# Where Did You Learn To Swim? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [December 9, 2015, 10:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-did-you-learn-to-swim/739929 "2015-12-09T10:45:27Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2015, 2:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-did-you-learn-to-swim/739929/21 "2015-12-09T14:45:36Z")
> [@John\_DiFool](#): > > My parents’ kitchen sink, as a toddler. No joke. Since the OP didn’t put in a NOTA option, I didn’t vote. I’d say that qualifies as a pool 😃 ---
**Author:** ![GusNSpot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gusnspot/32/436_2.png) [@GusNSpot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GusNSpot)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2015, 2:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-did-you-learn-to-swim/739929/22 "2015-12-09T14:54:14Z")
I can not remember being unable to swim. I went with 3&4 and I don’t know for sure. All 7 kids and parents can swim including all bazillion relatives around the country. Should be mandatory IMO unless a mental health excuse.Babies don’t really have many of those and infants learn real easy. I have my PADI SCUBA license and have been in/on the water one way or the other all my life, several ‘almost drowned’ cases but I still don’t fear it. Lucky I guess. ---
**Author:** ![Dragwyr](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dragwyr/32/2855_2.png) [@Dragwyr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dragwyr)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2015, 3:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-did-you-learn-to-swim/739929/23 "2015-12-09T15:10:15Z")
There was a swim school at a local person’s house that was on a lake. It was certified by the Red Cross and it was great. The had a pier that sectioned off a swim area into beginner, intermediate and advanced. ---
**Author:** ![Rhiannon8404](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rhiannon8404/32/17929_2.png) [@Rhiannon8404](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rhiannon8404)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2015, 3:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-did-you-learn-to-swim/739929/24 "2015-12-09T15:14:23Z")
My earliest memory is of being in the pool at my grandparents’ house. I also remember taking swimming lessons at the community pool and being in the “Guppies” class and graduating to “Tadpole”. ---
**Author:** ![NeonMadman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/58f4c7/32.png) [@NeonMadman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NeonMadman)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2015, 4:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-did-you-learn-to-swim/739929/25 "2015-12-09T16:37:11Z")
I checked “the ocean” in the poll, but technically it was Long Island Sound. Still ocean-style salt water, but much less turbulence and wave action. It’s actually hard for me to decide where I actually learned to swim. I took lessons at the YMCA as a kid, but I think I could actually swim before that, having learned when we went to the beach on the aforementioned Sound. Crescent Beach, in Niantic CT. Some of my favorite childhood memories. ---
**Author:** ![DeepLiquid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/deepliquid/32/14893_2.png) [@DeepLiquid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DeepLiquid)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2015, 7:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-did-you-learn-to-swim/739929/26 "2015-12-09T19:06:54Z")
In the ocean, I was born on Cape Cod and according to my parents, could swim before I could walk. > [@GrumpyBunny](#): > > I’ve found that out as well, **MrDibble**. > > I learned to swim at New Smyrna Beach, FL, which is also a shark nursery. I’m quite certain my mom didn’t know this at the time (we’d just moved there). Right, mom? Uh, mom? I live in NSB now, still very sharky. ---
**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:** [December 9, 2015, 7:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-did-you-learn-to-swim/739929/27 "2015-12-09T19:10:51Z")
> [@GrumpyBunny](#): > > I’ve found that out as well, **MrDibble**. > > I learned to swim at New Smyrna Beach, FL, which is also a shark nursery. I’m quite certain my mom didn’t know this at the time (we’d just moved there). Right, mom? Uh, mom? When I was little I swam in “The Lagoon”, which was an excavated inlet on the Jersey shore. They gave me a kapok-filled life vest to paddle around in. My Uncle: Is he okay out there, swimming alone? My Dad: Of course! He’s wearing a life jacket! After I came out, my Dad threw the life jacket in to show hoiw buoyant it was. It sank to the bottom. ---
**Author:** ![TheFaerie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c57346/32.png) [@TheFaerie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TheFaerie)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2015, 7:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-did-you-learn-to-swim/739929/28 "2015-12-09T19:15:35Z")
The pool in my Jr. High School. I wanted to learn to swim, I knew the theory of doing it, I just never really got the chance to practice it until 7th grade. ---
**Author:** ![Onomatopoeia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/onomatopoeia/32/4145_2.png) [@Onomatopoeia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Onomatopoeia)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2015, 7:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-did-you-learn-to-swim/739929/29 "2015-12-09T19:21:58Z")
Cliche: My dad, who was my troop’s scoutmaster, threw me in the drink during a Camporee. “Oh, how fun everyone. Look at my son crying and drowning.” Jerk and a half. :mad: ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2015, 7:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-did-you-learn-to-swim/739929/30 "2015-12-09T19:42:34Z")
> [@MrDibble](#): > > The ocean (as opposed to _an_ ocean) covers all the interconnected salt water on the planet’s surface. I’ll only accept Dead Sea/Caspian Sea/Aral Sea etc. as not being covered by that (and anyone who learned to swim in the Dead Sea gets extra cool points!). Bays and sounds are still part of the ocean, though. I’m not meaning the open ocean, there (I learned in [Langebaan Lagoon](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Langebaan), for instance) Sorry, the ocean is a completely different area where I grew up, and no one learned to swim there (too much surf). Southold Bay is no more part of the ocean than South America is part of North America. ---
**Author:** ![Snnipe\_70E](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b5a626/32.png) [@Snnipe\_70E](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snnipe_70E)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2015, 8:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-did-you-learn-to-swim/739929/31 "2015-12-09T20:12:20Z")
We had a pond out back on the ranch learned to swim there after almost drowning there. ---
**Author:** ![Iggy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/iggy/32/3364_2.png) [@Iggy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Iggy)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2015, 8:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-did-you-learn-to-swim/739929/32 "2015-12-09T20:20:36Z")
My mother took me to infant swim classes at a pool in the basement of a Methodist Church. Yes, they had a real pool, not just a baptismal. I don’t remember not knowing how to swim. ---
**Author:** ![Mooch](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/7bcc69/32.png) [@Mooch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mooch)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2015, 8:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-did-you-learn-to-swim/739929/33 "2015-12-09T20:26:03Z")
Lake Michigan and lessons at the Y. I spent more time in Lake Michigan as a kid so I chose that option. I did spend a large amount of time in the Pacific Ocean growing up as well, but I’m pretty sure I kept within wading distance until I knew what I was doing. Mostly. ---
**Author:** ![Jophiel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jophiel/32/66_2.png) [@Jophiel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jophiel)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2015, 8:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-did-you-learn-to-swim/739929/34 "2015-12-09T20:52:26Z")
Outdoor public swimming pool at 7:30am on Saturday mornings with some college age instructor, _Calvin & Hobbes_ style. ---
**Author:** ![MeanOldLady](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/meanoldlady/32/10737_2.png) [@MeanOldLady](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MeanOldLady)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2015, 9:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-did-you-learn-to-swim/739929/35 "2015-12-09T21:48:45Z")
The _ocean_? That’s freakin’ hard core, man. ---
**Author:** ![romansperson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/romansperson/32/17100_2.png) [@romansperson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/romansperson)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2015, 1:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-did-you-learn-to-swim/739929/36 "2015-12-10T01:08:25Z")
> [@CalMeacham](#): > > One of the things I like about MIT is that you have to prove the ability to at least stay afloat for a period of time, is not actually swim, before you graduate. The university I work at used to have a swim test - undergrads couldn’t graduate until they’d passed. They stopped doing it in 2006. I think it’s kind of a shame. While there’s nothing academic about it, it’s an important life skill that I think everyone should know. I was really shocked when I found out that you can join the Navy (at least as enlisted personnel in certain rates) without really knowing how to swim. If you can float for 5 minutes, you’re in. WTF. Shouldn’t that be a requirement for everyone, regardless of your job? ---
**Author:** ![Arcite](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/67e7ee/32.png) [@Arcite](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Arcite)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2015, 1:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-did-you-learn-to-swim/739929/37 "2015-12-10T01:13:51Z")
When I was 5, my mother signed me up for swimming lessons at the local community pool, but when she took me there on the first day, I was so afraid that I refused to get in the water. A year or two later, she signed me up for a summer day camp which included swimming instruction; for some reason I was less fearful then and learned in the pool there. ---
**Author:** ![Octarine](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/22d042/32.png) [@Octarine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Octarine)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2015, 1:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-did-you-learn-to-swim/739929/38 "2015-12-10T01:21:33Z")
I can swim in the sense that, if thrown into the deep end, I won’t drown, and I theoretically know the various strokes; I learned in the pool. In practice, the fastest way I travel in water is the doggy-paddle. And my doggy-paddle isn’t very fast. ---
**Author:** ![Gatopescado](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gatopescado/32/5711_2.png) [@Gatopescado](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gatopescado)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2015, 1:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-did-you-learn-to-swim/739929/39 "2015-12-10T01:25:15Z")
I have no idea. I’m guessing lake or river. Family did that kind of shit when I was tiny. ---
**Author:** ![Hopeful\_Crow](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/da6949/32.png) [@Hopeful\_Crow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hopeful_Crow)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2015, 1:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-did-you-learn-to-swim/739929/40 "2015-12-10T01:28:39Z")
I learned at Angle Lake, near Sea-Tac Airport, back when that area was practically in the boonies. We rented a house on the lake, not too far from a county park on the same lake, so we swam both there and at home. We used to beg to go swimming as soon as the weather permitted us to shuck our coats. We also went out to the ocean several times, and despite the fact that I nearly drowned there once when the undertow got me, I still love the water in all its forms. We moved from Angle Lake when my youngest sister was still a baby. She was afraid of the water for some years but now participates in the New Year’s Day Polar Bear Swim by jumping off a pier into Puget Sound with a bunch of her friends and kids, too. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-did-you-learn-to-swim/739929.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-did-you-learn-to-swim/739929.md?page=3)