Can you swim?

[Turbinator]

I want to find out how many of us are able to swim / stay afloat in water.

If you suddenly found yourself in a body of water, would you be able to stay afloat, what about swim?
Or would you sink and drown?

.​

 

[RisingFury]

Maybe the thread will be shorter if you ask who can't swim...

I learned to swim when I was 10, but ever since I've been like a dolphin when in water - unless it's cold water...

 

[Urwumpe]

I have always been obsessed of the water (already when I was baptized), but I learned to swim with 6... and was doing swimming as competitive sports until my teen years.

 

[Turbinator]

I first learned how to swim around the age of 7, It was a really, really, really long time ago so I have no exact way of knowing. I know it was after grade 1 and before grade 5.

How did I learn? I was lucky to live by the ocean, I stayed in the shallow part of the ocean beach until I got a feel for the water, then eventually moved deeper untill the water was up to my chin. Only then could I learn how to stay afloat, if you go to shallow, you cant really float because you displace the water, and hit the bottom before you ever start to float. What's the trick? There is none, learning to float is realizing that there is nothing to learn, no trick, no special ability. You just relax, and you float. If you are upright, you use your feet to move water under you, generating a slight upward lift. If you are lying flat on your back and sleeping on the water, the trick it to 100% completely and totally relax.

Learning in an ocean helps a lot, because sea water is more dense, due to the salt. Lake, river and pool water is far less dense.


The most fun I had is when I realized I could take a really heavy rock, hold it in my hands and walk under the ocean, on the ocean floor. Pure bliss.

 

[iamwearingpants]

I can't swim over water, but I can swim long distance under

 

[Spacethingy]

I love swimming. After a hard week at college, nothing beats diving into a pool and turning several somersaults under water. Stress-busting!

Except maybe sitting in an easy-chair with a glass of wine, a plate of pasta, and a laptop with Orbiter on it.

*Sigh...*

 

[RisingFury]

and a laptop with Orbiter on it.

*Sigh...*

PC with Orbiter on it...

 

[jangofett287]

umm... No is the short answer. And the long answer to. Never been able to, and I have no idea why. I've been the bane of the swimming teachers life. I'm glad we don't have to do swimming any more.

 

[ky]

I live in Florida so I have to know how to swim.I learned at 10 years old how to swim.I have asthma, so long distance swimming for me is not an option.But I can swim if it has to save my life.

 

[Izack]

I can technically swim, but won't ever do it willingly. I'm more adverse to water and being in it than the average cat. Give me either terra firma or a set of wings. :yes:

 

[Turbinator]

But being in water is the closest thing to being in space.
And not to mention the cheapest. Can't beat free.

 

[Artlav]

Been able to as long as i can remember.
There was a lake near the village, and all the kids went there on the hot days, to play in and near the water. Can't really tell when and how i got to swim.
I did remember how i learned to dive - for some reason i didn't like the idea of getting my head under the surface, but at one point i did so accidentally, and the fear went away at once, replaced by curiosity.

umm... No is the short answer. And the long answer to. Never been able to, and I have no idea why. I've been the bane of the swimming teachers life. I'm glad we don't have to do swimming any more.

I'm rather curious why some can't.
For you, is that something related to water, or something related to motion?
Can you describe, as good as you can, why you have failed to swim?
Not why absolutely, but why from your point of view.

---------- Post added at 23:04 ---------- Previous post was at 22:59 ----------

But being in water is the closest thing to being in space.
And not to mention the cheapest. Can't beat free.

Heh. Try diving in clear water a few meters, holding to the bottom and looking "down" upwards.

 

[Ark]

Spent my whole life with a lake or a pool in the backyard, so yes. I can swim well enough to know I'm screwed in open ocean without floatation.

 

[Urwumpe]

One of my fun disciplines when swimming is selecting a pretty good distance and dive it, ideally around 10 m distance, so I can also turn around underwater.

I also had been able to just rest for a pretty long time on the bottom of the pool and just watch the people above me. you just have to fight the residual buoyancy.

 

[Rtyh-12]

Meh, I don't know. I can stay afloat for short periods of time and I like swimming around, but I don't think I could survive if you put me in the middle of the ocean.

 

[jangofett287]

I'm rather curious why some can't.
For you, is that something related to water, or something related to motion?
Can you describe, as good as you can, why you have failed to swim?
Not why absolutely, but why from your point of view.

I'm not paranoid, its just whenever I take my feet off the bottom/My hands off the side/rail, I just go straight into panic mode after only a few seconds. I reckon I might be able to swim short distances if my life depended on it and I didn't think about it too much.

 

[Jarvitä]

I'm rather curious why some can't.
For you, is that something related to water, or something related to motion?
Can you describe, as good as you can, why you have failed to swim?
Not why absolutely, but why from your point of view.

Because water causes asphyxiation, and most natural bodies of water are either moving at a velocity that makes safe navigation while swimming impossible, filled with a mixture of minerals that makes it undrinkable, or full of aggressive animals, or a combination of the three.

It might be somewhat irrational, but I'm scared senseless of swimming. Also, I don't intend to ever need to swim.

 

[RisingFury]

To anyone who wants to learn how to swim or improve their swimming I offer the following advice:

Get comfortable with water. The thing is... if you hold your breath and let yourself under water, you will float. You will not sink. The easiest way to swim is to submerge your body all the way to your chin. If your chin is touching the water it will be very easy to swim.

Try not to hold your head above water. Let it sink... water will push you back out.

 

[Linguofreak]

I'm not paranoid, its just whenever I take my feet off the bottom/My hands off the side/rail, I just go straight into panic mode after only a few seconds. I reckon I might be able to swim short distances if my life depended on it and I didn't think about it too much.

One thing to remember (or internalize, I learned it instinctively early on in learning how to swim, but only realized it intellectually much later) is, when at rest, to always keep your lungs as full as possible. With your lungs empty, it takes a fair amount of effort to stay afloat, but with your lungs full it takes much less. If you aren't doing anything that requires enough effort for you to be breathing hard, you should be taking shallow breaths with your lungs nearly full even when you breath out. (If you are doing something that requires enough exertion to require deeper breaths, you'll generally be channeling some of that exertion into staying afloat).

Next time you go somewhere where there's the opportunity to swim, stand in a depth where you can touch bottom, take a deep breath, and have someone put their hands behind your back and lower you into a back float. With them still supporting you, try breathing out fully, and see if you can feel how much more of your weight ends up resting on their hands when your lungs are empty. Then breath in again, and have them remove their hands. As long as you keep your lungs full you should be able to remain afloat very easily. Now try breathing out: You should feel yourself start to sink almost immediately. Since you're in shallow enough water to touch bottom, just plant your feet and stand up.

I'm not a strong swimmer (in terms of being able to cover distance), but I'm confident that, if dumped into the ocean without a flotation device, I'd be able to stay afloat well enough that I'd die of exposure, starvation, or the sharks being hungry before I drowned.

 

[Turbinator]

[...] I'm confident that, if dumped into the ocean without a flotation device, I'd be able to stay afloat well enough that I'd die of exposure, starvation, or the sharks being hungry before I drowned.

Same here. Very comforting thought, isn't it?