How Long To Learn To Swim?

[Edward_The_Head]

@Nava

No cite, bio movie from way back when color was a novelty, there was a breast stroke event before that but also a free style where people would usually breast stroke again (the "free"style meant you could use butterfly or backstroke if you wanted).

Well based on what I know, and I am a swimmer, those times listed for the freestyle in the Olypmics are almost as fast as the world records for the breast stroke today. This says the crawl was first seen in 1844, though the British kept using the breast stroke.

[JohnT]

@Kalhoun

Some people can’t learn to swim, but most can. A professional instructor is what she needs. And if she’s afraid of the water, I suggest she learn in a pool and not at a beach. I don’t like big water anymore. It would take flaming sand to get me into an ocean or even a lake.

But I agree with the other posters…if she doesn’t want to swim, what’s wrong with sitting on the beach listening to music and reading a book? That’s what I’d be doing if I was at the beach.

I don’t think the OP has anything necessarily wrong with that, but I think he’s of the mindset that “if we have to go to the bloody beach every year, can’t you bother yourself to come in the water with me sometime?”

IMHO, you ought to try a different vacation this year. What’s the opposite of “the beach”? Mountains?

[Skywatcher]

Nava, could you be thinking of Clare Dennis?

[bouv]

@Edward The Head

That’s because you don’t turn your head, you turn your whole body. You also don’t pull with your arms, it’s your hands that do the pulling.

I think the biggest problem with teaching people to do the crawl/freestyle, is that when they are first starting out, the instructors usually tell them to pick a side, and on every stroke with that arm, lift up their head to take a breath.

It’s not until you get to the advanced lessons that they then tell you that that is BS. You keep you freakin head in the water for as long as you want. You only turn to the side and take a breath when you need to.

Oh, and everyone can float if they do it right. Lie on your back in the water and make sure you have a huge lungfull of air, and you will float. The tricky part for non-swimmers to get the hang of is that your legs probably won’t float. They will hang down and sink. When this happens, the non-swimmers think their whole body is starting to sink, and might panic or try to change how they are floating. But if done right, you will float just fine on your back and most of your face will be out of the water.

[alice_in_wonderland]

@Edward The Head

That’s because you don’t turn your head, you turn your whole body. You also don’t pull with your arms, it’s your hands that do the pulling.

Which adds up to a whole lot of nothing if you’re puking on the side of the pool with huge strings of snot coming out of your nose because of all the water you’ve inhaled, the most recent time you tried to learn.

I get that swimming is really, really easy for lots (most?) people. Sadly, I am not one of those people. I can put both my feet behind my head at the same time, and arch my back so my head touches the backs of my knees but I can’t swim. I find it sort of mean and patronizing when people suggest that I, or the OP’s wife are just being sulky or petulant or making excuses when we say we can’t learn. Trust me, I’ve tried.

FWIW, I float just fine, seeing as I have these two personal floatation devices attached to my front.