bottom crawling sea-bugs and chili peppers probably wasn't the greatest for even a normal human being, let alone one that had to attempt any physical activity.

That was your biggest mistake right there, why would you drink possibly the worst beer to come out of Asia? The only times I've ever been sickly hungover while drinking in Thailand were the couple of times I mistakenly thought it was a good idea to drink Chang. Maybe if you drank Leo you would have won your "race"

As for my swimming experience, grew up camping at lakes and swimming a lot every summer, but then got fat and never wanted to swim without a shirt as a result (and as I didn't want to be one of "those" guys, I just never swam). But after getting myself in better shape and being on vacation in SE Asia I decided to get in the water once again. I chose cliff diving in the Philippines as my first real test though, which looking back probably wasn't the smartest idea. Wasn't until I jumped off the cliff that the thought "I hope I can still swim" passed through my head

[puckedoff]

I can't swim.
I guess I'd die, if I fell in.