Can you swim?

Homelander

I would say it's broadly uncommon to not be able to swim. I genuinely don't have any friends who can't swim, even my grandparents swim. The only person I know who wasn't able to swim was my father but he learned a few years ago, still don't like water much though.

Beasty

A few more years of Global Warming and this place will be like Waterworld - only the swimmers will survive

:pac:

Stevieluvsye

Beasty wrote: »

A few more years of Global Warming and this place will be like Waterworld - only the swimmers will survive

:pac:

Greta's got that covered

Stab*City

I fell into a canal when i was young and was saved by neighbourhood kids. The following week my parents had us at lessons. We have never looked back. I taught and sent both my kids to lessons and they have never looked back. When i met their mother she couldn't swim after a few holidays and some time with us in the shallows she now can, and loves it. She still stays in the safety of the shallows but sher its still swimming. Still have to teach her to cycle though.

Tammy!

I love swimming. It's the most relaxing type of exercise. We grew up practically right beside a leisure centre so it was something everyone did. They use to have a fun swim with a big huge float thing and everyone nearly drown at least once at that! I taught myself and did more with school.

My brother took me with some friends and he was meant to look after me. He did but he ****ed off to the deep end and told me to just hold onto to the bar. Then he'd come back and check on me. I just taught myself then because I wasnt being left stuck at the bar.

I can see how you'd develop a fear for it though. I use to be great at diving in but I haven't done that in so long Im a bit scared to do it now.

kal7

I can swim well, have done a 12km open water swim and others, I learnt from confident parents while young so it was easy for me.

I see so many who can swim in pool but scared of something in openwater. It is a big challenge. Good on any adult who takes it on.

However with help and persistence many can overcome this. The breathing while swimming seems to be a huge thing.

I have seen a drill,where you swim on your side, so you can breathe, until relaxed,then do one stroke of frontcrawl, return to side swimming and then repeat, in your own time. This gets you the feel of stroke with time to breathe. Hope it might help someone. Several friends have tried it and finally cracked head down frontcrawl.

It takes alot of breathing out air from lungs to achieve negative buoyancy, for most people. But we are all different

Tammy!

kal7 wrote: »

I see so many who can swim in pool but scared of something in openwater.

It's not the water they're scared of, it's what could be in the water!! And it's cold.

BrokenArrows

Not being able to swim is surely a massive downside to anyone's life.

What do you do on summer holidays, pools, beaches, water parks.

Noone expects you to be able to win the Olympics, bit being able to keep yourself afloat and swim for a few meters would be sufficient to enjoy so much more in life.

And just because you can't now, you could easily learn.

tritriagain

Tammy! wrote: »

It's not the water they're scared of, it's what could be in the water!! And it's cold.

I know someone who is a good swimmer in the pool but swims like an auld one in the sea, breast stroke head up high. He told me he expects everything from Jaws to the qe2 ploughing into him.

Tammy!

tritriagain wrote: »

I know someone who is a good swimmer in the pool but swims like an auld one in the sea, breast stroke head up high. He told me he expects everything from Jaws to the qe2 ploughing into him.

and you can't see what's beneath you!

Use to get into the sea when I was a kid to jump the waves and I was terrified of seaweed. We use to leggit out if any of it touched us and then go back in. It still creeps me out

riffmongous

BrokenArrows wrote: »

Not being able to swim is surely a massive downside to anyone's life.

What do you do on summer holidays, pools, beaches, water parks.

I can honestly say its rarely an issue, there's plenty of other things to do at the beach and you obviously enough don't go to pools or water parks.. swimmers really seem to overestimate how useful it actually is.

Stevieluvsye

For non swimmers it is water parks you need to be careful if you are a non swimmer. You may have a few rides where the water is only waist height on impact but i have seen some non swimmers get in trouble with slides where the depth was deeper

iamwhoiam

I was taught to swim in the sea at age four . I have a grá for it since . I would hate to miss the experience of swimming in the deep blue sea in Croatia . Or the beautiful feeling off floating in the sea in Majorca with tiny fish all around
My own kids could all swim by age 5/6 and they have gone diving off the coast of Thailand and New Zealand etc

Please teach your kids when small and it will open opportunities for them

BrokenArrows

iamwhoiam wrote: »

Please teach your kids when small and it will open opportunities for them

Even if it doesnt open oportunities, its one less thing for them to worry about as an adult.
Enough stuff in the world to be concerned about without worrying about falling into a little bit of water.

Obvious Desperate Breakfasts

Grab All Association wrote: »

I can’t swim. Most of my family can. I was thrown into a river when I was 4 by drunk idiots and almost drowned. Once you experience something like that you don’t go up near rivers or lakes. Exception walking along the Suir in Thurles as it’s shallow most of the year.

Oh my god. You poor thing.

Obvious Desperate Breakfasts

Uncharted wrote: »

Maybe you and your son are just genetic freaks,perhaps even descendants of a superior race of beings.


Either that or you're full of it.

I mostly learned from swimming lessons in school but taught the front crawl (though I didn’t know what it was called) to myself before we got the school lessons. I remember it very clearly because I was so determined to do so and so proud when I cracked it. Why is it so hard to believe? The hardest part is figuring how to do the breathing properly.

Stevieluvsye

Obvious Desperate Breakfasts wrote: »

I mostly learned from swimming lessons in school but taught the front crawl (though I didn’t know what it was called) to myself before we got the school lessons. I remember it very clearly because I was so determined to do so and so proud when I cracked it. Why is it so hard to believe? The hardest part is figuring how to do the breathing properly.

And that is were most people struggle. My breathing was atrocious as in i didn't come up for breath or i would just do backstroke

Mrs taught me a technique of sorts that helps with my breathing now, i think it was mentioned a few pages back by someone else

Obvious Desperate Breakfasts

May I rant for a second about the term ‘wild swimming’? I’ve only heard it in the last few years and usually only on social media. Stuff like “Went wild swimming for the first time today!” accompanied by a picture of somebody in a lake or the sea. Like it’s something new rather than a thing people have been doing since the dawn of time. Anyone here who can swim has likely done it numerous times in their life.

Lillyfae

Obvious Desperate Breakfasts wrote: »

May I rant for a second about the term ‘wild swimming’? I’ve only heard it in the last few years and usually only on social media. Stuff like “Went wild swimming for the first time today!” accompanied by a picture of somebody in a lake or the sea. Like it’s something new rather than a thing people have been doing since the dawn of time. Anyone here who can swim has likely done it numerous times in their life.

That is pretty hilarious to be fair. Wild swimming

Balmed Out

topper75 wrote: »

Let's clear something up on the thread: No human can just 'float'.

There is always some kind of movement needed to resist the sinking. Treading water can involve the gentlest of ankle flicks or slowest of hand sweeps but nobody can just bob like a cork without making any effort whatsoever.

You can do it using your lungs as balloons depending on weight muscle mass.
I can do it easily but at times in my life ive done a lot more weights then cardio its a lot harder.

Lillyfae

topper75 wrote: »

Let's clear something up on the thread: No human can just 'float'.

There is always some kind of movement needed to resist the sinking. Treading water can involve the gentlest of ankle flicks or slowest of hand sweeps but nobody can just bob like a cork without making any effort whatsoever.

There is such a thing as buoyancy, it's a big lesson in diving. The air in your lungs at any given time has an effect on this, among other things. You can test it out in the bath

Up Donegal

My attempts at swimming were compared to someone pedalling a bicycle without a chain!:o

My arms were going around at a crazy rate of knots but I wasn't moving at all!

Mister Vain

Must be some posh fecking schools if they had swimming lessons. Back in my day you were lucky if you had a hurley.

rainbow kirby

Yep - my school had 8 weeks of lessons every year from 3rd to 6th class. Did some proper club sessions as an adult then when I started doing triathlons in my late 20s.

munchkin_utd

Stevieluvsye wrote: »

If you jump in to water, you'll naturally float to the top, just keep your mouth closed. Trust me, it's that easy

thats simply wrong so it is

I was on a canyoning thing in Germany and on telling them I couldnt swim they said the same, so I did. I took a big breath, held the nose and lept off a ledge into a rock pool (was wearing a wetsuit that supossedly adds buoyancy too) and prepared to magically float

I stayed calm, really chilled, and sank. The look of confusion on their faces afterwards when they finally pulled me up from underwater was wierd. Like saying you "cant swim" somehow means something different out foreign.

As for why I cant swim, firstly there was no public pool in my county when I was in school in the late 80s / 90s so I saw a pool an odd time on spins to Northern Ireland or galway (so maybe twice a year tops, and definitely not lessons) so you can forget about the school bringing us for regular lessons or anything like that. My mother doesnt swim, and my dad is self taught but only got actual lessons as a pensioner, so like most I know who cant swim, you have not ready made enthusatic swim teachers at home

Did lessons in the lake for a fortnight for maybe 4 / 5 summers and could propel myself with a float but defintely couldn't get near to actually floating and in a cold lake the idea of enjoying being in water and relaxing was a non runner. Some did learn to swim there but I wasnt the only one to fail at it. Later I went to the pool when in College and could use brute force to go forward which kept me above water, but I was super fit then (played for multiple football teams, bit of cross country and cycled to use up any excess energy sometimes day long spiins), and even then when completely chilled there was no sign of any magically floating.
I'll probably do lessons at some stage but its not at the very top of my priority list at the moment.

Both my kids are water babys thanks to the wife but you'd definitely see that my daughter is really bouyant and can float for fun but our son struggles to stay above water despite being adequately relaxed (aparantly the secret to EVERYONE releasing their inner floatyness), but he is happy to spend 95% of the time underwater coming up for the odd breath so his lack of bouyancy isnt an issue for him in pools or that - but it does show that some just are more bouyant than others.

Obvious Desperate Breakfasts

Mister Vain wrote: »

Must be some posh fecking schools if they had swimming lessons. Back in my day you were lucky if you had a hurley.

Ah, no. As I said earlier we got swimming lessons arranged by my run-of-the-mill rural national school in a poor area of the country. The lessons were very inexpensive.

Testament1

I can swim but I can't get the breathing right at all. I have chronic sinusitis and a deviated septum so I struggle with breathing at the best of times to be fair! So while I can swim a length of a pool I'll be holding my breath from one end to the other.

Can't seem to tread water in the deep end either. I love water but I do have it in the back of my mind that if I got into difficulty my ability wouldn't be anywhere near up to scratch so I tend to be very wary around water.

IAMAMORON

Competently. I don't like getting sea water up my nose though, especially around Dublin bay, fooooking rank it is.

bmc58

Stevieluvsye wrote: »

I honestly can't understand how people can't swim. Personally i find it to be one of the most straight forward things you can learn, actually i didn't even learn, i threw myself in to deep end when young and swam

It's also one of lifes best abilities to have.Fear of the water is panic inducing and a killer if you ever happen to fall into a river or lake or sea.Someone who can swim will not suffer this panic.

Scarinae

Lillyfae wrote: »

There is such a thing as buoyancy, it's a big lesson in diving. The air in your lungs at any given time has an effect on this, among other things. You can test it out in the bath

Maybe I'm able to float in water because I have done scuba diving in the past and know how to breathe for buoyancy? My fiancé isn't able to float the way I can even though I've tried to show him how to do it.

munchkin_utd

bmc58 wrote: »

It's also one of lifes best abilities to have.Fear of the water is panic inducing and a killer if you ever happen to fall into a river or lake or sea.Someone who can swim will not suffer this panic.

funnily, if you look into it most people who die from drowning aren't falling accidentally into a river or lake.

Most deaths come from people who jump deliberately into a lake or river, overestimating their ability (sometimes thanks to booze, or bravado) and then come a cropper. If they appreciated how little swimming ability they had, they would have stayed out of the water and been perfectly safe.

Out at sea, you can be a fairly good swimmer and get caught in rip currents like what killed a girl a couple of months ago and nearly one another yesterday in Donegal.
Older people who can swim really well go on longer swims in lakes and then get caught out by circulation issues.

If you ask me, knowing your limits and the dangers of your environment is as much a self preservation tool as acquiring olympic standard or lifeguard standard swimming ability

Conor Bourke

bmc58 wrote: »

It's also one of lifes best abilities to have.Fear of the water is panic inducing and a killer if you ever happen to fall into a river or lake or sea.Someone who can swim will not suffer this panic.

Not entirely accurate

It’s been posted a few times but if you fall into cold water, the first piece of advice is to not try and swim for a moment or two until the panic passes

https://www.respectthewater.com/float-2019?utm_expid=.QDu738wVSRahBVEhhXEnYg.1&utm_referrer=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.google.com%2F

Ray Palmer

munchkin_utd wrote: »

As for why I cant swim, firstly there was no public pool in my county when I was in school in the late 80s / 90s so I saw a pool an odd time on spins to Northern Ireland or galway .

WTF??? There was a county in Ireland that had no swimming pools you could pay to use? I find that impossible to believe. No hotels or sports facilities with a pool in the entire county?

Everyone I grew up with learned to swim. You just did it. You could do classes, join a club, just go to a pool etc...

I knew one person as an adult who couldn't swim. He was born I China but raised here from 2 and his parents were afraid of water as they couldn't swim so he never learned. Found it strange but stranger was he didn't know how to use chopsticks. His parents owned and ran a Chinese restaurant which he used to work in. When I ate in his place with chopsticks he couldn't understand why I had learned to use them. I think it was weirder he couldn't

munchkin_utd

Ray Palmer wrote: »

WTF??? There was a county in Ireland that had no swimming pools you could pay to use? I find that impossible to believe. No hotels or sports facilities with a pool in the entire county?

Cavan

There was a pool in the slieve russell hotel but you had to be a member or overnight guest to get access, no pay per go

Conor Bourke

munchkin_utd wrote: »

Cavan

There was a pool in the slieve russell hotel but you had to be a member or overnight guest to get access, no pay per go

Were there no summer swimming lessons in the nearest lake? Not like there’s a shortage in the county! I worked on the Cavan/Leitrim border years ago and all the Mammies and Daddies I worked with would be organising their roster around the swimming during the summer. I was really impressed, those that weren’t instructing were still involved with general supervision etc.

threetrees

The breathing is tricky to get right but it's all about rhythm. Slow down your swim to ultra slow, do all your exhaling under water, when you come up for air you only breathe in and head back in the water, constantly exhaling or blowing bubbles in the water. Breathe every 3rd stroke. Eventually it becomes second nature.

Stratvs

threetrees wrote: »

The breathing is tricky to get right but it's all about rhythm. Slow down your swim to ultra slow, do all your exhaling under water, when you come up for air you only breathe in and head back in the water, constantly exhaling or blowing bubbles in the water. Breathe every 3rd stroke. Eventually it becomes second nature.

Good explanation, never managed that properly, so I stick to breast/back strokes mainly. Must try again.

Was 30 before I learned to swim. On my side of the family no one could swim but on my wife's they all could, her father had taught them early on. So eventually bit the bullet and took lessons in the pool at Lota. Did the first 10 lessons to get the basics. It was terrifying until the first time I got to float, but after that fear of taking legs off the ground was conquered it was so easy so went back for 2 more sets of 10 to improve. One of the best things I ever did. I made sure our kids were taught early on then.

munchkin_utd

Cornelius Crow wrote: »

Were there no summer swimming lessons in the nearest lake? Not like there’s a shortage in the county! I worked on the Cavan/Leitrim border years ago and all the Mammies and Daddies I worked with would be organising their roster around the swimming during the summer. I was really impressed, those that weren’t instructing were still involved with general supervision etc.

there was and still is. I did it for 4 summers, but its only for a fortnight and its in a freezing cold lake with no shelter or changing facilities which is far from ideal to get into some sort of comfortable relationship with the water.
That aside, the place we had (Killykeen lake for those who know the area) had bog holes to one side and got deep very quickly so that would also not exactly add to any sense of ease with the surroundings.

Since my times there, theres been a few drownings in that lake including the one man who was renouned in the area for being the only regular swimmer there. A family of 4 was rescued only a couple of years ago from the lake too, only 20m from shore.

By rights there should be a bit of funding for making those lake swimming places safer, but thats way down the list of priorities whether Ireland is flush with cash or not.

Obvious Desperate Breakfasts

Lillyfae wrote: »

There is such a thing as buoyancy, it's a big lesson in diving. The air in your lungs at any given time has an effect on this, among other things. You can test it out in the bath

Big boobs can seriously aid buoyancy. My sister is very floaty for this reason.

I can but haven't done so in a solid 12 years.

Mister Vain

I never really had an interest in swimming so just didn't bother learning. Yeah I might fall into a lake someday, but I might get beaten up on the street someday too. Should I take self defences classes then?

r93kaey5p2izun

I can swim badly, but only so far as I can go without needing a breath. I can do the breast stroke but it's pretty weak. I was sent to lessons from age 4 and tried again three different times in my teens and 20s, with no improvement. I just cannot coordinate breathing. I have dyspraxia, maybe that's the problem. I would love to be able to improve enough to swim in the sea.

Scarinae

There was a programme on after the Bake Off with a bunch of British celebrities training to swim the English Channel for charity, some of whom couldn't swim before, such as Olympic sprinter Linford Christie. According to the programme, 20% of British adults can't swim - that's not far off the percentage in this thread's poll who say they can't swim (currently 23.86%)

Stratvs

Mister Vain wrote: »

I never really had an interest in swimming so just didn't bother learning. Yeah I might fall into a lake someday, but I might get beaten up on the street someday too. Should I take self defences classes then?

Given the way things are today I'd certainly prioritise self defence over swimming lessons.

MillField

I can swim well enough not to totally panic in the water. Definitely not a strong swimmer though, I never really took to it when I was younger. Every child should learn in school though for safety reasons alone.

RiderOnTheStorm

I think it does depend on your circle of friends, and your family. If your family are swimmers then you will be a swimmer and your friends swimmers too.

My brothers and sisters and myself were lifeguards. My son's were lifeguards. We always swam. But if there was an All-Ireland final in Irish dancing on today, next door to me, I wouldn't even know it, because I don't move in those circles. And someone who lives & breathes dancing wii find it strange that I didn't even know its going on.....

It's probably a psychological thing that stops people from swimming or learning to swim. I do think that because we are a small island, and never far from fishing villages, there is leftover thinking from fishermen, where some deliberately do not learn to swim, thinking that if the boat sinks then they do not want to draw out the inevitable. And this is why a lot don't wear lifejackets

I love swimming!!

No, its not weird that you dont know how.

If its something you think is missing or regret not learning, then its never too late to learn. All mammals can swim. You could swim when a baby. We just forgot as we grew up and had to relearn.

fryup

RiderOnTheStorm wrote: »

If its something you think is missing or regret not learning, then its never too late to learn. All mammals can swim. You could swim when a baby. We just forgot as we grew up and had to relearn.

or may have developed a irrational fear of water maybe from a bad experience when young.....but everyone (within reason) should & can swim its a brilliant pastime & exercise..esp outdoor lake swimming its so invigorating... and as you said its never too late

BeerWolf

I used to swim a lot till I got a nasty ear infection while in Spain.

Kid you not, it was the worst pain I have ever experienced... felt like some drove a Chef's knife into my ear, and any little movement was excruciating. And if I had to sneeze...

Never again. Have not swam since 2008.

Dial Hard

BeerWolf wrote: »

I used to swim a lot till I got a nasty ear infection while in Spain.

Kid you not, it was the worst pain I have ever experienced... felt like some drove a Chef's knife into my ear, and any little movement was excruciating. And if I had to sneeze...

Never again. Have not swam since 2008.

I got an ear infection in Jamaica when I was 11 and flew home with it. I have never felt pain like it when the plane was landing. Had no end of trouble with that ear when I was scuba diving and it was a large part of why I gave it up. Still love swimming and the water though.

In fact, this thread put the goo on me so I went to Terenure College yesterday and did 30 widths (couldn't do lengths as the shallow end was roped off). Haven't had a proper swim in ages and my calves and shoulders are feeling pleasantly tight today. Might head out to the Forty Foot at the weekend.

tritriagain

Dial Hard wrote: »

I got an ear infection in Jamaica when I was 11 and flew home with it. I have never felt pain like it when the plane was landing. Had no end of trouble with that ear when I was scuba diving and it was a large part of why I gave it up. Still love swimming and the water though.

In fact, this thread put the goo on me so I went to Terenure College yesterday and did 30 widths (couldn't do lengths as the shallow end was roped off). Haven't had a proper swim in ages and my calves and shoulders are feeling pleasantly tight today. Might head out to the Forty Foot at the weekend.

I ended up getting surfers ear from swimming in the sea. Had tod to have ear drilled out. The care after was horrendously sore. Now wear ear plugs when swimming.