Crawl–overarm stroke, right, left, right, left…, breathing by turning the head to the side; flutter kick (steady even oompah kinds of beats).
Breast–arms always in the water, moving together; whip or frog kick in which legs move together and propel by sliding rapidly together at the end of the stroke; breathe by lifting head directly out of the water.
Crawl is faster. Breast is, at least in theory, less expensive of energy.
Lungs very full, relaxed, steady movements and all, snac, I sink.
I know some people tend to bob at eye level or so, but not me.
My teacher came very highly reccommended. That’s why I chose her.
Ever heard of the US Navy survival stroke? The instructors in boot camp had to cheat for me to pass. They took pity on me 'cause I wanted it so bad.
Thanks, snac. 
breast stroke … breathe by lifting head directly out of the water.
Or you can keep your head out of the water at all times.
I can’t swim. I’m aquaphobic (or hydrophobic - I think they’re the same thing). I have always hated the water, and avoid it as much as I can. I don’t even like rain.
It was compulsory in my school to take swimming lessons every Friday with the rest of the school, and I was the only one, after six years, who never figured it out. I was just too afraid to trust I’d float and breathe and whatever else I was meant to do.
It was a barrier I never manafged to cross - and furthermore it has never been a problem, as I don’t encounter deep bodies of water very often in my life.
A guy I used to work with was in the Navy in his younger days (he’s nearing 45 now). He said that when he joined the Navy, about half the guys in his group in whatever you call the Navy’s version of boot camp didn’t know how to swim. (Whether or not they couldn’t swim wasn’t a question I asked.)
By the way, mangeorge, I was also a sinker, but I didn’t have it as bad as you do. I loved swimming as a kid, but couldn’t just float, and barely made the required two minutes of treading water before being allowed in the deep end during one summer’s day-camp swimming sessions. Underwater, however, I swam like a fish.
Now that 15 years of computer programming have added a few pounds, I bet I’d have an easier time. I was really skinny as a kid.
I can’t swim. Well, sort of, See, I can float and propel my body through the water. What I can’t seem to do is breathe when my mouth is out of the water. I would always end up inhaling when my face was still in the water. Rather than explain all of that, I just say I can’t swim. It’s just doesn’t seem very useful to be able to swim only for the amount of time that I can hold my breath.
I grew up in Indiana. In most of Indiana, the only way to get into a deep enough body of water in which swimming would be a necessity is to seek it out. I never bothered to seek it out.
[QUOTE]
*Originally posted by tonbo0422 *
**I just don’t get it when an adult says that they “can’t swim.” Okay, so maybe they can’t do the crawl, but keep their heads above water? One would think it would be an innate ability.
QUOTE]
I don’t have a cite, but it wasn’t at all uncommon for sailors in the wooden sailing ship era to not know how to swim.
“Hydrophobia” is what they used to call rabies. If you’re suffering from that, I’d say that your lack of swimming ability is the least of your problems. I’d be more concerned about the inevitable agonizingly painful death and accompanying madness than the inability to swim. But hey, that’s me.
Not everyone’s a “natural swimmer,” whatever that is. Swimming is a skill and must be learned somehow. The deaman float mentioned above is a bit more complicated than merely not moving in the water. For one thing, one must control one’s breath properly. So many people think that “hold your breath” means “blow your cheeks out.” Given that something as seemingly simple as floating is actually complicated, wouldn’t you think that the entire range of swimming isn’t simple either?
(a) Since the likelihood of the island sinking is, well, none, it doesn’t seem like an urgent necessity. And if the water has risen so far as to catch me in the house, I probably am a goner anyway.
(b) It may be that among the southern Spanish economic refugees and West African involuntary manpower we descend from, there was not very much of a swimming tradition to begin with
© For many of us, a proper venue in which to be safely taught to swim under pro supervision while still young and resilient just did not exist, until very recently. It was at best trial-and-error and try to trust a relative or older buddy… IF you were lucky enough to have a sheltered lagoon or natural pond within walking distance of home.
(d) You are right, I can bear witness our mothers drill into us from the cradle the dread fear that water = you WILL drown
In any case, count me as another sinker. Almost bought it once. No matter how I postition myself, it’s down I go (when I’ve been fat, when I’ve been skinny – no diff). Tried a thousand and one configurations, and nothing. ( and I’m not happy with my situation: more than the beach or the river, I fear some well-intentioned but uninformed person shoving me into the deep end of a pool “for fun”)
There is also the element of effort: it actually takes quite a bit of work to tread water or to propel yourself through it – considerably more than many people would expect. Then the panic mechanism starts kicking in, when you increasing degree of effort is STILL not keeping your head out of the water.
Someday I should go to The Great Salt Lake. I seen pictures of people floating up to their shoulders. In the lake.
I have a freakishly low BMI, so I naturally tend to sink like a stone in water, but that hasn’t stopped me from competing in national-level swimming competitions. 
I agree that a person’s inability to swim is purely psychological; everybody knows how to swim in some form, it’s just a matter of using that knowledge rather than succumbing to panic. Once you get over your fear of water, though, swimming becomes an incredibly natural thing, just as much as walking or breathing.
Oh, and personally, I think instructors nowadays are insane to try to teach the “crawl”, or freestyle stroke, to a beginner. In theory, yes, it’s the simplest stroke, but it’s also relatively innefficient and very difficult in terms of breathing, i.e. probably not the best stroke to get yourself out of a hairy situation. The breast stroke is a much better alternative, IMHO - extremely efficient, and much simpler breathing pattern.
I am very thin and do not float. My natural buoyancy is to be below the water, even when on my back, arms out. So even if I could swim, I would have to work a bit harder at it than some. In fact, I was just at the pool today, and watched Fierra swimming - and although she is barely 100 pounds wet, she floats very well, and can easily swim and keep her head way out of the water. She seems to make it look effortless. Also, some people (like myself) simply are afraid of the water. The most I’ve done is a short swim for 10 feet, and I had to work up to that over a couple of hours. Even in the Aegean off of Greece, in the nice, shallow, calm water I was unable to get the courage up to swim.
That’s why I can’t swim. Based on mine and other’s anecdotes and comments herein, maybe you can understand better.
Luckily it has two meanings. Whew!
For the record, I don’t have rabies.
Your description of THE TORPEDO was, sadly, much less funny than the one I envisioned after reading this sentence.
I have heard the same thing. Apparently, it was a huge fatalistic streak in the sailors of old: They figured that once they were in the water they were dead anyway, so there’s no reason to prolong the agony.
Hence sailors of old didn’t become old sailors. (Hell, sailors of now have a tendancy not to become old sailors.)
And hydrophobia has always meant rabies. I’m afraid of water to a certain extent (I associate water with exreme pain for good reason.) but I’d never say I had hydrophobia, 'cause most people I’ve been around associate it with rabies.
“Hydrophobia” in the sense of “Afraid of water” is either very new or obsolete.
The “water babies” instinctual holding of breath (and not panicking) while under water disappears after a while (unless constantly practiced); IIRC, it’s gone by year one. There are many infantile instincts that disappear as one ages. You don’t automatically start sucking on everything placed near your lips anymore, do you? (And if you do, I don’t want to know about it <shudder>.)
Not all mammals can swim, therefore, there’s no imperative to humans having a natural adult swimming instinct.
The human body, unless very very lean, is bouyant with a full lung of air. Of course, if you’re face down or vertical, that would still put your air holes under water. You need to be on your back with a lung full of air. Then, you need to quickly exhale and then inhale to retain that bouyancy without having to tread water.
With a lung full of air, one can vertically tread water with just the lightest of strokes to get the air holes above water. Again, quickly exhale then inhale again for bouyancy.
Not breathing right or panicking makes points #3 & #4 useless.
Anecdote – Me, no jock, but I take to water like a fish. Friend, big jock and good swimmer and pool owner. We go to take scuba lessons. Me, no prob. Friend, however, is unable, in the shallow end of a pool to duck his head under water and breath through the scuba gear. He can swim under water holding his breath, but has a psychological block against inhaling while submerged. Me, satisfied that for once, I outdo my friend in a physical arena. Yay me!
Peace.
Next lesson: body surfing.