# Can you swim? **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [May 24, 2024, 12:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-swim/1001999 "2024-05-24T00:47:28Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 5
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2024, 5:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-swim/1001999/81 "2024-05-24T17:19:55Z")
> [@Mama\_Zappa](#): > > My mother claims she learned to swim by being tossed out of a boat in 90 feet of water. Likely a slight exaggeration - but her uncle owned a cabin in a park near a quarry, and she probably DID swim in that part more than once. True Story, I swear My aunt and uncle had a summer house at the Jersey shore on an inlet we called “The Lagoon” (which wasn’t really a lagoon. And had no Creatures in it). They had a dock and lots of big truck tiore inner tubes to float on. They also had a collection of the old-style bright orange Kapok-filled life vests (because that’s just about all there was, back then) > **[Decoration Life Jacket Orange Type Il Buoyant Vest Adult Kapok Material Lot of...](https://www.ebay.com/itm/115535608570)** > > Kapok Material. Type Il Buoyant Vest. I was really young – 5? 7? Whatever. I put on my life vest and was paddling around the Lagoon near the inner tubes, trying to stay away from the barnacle-encrusted pilings. Two adults come over to the edge and look down at me. “Should he be out there all alone like that?” “Sure. He’s got a life vest on.” With which the speaker grabbed a similar life vest from the dock and threw it in next to me… …where it sank like a rock. Needless to say, they hauled me out in a hurry. I had been swimming around wearing a weight. I don’t know if the stuff got old or what, but it was no longer buoyant. ---
**Author:** ![Beckdawrek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beckdawrek/32/3647_2.png) [@Beckdawrek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beckdawrek)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2024, 5:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-swim/1001999/82 "2024-05-24T17:26:08Z")
Speaking of Michael Phelps. I have freakishly long arms, too. Dang, I missed my calling. Could have me some shiny gold medals. This always happens to me. 🤭 ---
**Author:** ![Dogginit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dogginit/32/16920_2.png) [@Dogginit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dogginit)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2024, 5:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-swim/1001999/83 "2024-05-24T17:32:17Z")
Yes, had swim lessons way back in grade school at the college pool in town. Don’t really swim a lot anymore, water in the PacNW is a wee bit cold at the best of times. Don’t go to public pools, no friends with pools. Got really spoiled about 25 years ago in Tonga snorkeling/catching fish for the aquarium trade, and more recently, in March, snorkeling in the gorgeous waters of Belize. _That’s_ swimmable water! ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2024, 5:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-swim/1001999/84 "2024-05-24T17:32:39Z")
> [@CalMeacham](#): > > I don’t know if the stuff got old or what, but it was no longer buoyant. If you had an older brother you should have looked in his direction to see if he was laughing. ---
**Author:** ![ftg](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ftg/32/2801_2.png) [@ftg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ftg)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2024, 5:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-swim/1001999/85 "2024-05-24T17:33:41Z")
Taught myself to swim at a young age and never had a problem since. For several years we went to a public pool quite close to us several times a week. Then COVID hit, we moved, etc. No easily accessible public pool near us. It the past, if I hadn’t swum in a while, it took 2-3 sessions to get back into reasonable shape to swim effectively enough for workout purposes (mainly duration). Now, I think it could take at least twice that. ---
**Author:** ![Dung\_Beetle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dung_beetle/32/7945_2.png) [@Dung\_Beetle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dung_Beetle)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2024, 5:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-swim/1001999/86 "2024-05-24T17:40:34Z")
> [@Mama\_Zappa](#): > > I think it’s QUITE plausible that someone would answer no to this question. You’re right. I tend to express myself a little too emphatically after a couple of glasses of wine. What I should have said is that I think it’s extremely important for people to learn how to swim. ---
**Author:** ![Ulfreida](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ulfreida/32/8014_2.png) [@Ulfreida](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ulfreida)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2024, 6:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-swim/1001999/87 "2024-05-24T18:39:10Z")
My mother was a poor swimmer and had some fear of being unable to save us if we went under so we all had to take swimming lessons through Advanced. One of my sisters swam competitively in high school. We belonged to a (really funky old rundown) country club for a few years and I for one spent many summer afternoons in the pool. Used to swim laps at the Y but haven’t for years. My town has a Town Pool which is just a glorified dammed creek, and I swim there every chance I get. But I get tired easily these days. I used to be able to just swim and swim. ---
**Author:** ![Broomstick](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/broomstick/32/246_2.png) [@Broomstick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Broomstick)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2024, 8:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-swim/1001999/88 "2024-05-24T20:19:26Z")
> [@robby](#): > > That’s so odd to me. Fancy certificates don’t mean that you can swim. Some people suffer from Credentialism. I suspect a lot of them wind up working for the hiring areas of corporate HR departments. ---
**Author:** ![Beckdawrek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beckdawrek/32/3647_2.png) [@Beckdawrek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beckdawrek)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2024, 8:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-swim/1001999/89 "2024-05-24T20:26:20Z")
Ah. THE country club set! I see how you are. I kid you. 🤭 I swam in one of those funky “used to be THE place to be seen” clubs too. ---
**Author:** ![blondebear](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/blondebear/32/1022_2.png) [@blondebear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/blondebear)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2024, 8:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-swim/1001999/90 "2024-05-24T20:48:01Z")
> [@solost](#): > > > [@Nyvaak](#): > > > > I learned to swim in a simple pool. I’ve never been in a complex one. > > Must be one of those non-rectangular pools. Like a kidney-shaped pool. Or those guitar-shaped pools some rich musicians have. Our [apartment, har har] complex pool isn’t quite rectangular, and not guitar-shaped. But it did have a car in it a couple of years ago: [![](https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/53744351959_2e1e411a5a.jpg) ](https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/53744351959_2e1e411a5a.jpg) ---
**Author:** ![EinsteinsHund](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/einsteinshund/32/8400_2.png) [@EinsteinsHund](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EinsteinsHund)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2024, 8:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-swim/1001999/91 "2024-05-24T20:56:46Z")
So which rock star drove the car into the pool? 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Nyvaak](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/5f8ce5/32.png) [@Nyvaak](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nyvaak)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2024, 9:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-swim/1001999/92 "2024-05-24T21:26:34Z")
Oh My ! At least the vehicle stopped in the shallow end, so I presume nobody was drowned. But, given all the different kinds of fluid contained in a car, how long was it before the pool was usable again ? ---
**Author:** ![blondebear](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/blondebear/32/1022_2.png) [@blondebear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/blondebear)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2024, 9:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-swim/1001999/93 "2024-05-24T21:35:57Z")
The driver was an elderly woman visiting a friend. One of those “foot on gas instead of brake” incidents. She was shaken up a little (more mentally than physically) but okay. The pool was out of commission for almost two months. Annoyingly, part of the delay was due to the complex manager having to put the fence repair and pool clean-up work out for bids from multiple contractors. That, plus the fact the manager really hates having to deal with pool issues. Years ago she procrastinated on cleaning up a huge bunch of leaves that had sunk to the bottom. By the time she did anything about it, the bottom of the pool was permanently stained. ---
**Author:** ![Ulf\_the\_Unwashed](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/b4bc9f/32.png) [@Ulf\_the\_Unwashed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ulf_the_Unwashed)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2024, 9:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-swim/1001999/94 "2024-05-24T21:48:40Z")
Yes. I learned when I was four, apparently. I don’t remember a time before I could swim. I made sure my kids learned to swim fairly early and fairly well, and my grandson was mobile in the water at the age of two. He truly loves swimming now, at the age of seven. ---
**Author:** ![Happy\_Lendervedder](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/happy_lendervedder/32/8488_2.png) [@Happy\_Lendervedder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Happy_Lendervedder)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2024, 9:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-swim/1001999/95 "2024-05-24T21:50:21Z")
I seem to recall it was a requirement to graduate high school when I was in high school (Michigan, early 90s). So, yes, I can swim. I took lessons when I was maybe 8. ---
**Author:** ![Prof.Pepperwinkle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/prof.pepperwinkle/32/13627_2.png) [@Prof.Pepperwinkle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Prof.Pepperwinkle)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2024, 9:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-swim/1001999/96 "2024-05-24T21:55:27Z")
I haven’t in years and years, but yes, I probably still can swim. ---
**Author:** ![Ulfreida](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ulfreida/32/8014_2.png) [@Ulfreida](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ulfreida)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2024, 10:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-swim/1001999/97 "2024-05-24T22:55:50Z")
> [@Beckdawrek](#): > > Ah. THE country club set! > > I see how you are. > I kid you. 🤭 > I swam in one of those funky “used to be THE place to be seen” clubs too. Not really. It folded a few years later. The pool was nice, and there was a snack bar, as I remember, but the other amenities were few. They had some tennis courts, and a little stable of broken-down horses available for riding, and a few boarding stalls (I kept my own decrepit horse there) and a big riding arena we horsy kids played games in. No supervision, no lessons, only a mostly-monoglot old mexican guy we called Man-you-ell, who shod the horses. It was more run down than I was aware of as a kid. But because of the horses I loved it. And then, we swam. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Stainless\_Steel\_Rat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_stainless_steel_rat/32/5727_2.png) [@The\_Stainless\_Steel\_Rat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Stainless_Steel_Rat)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2024, 11:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-swim/1001999/98 "2024-05-24T23:26:55Z")
Learned at the YMCA in my pre-teen years and was, like a couple of other posters, at the local pool much of the summer in my teen years. Then pretty much stopped and except for a few months in my 40’s, did not swim again until a couple years ago (when I was 70), when I joined a local gym with a 25-yard pool. Unfortunately most of the strokes were but dim memories, so I’ve been restricted to backstrokes (which allow me to continue to wear my glasses. Am up to about 1-1.5 miles a session, but usually break it into 2-3 sections, with whirlpool time in-between. Probably could re-learn the other strokes but right now flailing backwards into the unknown is my go-to. ---
**Author:** ![Hari\_Seldon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hari_seldon/32/5173_2.png) [@Hari\_Seldon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hari_Seldon)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2024, 11:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-swim/1001999/99 "2024-05-24T23:44:52Z")
> [@robby](#): > > To become a Blue swimmer you have to be able to: “Jump feet first into water over the head in depth. Can you explain why it is necessary to jump into the pool? Why isn’t swimming sufficient. I can swim quite readily but have never jumped into a pool. That is a result of my morbid acrophobia. I learned to swim in the easiest way imaginable. We were staying in Atlantic City the year I was 6, but near the back bay. It is salt water, meaning you float easily, but there are no waves (although there are tides) and my father took me there and taught me to swim. I still prefer salt water. But I also enjoy pools. When I was a teen, we used to play pool tag and the easy way to tag someone was to sneak up by swimming deep underwater, which I loved to do. More recently, my experience has been in Barbados, only the west coast. The east (Atlantic) coast is very rough and dangerous, but the east coast, while it has waves, is very calm. I would swim at least a mile ever day in a roped-in area in front of a hotel. ---
**Author:** ![Rangerdanger](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/67e7ee/32.png) [@Rangerdanger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rangerdanger)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2024, 11:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-swim/1001999/100 "2024-05-24T23:45:48Z")
Yes, probably. For about 20 years i swam a mile at 5 in the morning in a pool. It has been ten years. I need to get that motivation back… Swimming, like XC skiing or skating, - more so than riding or running - hugely rewards good technique. I mostly swam to build arm strength for skate skiing. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-swim/1001999.md?page=4) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-swim/1001999.md?page=6)