Can you swim?

I learned how to dogpaddle and slightly how to dive as a ten year old but was always afraid of the deep end of the pool in social events until my late thirties, when I got ahold of myself and went to the YMCA and, in time, bunch of classes, swam a mile/crawl, generally a pleasure, then swam a few a week. Once I managed the breathing, I really got into the pleasure. I have swum in coves, but not the ocean as such.

When I was nine I was brought to Jones Beach, and was not ready for waves. Which was right, as I knew nothing. I either saw jellyfish or worried about them. Some of my friends are excellent sailors and swimmers, but I'm ocean scaredy.
On the other hand, I am attached to the Pacific Ocean, sandwalker.
A friend of my dad's was a then well known deep sea diver, and told stories at our dinner table. But, I am so not him.

I swim like a rock.

Since I was three years old. As a teenager I swam distances and was a lifeguard in my late teens/early twenties.

Be careful swimming in the ocean--experience leads to arrogance and the arrogance of a gnat means nothing to a giant.

Rap

I don't even remember learning how to swim. I grew up way out in the countryside and taking a dip in the nearest creek, pond, river or lake was just what we did. I guess I picked it up gradually or maybe somebody threw me in. Not sure, but I can't remember ever not being able to swim.

One weird thing about Korea is that, despite being a peninsula, not many people here can swim. People go to special schools to learn and then get a swimming certificate.

Not so weird. I've read that back in the days of sailing ships very few sailors could swim. A cry of "man overboard" was a desperate emergency, usually.

i love to swim. Its very important to know the water conditions if you are swimming in the oceans. Some spots along the Atlantic are deceptively dangerous. You need to know about the undertow, or you might wind up in the next state.

I really loved Sarasota, the water was gorgeous, crystal clear. When I was growing up in Maryland, we had access go so many bodies of water, rivers, bay and Ocean. Now the Bay and most of the rivers are so polluted, its no longer safe for dogs or humans.

Andy, it seems that children whose mothers would swim would also become swimmers. At least when I was growing up, the mothers were stay at home and took the kids to a pool or lake or whatever, making the water less frightening for the children.

@Lustig:

Wow. I just assumed that sailors would be the best swimmers. That said, I guess pilots and flight attendants can't fly any better than the rest of us without an airplane...

@glitterbag:

I do draw the line at the ocean. I didn't grow up near one, so I have zero intuition about swimming in them. Not only the undercurrents, but the beasties that live in them give me pause, like jellyfish and little things with venom, poison spines and whatnot.

That might explain my own lack of talent in that department. My mom couldn't swim a stroke. I remember her sitting in a beach chair watching my father swim.

And yet ... there's a certain twisted logic in recruiting non-swimmers to man your boats.

They're less likely to abandon your oh so valuable ship.

(But I'm sure that wasn't the reason sailors couldn't swim!)

Well, that's an angle I hadn't predicted.

I swim like a fish, I don't go into the Pacific Ocean very often, too cold for me.

I'm a swimmer. It's pretty much my happiest time.

I had to be forced to take lessons when I was a kid. I was bribed by extra trips to the library in exchange for going to classes.

I really started to love swimming in my late teens while I was a university.

Lake, pool, ocean ... I love to swim.

The most reasonable explanation is that common seamen mostly came from the lowest rungs of society where opportunities for developing leisure skills were rare. A kid begging for a crust of bread on a London street corner doesn't have a lot of spare time for a dip in the river.

Congratulations!
You're beginning a lifetime of good health if you keep swimming in the ocean.
I learned to swim at the age of 5.
I was taught by a Hungarian swim coach who would throw peseta coins to the bottom of the pool and dare us to collect them

My mentor was an Italian frogman( Navy demolitions expert) named Lupo who would daily swim a mile or two just beyond the breakers.
Sometimes the porpoises would join him.

I loved swimming competition but my favorite endeavor was being part of an Australian Surf Lifesaving team in Cornwall UK

I moved to S Florida in 1979 to live near my cherished Atlantic Ocean.

Is that you in the photo? hunka hunka
I'll bet you could crack walnuts with those thighs

Alas little buddy, that was taken 45 years ago.
My thighs couldn't crack an egg ...these days

I'd keep this as a screensaver if I didn't think Set might object

I swim like a mermaid