I can swim underwater. Meaning I can’t do the head-turn-to-breath thing. And I can’t do any strokes.
If I had to tread water for any significant period of time, I’m almost certain I would drown.
It’s been awhile since I’ve even been in a pool.
I can swim well enough to stay afloat. Dog paddle, mostly. I can put my face in the water and freestyle OK, but I veer to the left every time.
To clarify, yes, no I am not afraid of water, (Well, maybe very deep ocean water, but it is more what might be in the water, or the idea that help might not arrive in time.) yes I swim underwater.
Yes.
Crawl, back, breaststroke, I can’t butterfly. I wish I could, but every attempt to do so has failed miserably.
No. I love the water, once I’m in it. However, I dread preparing to swim and doubly dread getting out of the water (30-45 minutes on hair alone, not to mention everything else that must be done). So I end up just not bothering. But when I have bothered, it’s usually wonderful.
Yes.
yes, swim laps every day if I can, mostly free, mixed with breast. I can swim back, but it hurts my trapezius.
Never been afraid of water, prefer to have my face under as much as possible. I don’t know many people who can’t swim really.
I’ve only known a couple of people who can’t swim, and I think it’s kind of weird. Who doesn’t teach their kid to swim? It’s a necessary life skill, IMO.
I’ve been swimming since before I can remember. Used to life guard. Scuba dive now. Same for hubby.
Yes, I swim all strokes, no fear, put face in, open eyes under water. Used to scuba dive. Can swim a long way.
I took swimming lessons at the Y when I was five. I don’t swim particularly well, but I won’t drown; certainly I can get across a pool without holding onto the wall. Like monstro I do better swimming underwater, because I’ve never really gotten the hang of turning your head at the right time so you can breathe properly. So I guess that answers the face under water question.
As for fear of water…I don’t really like water, but it’s deep water that bothers me. I have no problems going into a pool or the ocean, but I have no desire to take a cruise or even worse go to one of those aquariums that are basically a glass tube:eek:
Yes. Crawl and breaststroke. Quite a long way, though not particularly well.
I tell my kids that learning to swim is just like learning to read–it’s required and you have to do it.
I’m not a good swimmer, but I could keep from drowning on the way across a pool. I guess “freestyle” is the stroke I do. The one where your arms alternate L-R while you kick. I’m not afraid of water, really, but I don’t particularly enjoy swimming. My wife was a competitive swimmer in college and still enjoys swimming these days.
The only person I’ve known who “can’t swim” is my dad.
There used to be, and probably still is to some extent, an enormous disparity between whites and ethnic minorities in terms of percentage in each class who can swim. This is simply because whites are far more likely to have access to a swimming pool when they are children. It would not surprise me if a sizeable percentage of the population doesn’t know how to swim, but it would surprise me if it were the majority.
Just as an anecdote, when I was about 10 or 11 years old I went to an all-white summer camp. There were absolutely no Asian, Hispanic, or black kids at the camp, save one—an inner-city black kid whose fee had been subsidized by the camp. We were at the pool one day for competitive racing, and the black kid was ashamed to admit that he didn’t know how to swim. When the counselor fired the cap gun, he dove in and made it about 15 feet before he started thrashing around in the water and screaming for help. I still have a very vivid memory of the incident.
Yep I can swim. All the racing strokes (though I’m horrible at butterfly) plus the elementary backstroke and just generally moving myself through the water. I spent eight years doing summer swim team and three years doing year round. (I stopped when I got to self-conscience about my body for a spedo). I also taught swimming lessons for three years.
I did find out that I’m mildly freaked by SCUBA diving. This annoys me so I’m planning to take lessons as soon as I have the time.
I’m always surprised when I meet people who can’t swim at all. I can understand if you were landlocked, but I’ve spent my life living on the coast and surrounded by water so it has always seemed like such a basic thing.
Nope, I can’t swim. I took lessons as a child but got scared and my parents never forced me to go back. I’m not particularly afraid of water, though.
Nope here too…I was just a wussie as a kid and missed out. Like most of my early life I had a lot of anxiety. Now I am over it…and I even took a few swimming lessons last summer. I learned how to push off the side of the pool and float, but no strokes yet.
I can swim. I learned as a child.
I learned how to do all the basic strokes, but left to my own devices (no gym class coach ordering me to do butterfly, for example), I’ll just do a basic sidestroke. I’ll admit that my preference is to dive deep and swim underwater, since I used to do a lot of snorkeling. I can easily get across a pool’s width or length.
I’m not afraid of the water. And I’ll put my face in it–I’ll even open my eyes underwater. 
I can do a semi-passable breaststroke if we’re not rating form. More importantly, I can go into deep water and keep myself afloat and move hither and yon without fearing drowning. It wouldn’t be pretty but I could cross a swimming pool with ease.
2 year varsity letter in both swimming and water polo. Life Guard certification.
I can swim a little.
Yes, I can swim. Learned as a kid. I can do freestyle, breaststroke, elementary backstroke, regular backstroke. No butterfly. I put my face in the water (my eyeballs apparently feel no pain because I regularly swim underwater at the pool and beach with my eyes open).
I wouldn’t say I fear water. I spent a lot of time in the ocean as a kid. However, swimming holes and lakes freak me out, mostly because I am not familiar with the animals that live in there. Ocean life, no problem. I’ve been stung by a stingray, swam face first into the bell of a rather large jellyfish, and chased down a barracuda to get a good picture with my friend’s underwater camera.
Water snakes, however, hell nah. [shiver]
Bolding mine. Did you end up with a face full of tentacles? Its always been a vague dread of mine to dive into the ocean and come up with a jellyfish stuck to my face.
Well, it all depends on your definition of “swim”.
I learned to float and dog paddle in my mid 30’s and haven’t gotten any better in spite of owning a pool.
I do have a slight fear of the water. I’ve always blamed it on poor eyesight. When I take off my glasses, I am legally blind and being in the water just isn’t in my comfort zone.
As for not being taught as a child, I was born and raised in Indiana. Other than Lake Michigan, we’re pretty land-locked here. Also, my mom couldn’t swim and my dad was from Minnesota and was a great swimmer but it wasn’t something that either of them enjoyed as a pasttime.