Can you swim?

riffmongous

Outside of Ireland people are always amazed* that I can't swim, they don't see how it's possible I never learned it. And I tell them well yeah but it's not uncommon in Ireland, no one in my family does and from my old friends there's only one who I know for sure who can and does and a few who said they can't either.

Am I just in a non-swimming bubble or is it really fairly normal in Ireland?

*They are further amazed when I tell them I love boats, rivers, fishing and that I spent most of my childhood playing in the shallow part of the river unable to swim. I think it's a cultural thing related to the climate and weather

jaxxx

Wish I could. Really wish I could. Tried several lessons throughout the years. Just don't have an affinity for water You ain't alone Riff!

B_ecke_r

It's only an Island if you look at it from the water.

Stevieluvsye

I honestly can't understand how people can't swim. Personally i find it to be one of the most straight forward things you can learn, actually i didn't even learn, i threw myself in to deep end when young and swam

begbysback

No I can’t swim, one if the negatives if having a large brain, it just sinks unfortunately, Einstein had the same problem.

iamwhoiam

Thankfully I was thought to swim by age four , my children could all swim by five years old and my my grandchild now swims well age five . Honestly do not understand anyone not learning to swim .

I would have thought it was normal as well to be able to swim

riffmongous

jaxxx wrote: »

Wish I could. Really wish I could. Tried several lessons throughout the years. Just don't have an affinity for water You ain't alone Riff!

I tried again a few years ago too but I just feel so uncomfortable once I start to float a bit

riffmongous

Stevieluvsye wrote: »

I honestly can't understand how people can't swim. Personally i find it to be one of the most straight forward things you can learn, actually i didn't even learn, i threw myself in to deep end when young and swam

"When young"

You'll never get it then alright, it's much harder once you get older I think

LirW

Yes I can.
Those few "aquatics" classes kids have in primary are an expensive joke though, my kid didn't learn how to swim there.

For me it's one of those life skills that you'll never regret to have and it's quite fundamental.

My husband never learned how to swim, now that we've been on beach holidays together he regrets not being able to and is looking into learning it.

So please, teach your kids how to swim as early as possible.

I can't swim. I can't even lie back in a bath or hold my head directly under the shower. Years ago I took a few lessons. I remember the horrible anxious feeling in my stomach each time I embarked across the pool holding on to the little float.

That's why I can't swim. Funny thing is I dream a lot about swimming in the sea. If I were brave enough to try again then that's something I'd love to do.

Stevieluvsye

riffmongous wrote: »

"When young"

You'll never get it then alright, it's much harder once you get older I think

If you jump in to water, you'll naturally float to the top, just keep your mouth closed. Trust me, it's that easy

wawaman

Stevieluvsye wrote: »

I honestly can't understand how people can't swim. Personally i find it to be one of the most straight forward things you can learn, actually i didn't even learn, i threw myself in to deep end when young and swam

Alot of it is mental, it was for me anyway. Up until 2 years ago i was petrified of even putting my head under water. But 2 kids who want to do stuff in the pool on holidays changed that.

I took lessons (still am) and am at a point where i can swim(ish)!!

RMAOK

Yes I can swim. We were all brought to swimming lessons when in national school - one of the best things I learned there tbh.

Stevieluvsye

Stevieluvsye wrote: »

If you jump in to water, you'll naturally float to the top, just keep your mouth closed. Trust me, it's that easy

I wouldn't be so glib. There is a psychological hurdle to overcome for some.

Alf Veedersane

riffmongous wrote: »

You'll never get it then alright, it's much harder once you get older I think

It isn't. You just find more reasons not to do it when you're older.

my3cents

Stevieluvsye wrote: »

If you jump in to water, you'll naturally float to the top, just keep your mouth closed. Trust me, it's that easy

I had a mate who had negative buoyancy. He definitely sank. He could still swim but if he stopped moving he sank.

Alun

I can't swim despite having been "taught" for a couple of years at school by a swimming teacher who today would probably be in prison for child abuse. I was a skinny runt as well, with virtually no body fat and little muscle mass either which probably didn't help. Having said that it's not something I particularly regret, nor do I have any desire to learn now in later life.

Boom_Bap

I can swim, herself can swim (she done a bit of pen water swimming at the weekend) and we've made sure that the kids have had lessons and are competent swimmers too.
I look at it as a life skill.

Stevieluvsye

Maybe i'm a dolphin then

Uncharted

Can swim like a fish. Absolutely love the water. Taught each of my 3 girls to swim by age 6.

The reality of it is though, if I wasn't a keen swimmer,there's a strong likelyhood none of my kids could swim now, so a parental influence is an enormous factor.

Stevieluvsye

Uncharted wrote: »

Can swim like a fish. Absolutely love the water. Taught each of my 3 girls to swim by age 6.

The reality of it is though, if I wasn't a keen swimmer,there's a strong likelyhood none of my kids could swim now, so a parental influence is an enormous factor.

It's funny that because i never taught my son, like me he jumped in and off we went

Uncharted

Stevieluvsye wrote: »

It's funny that because i never taught my son, like me he jumped in and off we went

Maybe you and your son are just genetic freaks,perhaps even descendants of a superior race of beings.


Either that or you're full of it.

riffmongous

Alf Veedersane wrote: »

It isn't. You just find more reasons not to do it when you're older.

It is. A child will experience the feeling of struggling in the water very differently to an adult

BorneTobyWilde

Seems common. I can't swim either, I don't get it. A person who can swim can just float there, whole body below water, but head above. If I do that 'd just sink?
What are they doing that allows them to just float there? They don't seems to be moving arms or feet?

Stevieluvsye

Uncharted wrote: »

Maybe you and your son are just genetic freaks,perhaps even descendants of a superior race of beings.


Either that or you're full of it.

Maybe i am..................

MrStuffins

I couldn't swim up until approx 3 years ago. Serious fear of water as a kid that followed me to adulthood. It's so limiting. You can't just jump into the pool on holiday. You can't really enjoy the sea when you're on the beach etc.

One day I just decided to book lessons and forced myself. it took SO long. I'd try to practice the small lessons each week as much as possible by talking my girlfriend or my mates into going to the pool with me. I know i'm never going to drown because i'm being looked after. (And trust me, I got into some bad situations in these swimming pools).

I'm still a rubbish swimmer but I can tread water (One day it just clicked when I was practicing) and I can do a bit of breast-stroke. it means that I can jump in the pool on holiday, enjoy the sea etc.

Lads, if yu can't swim i'd suggest setting it as a goal and getting after it. It's one of the best things i've ever done!

Uncharted

BorneTobyWilde wrote: »

Seems common. I can't swim either, I don't get it. A person who can swim can just float there, whole body below water, but head above. If I do that 'd just sink?
What are they doing that allows them to just float there? They don't seems to be moving arms or feet?

Remaining calm tbh.

Greyfox

Yep, learning to swim is a lot easier then learning how to drive

riffmongous

BorneTobyWilde wrote: »

Seems common. I can't swim either, I don't get it. A person who can swim can just float there, whole body below water, but head above. If I do that 'd just sink?
What are they doing that allows them to just float there? They don't seems to be moving arms or feet?

But it seems you do need to move your arms and legs to stay up, maybe a swimmer can clarify?

Stevieluvsye

riffmongous wrote: »

But it seems you do need to move your arms and legs to stay up, maybe a swimmer can clarify?

Yes you do

wawaman

Greyfox wrote: »

Yep, learning to swim is a lot easier then learning how to drive

for some people.

MrStuffins

BorneTobyWilde wrote: »

Seems common. I can't swim either, I don't get it. A person who can swim can just float there, whole body below water, but head above. If I do that 'd just sink?
What are they doing that allows them to just float there? They don't seems to be moving arms or feet?

There's a certain leg/arm movement that keeps you afloat. When I was learning to swim, I had to keep moving because if I stopped, I didn't know this movement so i'd just sink (and I did, lots).

People say it just "clicks" when you know how to do it but that was definitely not happening for me.

One day on a sunny day we went to the beach and I decided to try practice where I could just about touch the bottom. And boom, I just got it! And since then I can tread water. You just have to do it.

Was taken to lessons when I was a toddler. I swim most days, it's amazing exercise and so peaceful. Some days when I go to the local pool instead of the one at work I see the babies lesson, as young as six months old they're all splashing away in their special swim nappies and loving every minute. Swimming in the sea is a lovely way to enjoy the beach. There are literally no downsides to swimming.

It's a life skill, one that could save your life, and best taught when very young.

Alun

BorneTobyWilde wrote: »

Seems common. I can't swim either, I don't get it. A person who can swim can just float there, whole body below water, but head above. If I do that 'd just sink?

I was the same when I was "learning" at school. Add to that that when my face did go under the water I found it an incredibly unpleasant experience. I closed my eyes instinctively which meant I couldn't see where I was and therefore felt disoriented, and that horrible feeling in your ears where you can only half hear sounds. Makes me shudder now even thinking about it.

EmmetSpiceland

Of course I can swim. I, also, taught my partner and I’m in the process of teaching my eldest.

Dial Hard

Call me naive but I remember being quite gobsmacked the first time I met an adult who couldn't swim. I just assumed everyone's parents sent them to lessons when they were kids. We were all sent weekly from the age of about 4 to 12 or so. I still kind of get surprised at how many people don't know how, tbh. I suspect there may be a bit of an urban/rural divide going on, obviously proximity to a pool is a huge help.

I used to work with a guy who fished commercially out of Kinsale for a few years and he was the only person on his trawler who knee how to swim. I just find that absolutely mind-boggling, tbh. Everyone should be taught how to swim at a young age, imo, it is 100% a life skill. And I know this is going to go down like a lead balloon but I genuinely believe that parents who don't make sure their kids learn are being remiss in their duties.

Wibbs

I can float and tread water no bother, swim no.

riffmongous

Stevieluvsye wrote: »

Yes you do

This is the thing, I reckon if someone had maybe told me that back when we were made to do the swimming lessons back in school, or the last time I tried a few years ago, I could have given it a better shot at learning. Instead of perhaps well intentioned but essentially useless advice about it just being natural and automatic (it was the same more or less when I tried learning to cycle, adults who learned as kids don't have a clue what it actually takes to learn it)

markc1184

No I can't swim. I had an instructor that threw me head first into the deep end in primary school and left me flailing about until he copped it was only going to end one way. That put me right off swimming.

Stephen15

Yes I can. I'm no Michael Phelps but I can swim fairly ok and can manage out of my depth

cj maxx

Wibbs wrote: »

I can float and tread water no bother, swim no.

I'm the opposite. I could swin a length but could never float or thread water.

Church on Tuesday

I can't. I'm doomed if I get lost on an island Castaway shtyle.

Tazzimus

Wouldn't be a great swimmer, but I can stop myself from drowning, thread water etc.
Friend chucked me in the deep end of the pool in Portugal and just said; learn.
I learned.

Shorty69664

Didn't learnt to swim when I was young (70's/80's) as my parents had this weird idea that if I couldn't swim, I'd never go near water and hence couldn't drown.

When I was about 25 I booked some adult swimming lessons and have never looked back.

When my daughter was born it was at the top of my list I had for things for her to learn and thankfully she goes to swimming lessons most weeks and loves the water. As someone mentioned it's a life skill.

I'm thinking it was just my parents that had that weird idea of how to keep me safe....

Alun

Shorty69664 wrote: »

Didn't learnt to swim when I was young (70's/80's) as my parents had this weird idea that if I couldn't swim, I'd never go near water and hence couldn't drown.

It's worked for me so far

Ectoplasm

I reckon a huge part of it is psychological and that is even before you get to actual fear of water. Comfort in water makes a massive difference. I love the water and as a kid had a tendency to jump in as I'd no fear of it so my folks let me at it and I learned as a toddler how to basically swim and then went to lessons for years.

As a result I am very relaxed in the water, be it sea or pool and find it easy stay afloat with minimum effort while friends who learned later seem to work incredibly hard at the same thing. They seem to fear going under whereas I know that even if I do go under a single kick will bring me back to the surface.

Expectations factor into it massively too. If people think they can't stay afloat, they tense up and that affects buoyancy so they start to sink...which 'proves' their original expectation.

freshpopcorn

I remember going for lessons as a kid I was so excited.
I barely managed to float and swim a little.
I didn't like it.
A few years ago somebody who liked swimming tried to get me into it again. I was open to it to be honest.
I didn't enjoy it one bit and ended up worse at it.

PGE1970

I learnt in the 70s when I was a kid. We had a pool in our town but not that many did then.

I'm going on holiday to Spain next month. There are few greater and simpler pleasures in life than an autumn swim in the warm med floating on your back staring into a bright sky. Bliss!

Gregor Samsa

BorneTobyWilde wrote: »

Seems common. I can't swim either, I don't get it. A person who can swim can just float there, whole body below water, but head above. If I do that 'd just sink?
What are they doing that allows them to just float there? They don't seems to be moving arms or feet?

The average human body has a relative density of 0.98 compared to water, which means we're naturally buoyant. But we generally don't float on the water, rather in it. To get it so that your face is out of the water as you float on your back requires a little bit of moment - not very much, just your hands really. You also need to relax - which is very difficult to do for someone who isn't confident in the water. If you tense up, you'll position your body in such a way that you go under the surface a bit. You'll never sink like a stone, though. If you went unconscious you'd float (but with your face in the water, so it wouldn't really help you).

It's also much easier to float in salt water than fresh, so it'll be easier in the sea than a swimming pool or lake. Hop into the Dead Sea and you'll find that you can't not float.

endacl

You don’t really learn to swim. You just keep trying till you realise you could all along.