# Adults who can't swim? C'mon

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/adults-who-cant-swim-cmon/189761>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [July 20, 2003, 4:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/adults-who-cant-swim-cmon/189761 "2003-07-20T16:32:23Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 7

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**Author:** ![colander](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e8c25b/32.png) [@colander](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/colander)\
**Post date:** [April 7, 2013, 2:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/adults-who-cant-swim-cmon/189761/121 "2013-04-07T02:07:03Z")

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> [@Siam\_Sam](#):
>
> Is it true you couldn’t drown in the Dead Sea even if you tried? (Perhaps a _bit_ of an exaggeration.) Due to the buoyant properties of the salinity.

You won’t be able to sink, but you don’t need to be submerged to drown.

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**Author:** ![thicksantorum](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/65b543/32.png) [@thicksantorum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thicksantorum)\
**Post date:** [April 7, 2013, 12:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/adults-who-cant-swim-cmon/189761/122 "2013-04-07T12:33:20Z")

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> [@mangeorge](#):
>
> _Nobody_ would teach me Scuba. Cowards.

Odd. You really don’t need to know how to swim if you’re in saltwater with long fins. I’ve been snorkeling and scuba diving, yet sink to the bottom of a swimming pool.

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**Author:** ![Mijin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mijin/32/9369_2.png) [@Mijin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mijin)\
**Post date:** [April 7, 2013, 1:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/adults-who-cant-swim-cmon/189761/123 "2013-04-07T13:58:02Z")

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I probably count as a non-swimmer: I can’t tread water. I can maybe do 50 metres front stroke before I’m thoroughly exhausted. I could probably backstroke indefinitely but I don’t know how viable that would be on rough water.

I’m not scared of the water as such, but one anecdote:

One time I was in a public pool, and up to then every pool I’d been in had been either all one level, or had a gradual decline to the deep end.  
But this one simply had a sudden drop, so I was actually walking with my head just out of the water when suddenly – where’s the ground gone!?

And, I just freaked out. Madly thrashing and kicking for I reckon 30 seconds (it felt like minutes but objectively I can’t see how it could have been longer than that).  
By the time it occurred to me to simply let myself sink a little, so I could turn my body horizontal, I’d started to swallow water and really felt like it was a “near-miss”.

I’m sure this would have played out differently for someone that could tread water, but the point is you can panic even if you have some swimming ability.

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