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Child Item

How many people here can't swim?

Shenshen

It came up in the "Who can't drive?" thread, and it got me thinking.

I'm from Germany originally, and back there I never knew anyone who couldn't swim.
Now I'm living in Ireland, and I've met at least 10 people so far who cannot swim. My husband is English, spent his childhood holidays by the sea, but can't swim.

It's rather puzzling, seeing as both the UK and Ireland are islands, whereas Germany is mostly landlocked...

So how many people here can't swim, and why?

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Vanbis

Nope, can't swim. Never really had any interest in it either.

Magic Beans

SEPT 23 1989 wrote: »

Being able to swim is the same as being able to read in my book

I see what you did there.

[Deleted User]

Mindkiller wrote: »

I can swim but I can't ride a bicycle. What I don't get is why the latter is considered more unnacceptable than the former. Swimming saves lives after all.

I'm sure folks on bicycles have saved a few lives over the years, imagine if you were with a loved one and needed to get help quickly, car wouldn't start and the mobile was dead, no one for 10 miles but a nice racer in the shed, what good would being able to swim do

sausagehead

lived all my life in a seaside town with a great big beach
couldn't swim to save my life, hate the sight and smell of swimming pools as well

I Heart Internet

I can swim - just not very efficiently. I'm confident in any depth of water and can float/thread water for quite a while. So I'd say I'm pretty safe. But I've frequently thought of getting lessons to drastically improve my technique so i could swim for proper distances (say, more than 100 m).

It's a strange thing - I've run marathon's, so it's not a stamina thing - swimming (as badly as I do) knocks the wind out of me.

I went for lessons every week in primary school - that was great.

I get funny looks when i tell people I can't cycle (or at least not confident on the open road) but I do think being safe in water is far more important.

cosmicfart

hate the water myself. tried learn how swim a few times and couldnt grasp it. I dont really see the point unless i feel off a boat and im drowning which wont happen I holiday at home in Ireland!

Ickle Magoo

RoverJames wrote: »

I imagine non swimmers can still go kayaking and sailing....

Depends on the size of boat/facility and how reputable they are, I suppose - certainly for the sailing club I attended it was mandatory to prove you could swim before being allowed out into deep water on the toppers or wayfarers; or near rapids or strong currents in a kayak...for splashing about in a swimming pool or shallows, just being able not to drown themselves with panic was enough.

Malari

WindSock wrote: »

It's mad how many Irish people can't swim, is it down to schools? It's a skill everyone should know. Throw the kiddies in to the sea.

I had lessons in school, but that was in the UK. I haven't been swimming in years though. It would have to be pretty tropical to get me into the sea!

theteal

I learned mainly due to a teacher in primary school was shocked at the amount of kids who couldn't swim so took it upon himself to set it up externally - the school won quite a few medals as it turned out in the end

Being a (former but will be again some day)beach bum, i'm sure i would have picked it up along the way. One of the lads who's been out surfing with us can't swim - although in saying that i'm sure he's assimilated the basics from paddling on the board

Rothmans

I consider myself reasonably competent at swimming. Perhaps only a doggy-paddly, but it keeps me from drowning.

FloatingVoter

Can swim - even won a good few Community Games medals in my teens (then I started smoking and drinking). My dad took me for lessons when I was 4 or 5. Being ex-merchant navy he probably knew about the perils and fun of water.

It should be something that is encouraged for very young kids to learn safely*. That way most of the phobias about deep water would be avoided.

* throwing a child into the deep end and expecting something other than a drowning / lifelong phobia to develop is stupid.

Mickeroo

I can swim now but I only learned in the last 3 years, I'm up to endurance 1 level but since I got that I've slackened off. Had considered going for life saving awards but I didn't in the end, pretty glad with the progress I made though, I was never scared of the water so that was a big help. Glad I learned cause now I get to surf, kayak and all that. Still wouldn't be the strongest swimmer but good enough to get out of trouble. Most the people I grew up with (I'm 28 now) can't swim either and we all live right near the sea, if I ever have kids they'll be in the water before they can walk.

I don't think it is a myth about the fishermen not learning to swim back in the day (could be wrong though), but most adults around here can't swim and a fair few of them are former fishermen. THere's this built in fear of the sea in seaside communities I find to an extent, it's always "stay away from the water its dangerous", plus there was no swimming pools around when i was a kid which are probably better to learn in. Different now, all the schools take the pupils swimming, it should be on the curriculum.

Tauriel

Can't swim. Tried but failed. Funny thing is I have always wanted to join the Navy

Elessar

Nope, had lessons but the water always won - i.e. I would always sink and semi-drown anywhere deep.

Couldn't be bothered anymore tbh. I'm never near open water anyway and if I am I'll be sure to have a lifejacket. That's all you need.

123balltv

I cant swim tried to learn as a kid just never got into it

The way I see it I dont go near water so no worries here
I have a huge fear of water im positive in a past life I drowned or something water and me dont mix

FloatingVoter

The "fishermen not learning to swim" was true. My mother grew up in west Sligo in the 30s/40s. Back then a boat/trawler going down meant almost certain death.
Nowadays with GPS, air-sea rescue etc. that extra hour or two that treading water will buy you could mean life. So it was true back then, not sure about now.

xxxkarenxxx

I never learnt to swim unfortunately I really wish I had as a kid. I'm sort of self taught

though I would have a fear if mY feet cant touch the ground!

MagicMarker

Yep, I'm piss poor at it but I can swim. My mother took me to lessons as a kid (still waiting on my 25mtr badge:mad:). We went on class trips to the swimming baths in Primary school and my Secondary school had a pool.

Pherekydes

Shenshen wrote: »

It's rather puzzling, seeing as both the UK and Ireland are islands, whereas Germany is mostly landlocked...

Islands means we have to have boats...

Kojak

"I abhor water and will not get anywhere near it"

Does this option in the poll mean that whoever votes for it does not wash themselves?

Witchie

I can just about swim but my incompetence is down to the fact that I am allergic to chlorine so going to pools is generally out and when I was 6 and in a lake in American where the water was so clear you could see all these little fish swimming around your toes, my older brother told me they were piranhas and were trying to eat me so I was petrified of sea and lakes from then on.

It wasn't until my own kids were going to the beach that I started going back in the water and fell in love with body boarding but still not a strong swimmer.

Agricola

Nope. I'd say most people I know in my age bracket could easily drown in the bath! Friend of mine only learned 2 years ago while taking his own kid and hes 29!
Growing up in the country, the idea of travelling into a town to go to swimming lessons was never on the agenda. Hurling, football, soccer etc always took center stage when it came to taking up a sport. You would think it would be like riding a bike and that everyone would be encouraged from a young age but its not the case.

stovelid

Shenshen

Pherekydes wrote: »

Islands means we have to have boats...

... which tend to sink a lot more often than country roads, I would imagine?

jester77

I can't swim. No sea, lakes, rivers or swimming pools anywhere close to where I grew up. No such thing as learning to swim in schools, parents didn't have money to take us on holidays when we were young, and going to the beach in Ireland was a laughable idea with the weather there.

dsmythy

I've an awful fear of submersion in water so no never learned. As a kid there was swimming lessons in school which i went to, but a combination of less than gentle teaching techniques and panic attacks meant I sat them out.

Uriel.

I learned in the past few weeks in the Med and Aegean at the age of 27. Fear no longer exists... Yaaay!

Lord TSC

I can swim when I know my feet can touch the ground but I panic when I know the water is too deep.

Goes back to a horrible swimming instructor I had when I was about 6. Mother brought me to lessosn but the teacher was just so, so horrid to me on my first day, to the extent that she grabbed by head and held me under water to try and teach me to hold my breath. Just put me off swimming for so long. A few years back though, we had a private villa on holidays with a pool so I spent every day teaching myself the basics....

EverEvolving

I can swim but very few of my friends can which is a pain as it's nice to have company in the pool.

Wattle

Well there was an English guy eaten by a shark off the Seychelles last week so I'm steering clear of the water until Chief Brodie tells me it's safe.