# 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:** 3
**Author:** ![stillownedbysetters](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/41988e/32.png) [@stillownedbysetters](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/stillownedbysetters)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2015, 2:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-did-you-learn-to-swim/739929/41 "2015-12-10T02:31:24Z")
My family had a vacation home on Lake Michigan. So I was taught to swim about the same time I learned to walk. My parents wanted to make sure I could swim if I tumbled off the pier or toddled in from the shore. ---
**Author:** ![snfaulkner](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snfaulkner/32/433_2.png) [@snfaulkner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/snfaulkner)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2015, 3:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-did-you-learn-to-swim/739929/42 "2015-12-10T03:15:53Z")
Learn to swim? any fucking time, any fucking day, learn to swim. I’ll see you down down in arizona bay. [/tool lyrics] I learned in a pool, ymca camp. I made it all the way to porpoise level, the hardest part of which was just floating in the water for like an hour, which is torture to a hyperactive kid at camp. ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2015, 12:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-did-you-learn-to-swim/739929/43 "2015-12-10T12:51:07Z")
In my high school’s Boys’ Pool. Naked. ---
**Author:** ![Ludovic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ab992/32.png) [@Ludovic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ludovic)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2015, 1:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-did-you-learn-to-swim/739929/44 "2015-12-10T13:28:50Z")
Combination of swimming pool and bathtub. The bathtub is where my dad taught me to hold my breath and got me used to having my head underwater. All other lessons were in a pool. ---
**Author:** ![SmellMyWort](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ea5d25/32.png) [@SmellMyWort](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SmellMyWort)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2015, 3:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-did-you-learn-to-swim/739929/45 "2015-12-10T15:22:54Z")
Formal lessons at the YMCA pool starting at about 1st grade, but with a couple lakes with beaches with 15 minutes of home I know my parents had made darn sure I could handle myself in the water before that point. ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2015, 4:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-did-you-learn-to-swim/739929/46 "2015-12-10T16:12:55Z")
Started out taking lessons in the local swimmin’ hole but I wasn’t able to retain anything for some reason. Ended up with lessons at the YMCA a dozen miles away. Then we moved out of state and I finished with lessons in the local lake. ---
**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:** [December 10, 2015, 4:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-did-you-learn-to-swim/739929/47 "2015-12-10T16:25:51Z")
I grew up in Hawaii and San Diego–we went to the beach a lot, so I was pretty comfortable in the water. I didn’t take actual swimming lessons until much later, probably in Junior High. ---
**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:** [December 10, 2015, 5:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-did-you-learn-to-swim/739929/48 "2015-12-10T17:04:59Z")
> [@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) After that clarification I voted for the ocean. But I actually learned in the bay behind Absecon Island (Atlantic City) which must be the easiest way to learn since you have the added buoyancy of the salt water, but without the waves. Although tidal, there are no waves there. I have swum in the dead sea but you float too high above the surface to really swim there. ---
**Author:** ![Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba9def/32.png) [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Just_Asking_Questions)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2015, 6:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-did-you-learn-to-swim/739929/49 "2015-12-10T18:50:38Z")
I self-taught myself in a pool when I was 23. I was kinds slow getting into the whole thing. no pools where I grew up, just ponds. ---
**Author:** ![RTFirefly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c77e96/32.png) [@RTFirefly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RTFirefly)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2015, 7:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-did-you-learn-to-swim/739929/50 "2015-12-10T19:12:26Z")
Lessons at the community pool, starting when I was 6 years old. ---
**Author:** ![Lasciel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e79b87/32.png) [@Lasciel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lasciel)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2015, 8:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-did-you-learn-to-swim/739929/51 "2015-12-10T20:17:28Z")
I grew up on a tide creek in a marsh, so “ocean” by a technicality. I don’t know whether it was at the beach 5 miles away, or in the creek behind our house because I was too young when I was learning to remember. I’ve always known how to swim. ---
**Author:** ![Ranger\_Jeff](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ranger_jeff/32/2065_2.png) [@Ranger\_Jeff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ranger_Jeff)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2015, 8:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-did-you-learn-to-swim/739929/52 "2015-12-11T08:54:43Z")
Lessons at day camp one summer. ---
**Author:** ![JustinC](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/justinc/32/8083_2.png) [@JustinC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JustinC)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2015, 9:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-did-you-learn-to-swim/739929/53 "2015-12-11T09:17:51Z")
Lessons at the local, outdoor pool, in the winter. Some days it was snowing. ---
**Author:** ![Shakester](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/shakester/32/437_2.png) [@Shakester](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shakester)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2015, 10:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-did-you-learn-to-swim/739929/54 "2015-12-11T10:00:54Z")
I can’t swim and despite the people who believe everybody floats, I don’t float, I sink. So if I end up in deep water, I’m in big trouble. Not everybody floats and not everybody can be taught to swim. ---
**Author:** ![don\_t\_ask](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e68b1a/32.png) [@don\_t\_ask](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/don_t_ask)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2015, 12:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-did-you-learn-to-swim/739929/55 "2015-12-11T12:22:37Z")
I think I was about 10 and we moved near a public swimming complex. My parents told us we couldn’t go to the pool alone until we could swim a lap. So we went along to the local swimming club and had lessons for a few weeks. My brother and I really enjoyed it and ended up joining the club and swimming competitively for several years. When I was a kid it wasn’t the simple matter getting lessons that it has been for many years now in Australia. ---
**Author:** ![Max\_Torque](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e9bcb4/32.png) [@Max\_Torque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Max_Torque)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2015, 3:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-did-you-learn-to-swim/739929/56 "2015-12-11T15:06:52Z")
I took lessons for years, but I didn’t really float or swim (just walked around in the shallow end) until I went to Idaho with my family and taught myself, somehow, in the hotel pool. ---
**Author:** ![Omar\_Little](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/omar_little/32/269_2.png) [@Omar\_Little](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Omar_Little)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2015, 4:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-did-you-learn-to-swim/739929/57 "2015-12-11T16:31:17Z")
> [@Shakester](#): > > not everybody can be taught to swim. Not everybody is willing to learn. ---
**Author:** ![california\_jobcase](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/9d8465/32.png) [@california\_jobcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/california_jobcase)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2015, 4:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-did-you-learn-to-swim/739929/58 "2015-12-11T16:36:05Z")
I took a few private lessons at the private club we belonged to, but I really learned more at the YMCA. The Y had free lessons on Saturday mornings for members, and I had a free membership from my dad’s employer. I was eight or nine years old then. ---
**Author:** ![Drunky\_Smurf](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/drunky_smurf/32/449_2.png) [@Drunky\_Smurf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Drunky_Smurf)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2015, 5:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-did-you-learn-to-swim/739929/59 "2015-12-11T17:16:11Z")
> [@Omar\_Little](#): > > Swimming, the only sport that can save your life. Also running, cycling, martial arts, boxing, rock climbing and probably more. I was really young when I learned, I don’t even remember it, but I started in the bath tub. Once my mom thought I had the strokes down and could hold my head above water long enough then I graduated to a swimming pool. ---
**Author:** ![Shakester](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/shakester/32/437_2.png) [@Shakester](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shakester)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2015, 1:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-did-you-learn-to-swim/739929/60 "2015-12-12T13:16:38Z")
> [@Omar\_Little](#): > > Not everybody is willing to learn. Yeah, I knew someone would want to argue. I _tried_ to learn, and kept running into the not-floating problem. _I do not float_. Some people will never learn to swim because it’s physically impossible for them to do so. Now you may _believe_ that I really do float and have somehow convinced myself that I don’t, but you’d be wrong. Gravity does not lie, and I stay out of deep water. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-did-you-learn-to-swim/739929.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-did-you-learn-to-swim/739929.md?page=4)