How many people here can't swim?

Ken.

When my mother was about 10 she fell head first into a 50 gallon drum full of rainwater. She was pulled out by a neighbour after 5 seconds but to this day she will not put her face down in water.

She made my brothers and I go swimming as often as possible.

the_syco

Qualified as a lifeguard ten years ago, but haven't really swam that much since. I find the skill great when on holidays, and being able to do so at the beach or in lakes is great.

Arpa

A lot of people laugh at me when I tell them this - I can swim, as in do a front stroke, or a back stroke at a push but if I stop actually swimming I sink. I can't stay in one place (tread water).

Strange thing is I had lessons every week from about 6-8 and got loads of badges. I was about 14 on holiday in Barcelona...a friend thought it would be funny to push me in the pool...I sank and was drowning until someone jumped in and saved me. I've nearly drowned four times, in the sea, a plunge pool and twice in a swimming pool.

I keep saying I'll get around to learning properly but since my drowning scares I have avoided water. Even walking the pier in Dun Laoghaire is **** scary to me.

I think it's important people should learn, if only to save my sorry ass when I'm drowning.

_Kaiser_

Can't swim, but have always lived in cities or inland so days at the beach were never really a factor where it might be necessary.

Lived in Holland a few years too when I was younger but never learned then either.

Can't say it's ever held me back or that I've felt like I was missing out though. Truth be told things like camping, getting grimy from hiking or destroyed from a beach with sand everywhere isn't really my thing - that may explain it

123 LC

I got swimming lessons as a child but still can't swim/tread water...i have a fear of water i think, i just can't put my head under it. I'd love to be able to swim but i can't see it happening

Capt'n Midnight

wild_cat wrote: »

Is it a myth that the old sailors never learned to swim as it would take them longer to drown if they got into trouble?

It was true. Sailing ships weren't in the habit of turning around to pickup up anyone who couldn't grab the trailing rope.

Time and tide wait for no man etc.

Back in the worst days of the triangle trade a slave would have been less likely to die on the trip to the sugar plantations than a sailor would on the full trip.

Since the ship wasn't coming back old sailors reckoned that learning to swim would only prolong the agony, better get it over quick.

Capt'n Midnight

Magic Beans wrote: »

If you don't go near water you can't drown. I know two people who drowned, they were both swimmers. Fear is your friend.

Keep out of deserts because you're more likely to drown in them than die of thirst.

Smidge

I tried to learn at about 14-ish, only because all of my friends were going swimming and I didn't want to miss out.

I learned the basics but never took to swimming.

I am a firm believer that humans have no business swimming in the sea anyway.
I mean, have we not got the hint yet?
There are things in the sea that want to hurt and kill us(even the stones are sharp and cut the feet off you ffs).

Teyla Emmagan

I'm a little Piscean water baby :-)

gurramok

I can't swim. Shensen will save me when the day comes when i'm drowning

I cant swim to this day despite all the lessons i took as a child. could never relax in the water.

However i want to overcome it as id love to be able to do swimming as part of an exercise routine.

Ruudi_Mentari

Shenshen wrote: »

It's rather puzzling, seeing as both the UK and Ireland are islands, whereas Germany is mostly landlocked...

Yeah, but it has big fcuk off lakes dotted about

the briney sea is not for me. I can swim to save my life......

belcampprisoner

it can save your life

DrArse

If you cant swim you wernt raised properly.

Smidge

DrArse wrote: »

If you cant swim you wernt raised properly.

You, Dr, are talking through your Arse :rolleyes:

Peregrine

Been swimming since I was 10, quite quickly too.

My school had a swimming pool, I think it's one of the best sporting facility for a school to have. We used to have swimming galas and everything. It got damaged a couple of years ago and they still can't afford to fix it..it's a shame.

DrArse

Smidge wrote: »

You, Dr, are talking through your Arse :rolleyes:

Afraid so buddy

EoghanIRL

I used to be anxious about swimming but only in the sea. I would say I'm a strong enough swimmer but there is something eerie about the sea for some reason . It doesn't stop me swimming in it but its just a strange sensation I get of being caught in a current or something . Strange huh .

Duckjob

I'm very comfortable in the water, floating on my back, treading water, turning etc. I used to be very nervous getting out of my depth but now I love it.

Wouldn't be a great swimmer in terms of technique, but I can get from A-B reasonably solidly. I get tired v quickly doing overarm because my technique is sh*te, but I can stroke breasts all day long :pac:

flutterflye

Capt'n Midnight wrote: »

*spots an opportunity*

I could help you

Oh god! This is why I hate old threads! Sh1t you write comes back to haunt you!!

NuckingFacker

Whole family are water babies. Sis was leinster champion for a couple of years, regularily did the Dun Laoghaire pier swim. I swam competitively for a few years. As soon as my kids were out of nappies I brought them to the pool and got them paddling.

On hols, when there's a storm brewing and the waves are crashing in, we're the nutters heading out to the beach when everyone else is heading in to go fool around in the waves. Swimming in a raging sea with the rain belting down is a great buzz if you are comfortable doing it. There's usually some zealous lifeguard roaring and shouting for us to come in but sadly, with the noise of the waves, we never tend to be able to hear them.

I've a 16 year old lad who revels in heading out and diving under the big waves as they crash in. If you didn't know he was well able, you'd think he was doomed to drown. Different strokes for different folks probably.

munchkin_utd

Shenshen wrote: »

I learned it when I was 5... my parents considered it absolutely vital.

I was wondering if the weather might be to blame... Germans tend to spend a lot of time in open-air public pools, or by river or lakes come summer. Just to be able to cool down occasionally. That's not really such a pressing need in Ireland, is it?

just bringing this point up .....

If during my teenage years there was proper good weather (i.e. too hot to function except with air con or by a pool) combined with an open air pool full of chicks my age in flimsy bikinis with which I could frolic the summer away.......
I think I may have been able to swim.

But seriously, outdoors swimming (/frolicing about in the water all day long) on the continent is a means of achieving a little comfort on ridiculously hot summer days - and is in pools or lakes which are reasonably warm from the preceeding hot weather.
In Ireland outdoors swimming can only be enjoyed if for some reason you enjoy swimming in cold lakes and seas and are good at it.
But if you arent, then it really is just a cr@p way of getting wet and cold, even wetter and colder that you would otherwise be from just the wet and cold weather.