Are you a good swimmer?

[Janice]

I read a story today how a teen died when he was fishing and dropped his cellphone in the water, and tried to retrieve it. Calm waters too...the article stated that none of them were good swimmers.

I was a strong swimmer early on. My sisters and I took lessons at the YMCA. I know that cramps, water currents, bad weather and other factors can make a person drown, but I always think it's such a shame when people drown because they can't swim -- when it's avoidable. Here's the article.

http://www.wral.com/news/local/story/1477773/

The question is, what kind of a swimmer are you?

[Already Gone]

I'd say i'm a good enough swimmer. My parents taught me how to swim and I took lessons at the Y when I was a kid.

[Courtnee]

I'm an ok swimmer. I'm not the best, but I can do it.

[Jo_Luvs_Ketchup]

I can't go underwater ever since I got sucked in by the ocean. If my sister wasn't there, I can't imagine! :eek:

[PZelda]

I'm not pro, but I'm a pretty decent swimmer.

(15 years of swimming classes will do that for ya.)

[AllIWantIsYourClutch]

I never took actual lessons, but I've had a pool in my backyard my entire life and I'm good with that. And I've made it out of the ocean alive. So. I think I'm okay.

[Shine]

I can't go underwater ever since I got sucked in by the ocean. If my sister wasn't there, I can't imagine! :eek:

:eek: :(

That sounds like an awful experience, Kelly.

[Shine]

I'm not pro, but I'm a pretty decent swimmer.

(15 years of swimming classes will do that for ya.)


That is an awful lot of swimming classes. :lol:

[Ireneparalegal]

I wish I knew how to swim. I enjoy being in swimming pools, the ocean, etc. but never learned.

[catlover79]

I have a fear of deep water and large bodies of water in general. When I was a kid, my family took a vacation in Canada. I went out too far in the hotel pool in Quebec and almost didn't make it out! :eek: My dad still says that was one of the scariest moments of his life - one of his kids in that kind of danger. The lady lifeguard got to me in time. I ended up catching a chill and got a bad cold.

The next summer, my mom signed my sister and I up for swimming lessons at our local community pool. I hated every single second, especially when we had to go off the diving board. I told my mother this just recently. She said if she'd known how deeply I felt about it, she wouldn't have made me go. I guess I was too afraid to say anything!! :lol:

[Shine]

I'm a very good swimmer. My uncle, who was a Navy seal in Vietnam, taught me how to swim. Also, like Katie, I had classes at the Y.

[Shine]

I have a fear of deep water and large bodies of water in general. When I was a kid, my family took a vacation in Canada. I went out too far in the hotel pool in Quebec and almost didn't make it out! :eek: My dad still says that was one of the scariest moments of his life - one of his kids in that kind of danger. The lady lifeguard got to me in time. I ended up catching a chill and got a bad cold.

The next summer, my mom signed my sister and I up for swimming lessons at our local community pool. I hated every single second, especially when we had to go off the diving board. I told my mother this just recently. She said if she'd known how deeply I felt about it, she wouldn't have made me go. I guess I was too afraid to say anything!! :lol:


That is a pretty terrible experience you had in that hotel pool, Monika. :( :eek: I remember the first time I had to use the diving board, I was really scared. After I did it though, I could not get enough of it.

[AB]

I love the water, love to go out in the boat and love to lay on a float in the pool but I can't swim. I almost drowned when we went to Daytona one year, but my husband managed to pull me out. I even took a couple of swimming lessons but just couldn't master it.

[PZelda]

That is an awful lot of swimming classes. :lol:
Well, really, it was once a week. I don't remember anymore what I did in terms of swimming lessons when I was really young - but I do remember I was at the community center's swimming pool at least 2x or 3x a week up until about second grade ('92). Then I moved and started going to a school that had its own swimming pool, so every Wednesday for PE class, we would go swimming instead of using the gym. Plus on Mondays, Tuesdays and Thursdays that school had open swimming night, where the general public was invited to use the pool... I took advantage of that a lot up until about junior high. I still did so, but not as often. The last year I had PE classes w/ Wednesday swimming was my junior year in HS, and that was only one semester (fall 2001).

So, yeah, I've always been around the water a lot growing up... be that I was in it, near it or around it.

[catlover79]

That is a pretty terrible experience you had in that hotel pool, Monika. :( :eek: I remember the first time I had to use the diving board, I was really scared. After I did it though, I could not get enough of it.
Yes, it was a frightening experience. Then last summer, what began as a simple drive home from the library turned into me being caught in a flash flood!! :eek: I was the only one in the car and was just terrified. Thankfully, I wasn't too far away from home, and both the car and I got back safely. I was completely soaked, and had nightmares about it for days afterwards. :eek:

[swedeace]

I can swim, as long as it's not in the deep end of a pool.

[Zoneboy]

We've had a nice in-ground pool for over 20 years but I rarely ever use it.

[Pus$y Galore]

I was a lifeguard when I was 17. Used to be a fish (no wonder my sign is Pisces!). Once I got into my 20s though I really didn't do much swimming even for myself then. When we moved into our current house I was thrilled it had an inground pool so I have swum as much as possible in the last 11 years.

I think all kids should be taught to swim or at least how to float and tread water as soon as possible. I'm always extremely mindful of my niece and nephew when they're over. They can swim now enough to save themselves if they had to, but they still aren't comfortable with the deep end which concerns me.

[Pus$y Galore]

I can swim, as long as it's not in the deep end of a pool.


That's my husband and his brother. Actually, also our sister-in-law and their kids. They'll go over to it only with "noodles".

[Number 9 Dream]

Same here...I'm only 4'11", so I can't even touch the bottom and it freaks me out. I like swimming, though--when I was a kid, you couldn't get me out of the pool!

I'd say I'm a decent swimmer overall.

I can swim, as long as it's not in the deep end of a pool.

[freshprinceofLA]

I'm a pretty good swimmer but I don't really swim in that deep water. I'll probably be scared to swim in like 20 ft water without a lifejacket. But I can do the basic strokes like backstroke, breaststroke and stuff like that you know.

[Fleet]

I never learned how to swim. A neighbor gave me a few lessons when I was about 11 years old, but I didn't follow through.
So when I am at the beach, I only wade in about waist deep.

[PZelda]

I will teach you...
Honestly, I love to swim, as I mentioned earlier. I swam before I could walk, thanks to my dad, who is also a swimmer; speaking of pools, if there is not a deep end, anything over 5 feet, then I am not interested..I absolutely love swimming in deep waters, the deeper the better:)
Yeah, my mom had my sibs and I in these swimming classes for babies when we were babies. Considering the fact I was ~12 to ~14 months old by the time I was walking on my own, it's pretty safe to say I was swimming before I was walking, as well. :lol: Never been afraid of the water, as far as I can remember. I do get a little nervous if I'm in the deep end, but that's only because of the pool filters at the bottom. I have no ****ing idea why, but they scare me. (incidentally, this reminds me of Guts, by Chuck Palahniuk. Read at your own risk, and don't say I didn't warn you!) After a bit, though, I'm OK.

[catlover79]

I had yet another bad water experience in the summer of 2007, when I travelled to California to visit my friend Brenda. I ended up going to a water park with her, her kids and one of the neighbors. There was a water slide called the Vertigo Body Bowl there - very long and twisty. Brenda warned me that it was VERY fast but I wanted to try all 4 slides there. So I went and it was so fast I felt like I was breaking the sound barrier!!

This water slide drops you into an eight-foot section of the pool. There is a lifeguard there at all times, but I had a problem. Since they make you take your glasses off before going on the slide, I couldn't see him. I went under a couple of times before he finally fished me out. It was very scary, and I was pretty dazed. He had to ask me if I remembered what day it was, etc. I did. I didn't go back on the slide, btw. :eek: :lol:

[Holly]

I admit i'm not a very good swimmer I only swim in a Pool where I can reach the floor on the pool, i don't go in the deep end or anything.

[Big C]

Yes.