How do people NOT know how to swim?

[snoopy7548]

I hated swimming lessons as a kid. We had a neighbor's daughter (licensed instructor) come over to our house during the summer a couple of days per week until I got it. It was always in the morning so the water was freezing.

To this day I can't really swim well. I mean, I can do the regular swimming but I've always had issues with not kicking my feet enough so they stay underwater most of the time. I like to doggy paddle around as much as I can.

 

[Red Squirrel]

I can swim but not super good at it. I can't just stay floating like some people can, I have to actually paddle, and I'll get tired after a while, so I can't just hang out at the deep end of the lake and sit there. I pretty much have to be actively swimming to stay afloat.

I'm also not a fan of going under water so don't really like any activity that involves that. I would actually be less scared to go sky diving than to go off a high diving board. Speaking of which I should try to find out what is involved in going skydiving and if anywhere near me does it, I actually do want to try it.

 

[clamum]

For some people, it does not bother them.

For me, I learned how to blow a little air out of my nose while under water to keep the water out. It is so much a part of my swimming that I don't even think about it now.

MotionMan

Yeah you can blow air out of your nose and that helps. I'll do that if I jump in the water or do a back-somersault under water, but for just regular swimming under water I don't need to and water doesn't come in my nose.

My mom can't swim. So she made sure my brother and I took swimming lessons at the YMCA when we were young (grade school) cause she wanted to make sure we could. I think I probably took three or four years of lessons. I'm no Michael Phelps but I think I can swim pretty decently. If I get tired I just flip over onto my back and I can go for a loooong time then.

 

[Mai72]

I can't swim and I've lived at the shore (North Wildwood) my whole life. Sad. I know.

 

[snoopy7548]

I can swim but not super good at it. I can't just stay floating like some people can, I have to actually paddle, and I'll get tired after a while, so I can't just hang out at the deep end of the lake and sit there. I pretty much have to be actively swimming to stay afloat.

I'm also not a fan of going under water so don't really like any activity that involves that. I would actually be less scared to go sky diving than to go off a high diving board. Speaking of which I should try to find out what is involved in going skydiving and if anywhere near me does it, I actually do want to try it.

Definitely go skydiving at least once! When you're in freefall it's like nothing you've ever experienced; it doesn't feel like you're falling, just floating thousands of feet above the ground. Nothing comes close to that rush.