# 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:** 6
**Author:** ![robby](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/robby/32/11048_2.png) [@robby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/robby)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2024, 2:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-swim/1001999/101 "2024-05-25T02:03:35Z")
> [@Hari\_Seldon](#): > > 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. Here is some more detail from the BSA Aquatics Supervision manual: > [@](#): > > …The swimmer must be able to make an abrupt entry into deep water and begin swimming without any aids. Walking in from shallow water, easing in from the edge or down a ladder, pushing off from the side or bottom, and gaining forward momentum by diving do not satisfy this requirement. If the swimming area available for the test is not quite over the swimmer’s head in depth, or does not provide a platform for jumping into deep water, then a person may be provisionally classified as a swimmer if able to easily bob repeatedly up and down in the water, then level off and begin swimming. The head must submerge without the legs touching bottom. Ideally, the feetfirst entry should be tested at the next available opportunity. It is my understanding that they want to test the ability of a swimmer to be able to safely jump off a dock or pool deck and commence swimming. Note that there is no height requirement—even the edge of a pool meets the requirement. If a person can do this, they should also be able to deal with inadvertently falling into water over one’s head. Also, at summer camp, the swim test is not given in a pool. You have to jump off the dock into the lake. 🥶 ---
**Author:** ![TokyoBayer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tokyobayer/32/13989_2.png) [@TokyoBayer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TokyoBayer)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2024, 7:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-swim/1001999/102 "2024-05-25T07:27:24Z")
I can swim, but can’t freestyle to save my life. I learned to breaststroke when I was sixish, with my family in a pool. For years, I would swim with my head out of water, until Boy Scouts and learned to put my head underwater. I learned the backstroke and sidestroke, but never the butterfly. In college, I even took a swimming class to try to learn the crawl stroke, but my kick refuses to cooperate. Holding on to one of those kickboards, I actually would go backwards and the harder I would kick, the more I would go backwards. ---
**Author:** ![Jegpeg](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f475e1/32.png) [@Jegpeg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jegpeg)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2024, 10:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-swim/1001999/103 "2024-05-25T10:11:02Z")
I love watersports, I can swim a reasonable distance (about 3/4 mile) but pretty slowly. I do however respect open water, I would never consider going paddleboarding or similar without a PFD and in the UK I would always wear a wetsuit or drysuit (cold water shock, cold incapacitation and hypothermia are all killers regardless of how good a swimmer you are, and you never know when you might end up in the 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 25, 2024, 12:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-swim/1001999/104 "2024-05-25T12:06:31Z")
> [@Hari\_Seldon](#): > > 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. It’s not necessary. It’s done because “That’s how I learned to swim”. ---
**Author:** ![Spice\_Weasel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spice_weasel/32/5435_2.png) [@Spice\_Weasel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spice_Weasel)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2024, 1:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-swim/1001999/105 "2024-05-25T13:37:19Z")
> [@TokyoBayer](#): > > I can swim, but can’t freestyle to save my life. I can’t really do any formal stroke, I guess, so my situation is the opposite. I can keep myself afloat in the water. I can move from one spot in a pool to another. I can back float. I can stay alive. But as far as those specific techniques I’m pretty clueless. I think I can do a half-assed back stroke. I started swim lessons so early I barely remember it. So I’ve always been pretty comfortable in the water. My son finally graduated from a three pack flotation device to a two pack, and they briefly got him into a one pack today. But he won’t put his face or ears underwater, which is holding him back. I said when he started that I didn’t care if it took him five years to learn, he’s gotta learn. But now I’m beginning to wonder if five years was an underestimate. I wouldn’t mind so much if it weren’t so expensive. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2024, 1:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-swim/1001999/106 "2024-05-25T13:41:05Z")
I was good enough just to barely get an A in freshman year swim class in high school. I consider myself a terrible swimmer, and all the tests cut short just before I was about to drown. For example, I can’t tread water in a relaxed way that allows me to go on for more than a minute. Many people have tried to teach me, and the only place I’ve ever felt totally relaxed was in the Adriatic Sea, where I actually float. ---
**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 25, 2024, 2:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-swim/1001999/107 "2024-05-25T14:30:52Z")
OMG. My brother would always make me laugh during the test. You can’t laugh and tread water at the same time, at least I can’t! Bastard almost drowned me. 😄 ---
**Author:** ![aceplace57](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aceplace57/32/3500_2.png) [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2024, 2:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-swim/1001999/108 "2024-05-25T14:47:00Z")
I learned to swim in the ocean at Cape Cod in Massachusetts. Red Cross classes. I earned the mile swim badge at Boy Scout Camp. Three badges because I went 3 summers. We did laps around the swimming area of the lake. I haven’t done much swimming in 25 years. Except floating in motel pools. Once in awhile I have to swim out of the deep end. ---
**Author:** ![racer72](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/racer72/32/3075_2.png) [@racer72](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/racer72)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2024, 2:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-swim/1001999/109 "2024-05-25T14:58:33Z")
I learned to swim at about 4 and would go swimming every chance I had. I swam for an AAU swimming team for a couple years while in junior high. My high school did not have a pool so that meant no swimming team. The swimming coach from a neighboring high school recruited me and a friend to swim for his school but our school refused to let us represent another school. We swam as independent competitors in a couple swim meets and set times in our events that would have easily qualified us for the state swim meet. The state group for high school athletics refused to let us swim at state because our high school did not have a swim team. At summer camp in the Boy Scouts I swam the mile swim 6 times in 4 days. I can still swim today but a lap in a hotel pool is about as far as I can go. ---
**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 25, 2024, 3:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-swim/1001999/110 "2024-05-25T15:04:53Z")
> [@Hari\_Seldon](#): > > Can you explain why it is necessary to jump into the pool? Why isn’t swimming sufficient. Because anybody can accidentally fall off a boat, a pier, or just into the deep end of a pool. Particularly a child. If you’ve never extricated yourself from this kind of situation it can be quite frightening, and dangerous. Your weight and velocity send you much farther down than people normally swim. It’s nothing like swimming at the bottom of a five foot deep swimming pool. To pass the Advanced class when I was a kid (these were offered by the Parks and Rec department, at the high school pool, in summer), you had to jump off the high dive. ---
**Author:** ![HeyHomie](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/heyhomie/32/207_2.png) [@HeyHomie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HeyHomie)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2024, 3:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-swim/1001999/111 "2024-05-25T15:29:30Z")
I learned to swim as a small child. I still know the mechanics of the process (muscle memory and all that) but I’m so physically out of shape that if I’m ever in a situation where swimming is required, I’d just drown. ---
**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 25, 2024, 4:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-swim/1001999/112 "2024-05-25T16:36:25Z")
And we’ve already had a drowning incident in Arkansas this weekend. Buffalo River. Young man. It made the state news. Always happens. ---
**Author:** ![FrenchDunadan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/frenchdunadan/32/5449_2.png) [@FrenchDunadan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FrenchDunadan)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2024, 5:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-swim/1001999/113 "2024-05-25T17:00:07Z")
> [@Skywatcher](#): > > I was a US Navy enlistee; being able to swim is a requirement. 🙂 Why? I tought you had ships ! 😉 I, for me, am aquaphobic so no water deeper than the knee. ---
**Author:** ![wolfpup](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wolfpup/32/10618_2.png) [@wolfpup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolfpup)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2024, 5:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-swim/1001999/114 "2024-05-25T17:05:55Z")
> [@FrenchDunadan](#): > > > [@Skywatcher](#): > > > > I was a US Navy enlistee; being able to swim is a requirement. 🙂 > > Why? I tought you had ships ! 😉 You can fall off 'em! ---
**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 25, 2024, 5:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-swim/1001999/115 "2024-05-25T17:13:53Z")
The father of someone I work with fell off a fishing boat Tuesday. He’s on life support now. ---
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2024, 5:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-swim/1001999/116 "2024-05-25T17:31:48Z")
I learned in day camp, and it wasn’t easy, since back then I had no fat on me and did not float well. Lucky, for when I was in college passing a swimming test was required for graduation. They gave it to you early, and if you flunked you had to take a swimming class. I made it, but they weren’t rushing to put me on the swim team. When my mother-in-law was in college, in the late '30s, she had to pass a swimming test also, but failed over and over. They finally stuck a large pole in her bathing suit. The coach took an end, and they assisted her in doing the lap. ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2024, 6:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-swim/1001999/117 "2024-05-25T18:59:23Z")
> [@Voyager](#): > > since back then I had no fat on me and did not float well. Based on that, if I tried to dive into a pool these days, I’d bounce. ---
**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 25, 2024, 7:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-swim/1001999/118 "2024-05-25T19:49:05Z")
Oh. That’s sad.😔 Makes me wonder, no lifevest? ---
**Author:** ![Odesio](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/odesio/32/20003_2.png) [@Odesio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Odesio)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2024, 8:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-swim/1001999/119 "2024-05-25T20:17:15Z")
> [@Dung\_Beetle](#): > > Of course. To me, the question is almost on a level with “can you walk?” It seems incredible to me that anyone will say no, but I know they will. My mother-in-law was a non-swimmer, and she drowned. According to the American Red Cross, while 80% of Americans say they can swim only 54% can accomplish these basic tasks in the water. - Jumping or stepping into water over your head - Floating or treading water for one minute - Rotating in a circle and finding an exit - Swimming 25 yards to the exit - Exiting the water, including without using a ladder if in a pool My parents made a point of making sure I knew how to swim and sent me off to the Red Cross for lessons. I’ve swam in rivers, lakes, and the ocean but certainly never in rough seas. One thing I’ve never been able to do is dive into a body of water head first. Maybe that’s something I need to conquer when I turn 50. ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2024, 8:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-swim/1001999/120 "2024-05-25T20:31:14Z")
> [@Beckdawrek](#): > > Makes me wonder, no lifevest? The waters I boat on require I have a PFD on board for each adult, and they must know where they are kept. Children younger than (?) have to wear theirs. I always tell friends they should wear theirs if they cannot swim, because if they go overboard I won’t be jumping in to save them. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-swim/1001999.md?page=5) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-swim/1001999.md?page=7)