Half of americans can't swim?

Not to be all racial about it, but growing up, all my black friends hated the water. And would always wear sneakers on the beach? WTF? ha...

But seriously, I think the "5 standards" that they speak of kind of skew the question at hand... When people go swimming, they usually don't tread water for over a minute for recreation. Yes, can they swim from one side of the pool to the other... probably... but that is what, all of 10 seconds? And I mean sideways, not long ways....

So, I don't put much into the article or the report. This is just another way to skew statistics, I.E. shark attacks, lightening strikes, airplane crashes....

More of the same....

I am just saying, these people are saying "I can swim" because basically, they can, but I doubt any of these people go open ocean swimming, swimming out around buoys and stuff the way a lot of us surfers do. I mean, we study it more and practice more because we are out in elements that these people will NEVER be in. Unless you are out swimming in water in OC MD that is over chest deep and playing around, you aren't going to get sucked out if you are a grown as$ person.... Never happened to me. I consider myself a strong swimmer, but its usually kids and stuff not paying attention and getting over zealous that fall victim here....

I am just saying, more people can "Swim" than this article portrays. You can give any reason you want, why these people should be better swimmers, cause "you never know" what situation they might be in? Like what? Being chased by a bear, so they are forced to try and cross the colorado river with not flotation device? If they are out on ANY kind of boat, there will be lifevests. If they are waterskiing, they will have a life vest. repeat for any water related ANYTHING....

So yeah, most of these people could navigate around their neighbors pool on a hot summer day, but a lot of them didn't pass this test.... whatever...

Where I grew up, only a few of the high school in my county actually had swimming pools, so other high school swim teams would have to practice at our school and stuff.... But point being, if only 33% of high schoolers have the opportunity to be FORCED into swimming classes and training, like everyone at my school. How exactly are they going to be practicing treading water for over a minute?

I mean, if you went through west Baltimore and scooped up every random guy that was "standing on the corner" and drove them all down to the inner harbor and tossed them all in, how many would make it out alive if you didn't help them for 5 minutes? What, maybe 2 out of 1000? Cause, at what point in any of these peoples lives, would they practive proper water survival skills?

Not to mention, just making up a number here, that 80% of americans live NO WHERE near any natural, open water, I.E. the ocean....

Again, I call BS on this whole thing...

But in other news, this year, Mexico passed the USA as being the most obese country on earth... USA, USA!

 

Seriously, how is it that people don't know how to read?

Years ago we had a kid working at our dealer as a technician trainee. We soon discovered that he kept screwing things up because he couldn't even read the repair orders or service manuals. He was transfered to the parts department where he destroyed several keyboards mercilessly pounding the Enter key in frustration because he couldn't understand the computer screen. One Friday afternoon we desperately needed a part from another dealer in Miami Beach and he was dispatched to go pick it up. Two hours later he calls and says he can't find the place. Turns out when he got to I-95 he couldn't tell North from South by reading the signs and ended up somewhere in northern Palm Beach County. The customer didn't get his car for the weekend...

 

You should really learn how to swim unless you don't got out when it's big. I have broken my leash different times in big surf where I was far out. If I only knew how to tread water or doggle paddle, I would have been ****ed. You can't always expect people to help you when you're in the ocean, you can only rely on yourself.

 

Cause a lot of parents in this country are HORRIBLE people. Just google the drop-out or average education level in the nearest major city to you. Then you will know why. I mean, some people have learning disabilities... Very close friend of mine, who I hired as a manager for me because he is the hardest working guy ever. He is super smart, big numbers guy, one of the better handy men I know, but man, if you have him try and write a memo, it looks like a 3 year old writing in a different langauge. Everything misspelled, words all out of place, completely wrong use of words.... But speaks perfectly and articulately....

Point is, some people randomly have issues with the reading/writing side of things. But for the most part, too many American's should not be able to reproduce....

Not to be a "*&$#" but my wife intriduced me to some coworkers last week. We went over to their house for beers and burgers. This guy that was there, super nice guy, seemed like a good parent. He has his 5 year old daughter there. My 2.5 years daughter was there. He was like, man, my daughter is so smart. She can freaking count to 10 in spanish! Of course I didn't say anything, but in my mind, I am like, my daughter has been able to count to 20 in spanish since she was not even 2. And she has been able to identify all her letters, numbers since she was 1.5 years old. Everyone is different, but the fact that my wife has been reading and writing wife my daughter since the day she was born. EVERY DAY.... Thats why some kids can read and some cant...

This is the same reason why if you go to west Baltimore right this moment and drive around for about 5 blocks, you will WITHOUT A DOUBT see at least 1-2 toddlers walking around in the streets unattended. What do you think their literacy is going to look like by the time they are in middle school. Or should I say, by the time they SHOULD be in middle school but are not. They will probably be selling drugs or worse with no supervision.

 

I find that to be true as well. The survey also points that out. Most black people I know are afraid of the water. The 14 year old that I mentioned that drowned happened to be black. Not sure why this is, maybe urban vs. suburban upbrining.

Not sure what you are getting at. I don't think the survey is skewing anything but rather pointing out that many think they can swim when they really can't. Those 5 basic functions of swimming are really not terribly difficult. If you can't accomplish those things then you really can't swim at all. Doggy paddling 10 yards across a pool is not swimming though it appears to be in some people's minds. Those are the ones who can't perform the 5 skills yet still maintain that they know how to swim. These are also the ones that give lifeguards some job security.

 

In the 3 years I spent teaching in the inner-city, it's pretty safe to say that not only do most black kids not know how to swim, they have an aversion to it and it is not considered a necessary life skill. As always, there are exceptions to the rule.

I learned to swim so young that I can barely remember it. Thanks Mom.

 

I guess what I am trying to say, is that the response to this post seems a little bias. Because, we are on a surf website, which indicates to me that pretty much everyone involved in the conversation is an advanced swimmer, so what our thoughts of "basic" swimming and what someone who is born and raised in Indiana may be two different things.

I will use my friend as an example. The one who I used as my terrible stereotype. We grew up together. He is black, not that it matters. But he hates the water. never gets in the ocean. went to high school with me so I KNOW he has had some basic swimming training. If you told him to get in the middle of a pool and tread water for a minute, he would tell you to go &#^$ yourself and he would fall into the category of this article as someone who "can't swim"... But what I will guarantee you is that if you held a gun to his head and said, you have to do a full lap end to end in an Olympic sized swimming pool, he may look ridiculous, treading water and half-ass swimming, but he would make it end to end without drowning. May take him a while and he may look ridiculous, but he wouldn't die...

Thats what I mean. He wont die if you throw him in the water... But with that being said, he isn't going to swim out to the mile buoy and back with me.... This article would indicate that he can't swim, when in fact, in SURVIVAL situations (not in the open ocean) he would survive in the water for quite some time...

So, I guess all in all, this is what I mean.... When a small child falls into a pool or makes the mistake of getting in the water unsupervised. They will die. Because they truly CANNOT swim. AT ALL. I mean, they would literally die in less than a minute from ingesting the water. To me, that means you can't swim... PERIOD...

But most of these people who failed this test in the article, if you throw them in a pool, they aint gonna die...

So to me, this article is about form and practice and how well you can truly swim. To me, someone who "CANT SWIM" would be tossed in the water and sink to their death as they flail around... I would say 9 out of 10 people on this list of people who "CANT SWIM" do not fit that mold....

I don't care if you are doggy paddling around in the water for 10 minutes. That is SWIMMING. I don't care how well you can do the freaking butterfly or the crawl... We are talking survival and the term "swimmer"

If you can be in the water and not die for a short period of time, you can swim....

That is like me saying that someone is "Not a surfer" because they suck really bad. If they had every stood on a wave, they are a surfer.... If you golf, even if you are TERRIBLE, I am talking swinging and missing the ball completely before you actually make contact and the ball still only goes 2 feet. You may SUCK at golf, but you are in fact a GOLFER....

ya know? I just think that the general idea of this article is bias on a lot of levels. And I think we are the wrong group of people to ask because we are all bias and we can all probably swim very well, ya know?

 

Right. Thats what I am saying. Unless some kid from inner city Denver is out in the wild, being chased by a bear and is forced to try and swim across the colorado rapids to avoid the impending doom, it is not a life skill. The worst this kid will ever encounter is jumping off a diving board at the local pool in the summer and making it to the ladder of the pool without dying... And if this kid can go off a diving board and doggy paddle his ass back to the side. He can swim. Abeit not well, he can swim.

 

Same here. My Mom got me started swimming and going out with her in the ocean.

I'm not surprised at the figure of the number of people who can't swim. It's not always the person's fault but rather their parent. Everyone just always had swim lessons growing up near me even at the community pool.
Some parents might not see it as necessary. I think it is very valuable and it can save your life especially since almost all people go out on some body of water in their life. A boat, ferry, kayak, really any water craft. It's better to be prepared.

 

Same, necessary life skill in my book. We're supposed to be able to swim/navigate water.

 

on 10/15/11 the cape may ferry blew an engine, lost one of its (twin)screws and listed hard into
a 30knot northwest wind which scared the snot out of about a hundred people but 8 hours later we
safe in lewes…i had boards, wetsuits, and family and we were prepared to swim away from it….

 

there is even an 'aquatic ape theory' that says our proclivities for water time selected smoother hairless individuals. the woman who formulated this theory is not a phd, but she did stay at a holiday in express. kidding aside, this is an interesting theory worth lookingat for at least entertainment, even if its not true

 

Hell yeah, good food for though in my book.

 

1/2 of America doesn't know how to swim and most of them will be at the beach this weekend. Have fun boys, I'm headed to the big woods.

 

I doubt there will be any issues, since the entire eastern seaboard will be a lake. If you want to get depressed, just pull up the South San Diego report for the next 7 days. Nothing epic whatsoever, but yeah, the west coast will need some rescues.

And I see it's not on the swell info radar yet, but there is a large tropical storm forming to the southwest of Baja.... Looks like Hurricane season is starting up a month early in the South Pacific. Ugh.....

 

This is an outrage! Alert the government so they can end this bias towards non swimmers. Swimming lessons free for all Americans!

 

Hey yourself, SS.

I don't consider myself to be a particularly strong swimmer, but I've managed to get myself back to shore after broken leashes and getting caught in rips and such. I just stay calm and take my time and dog paddle along, knowing I'll make it in eventually.

Why is it that animals just know how to swim instinctively, but humans have to be taught?

 

lol where did this come from.treading water for 45 minutes a quarter of a mile in the ocean is bad huh?if I couldn't swim I wouldn't be surfing.i just don't do the crazy swims like when u have ur head in the water and inhale exhale whatever.most of the time I surf without a leash,to prevent snapping boards.out of all my years in the ocean and all the heavy situations iv been in,i never been rescued,called for help once but help didn't come.i once swam from sea bright to long branch which is probably a good 3 or 4 miles in open ocean.its not about how fast u can swim or what techniques,its how long ur stamina is.treading water for 45 minutes in probably 20 ft deep water isn't bad.if u knew what u are doing in the ocean,sometimes u don't even have to swim.ever make a swim in on a epic groundswell when waves are breaking a quarter mile out past the jettys?u need to know what u are doing,u don't just swim in,it doesn't work like that.u can swim as fast as u want and work urself out and end up drowning.being cool calm and collective in heavy situations is the key.

 

parents wait too long to introduce their kids to water...it's very simple. i was in at eight weeks, my kid was in at twelve (he was a month early) and he just swam his first 50m (down and back) with a bubble on, of course. another thing that really peeves me off, is the parents that get in for lessons and do everything possible not to get splashed, keep their hair dry, and look miserable. it's not brain science people, if you don't at least pretend to enjoy something, your kids definitely won't!

there is, of course, a demographics issue with the epidemic too. public schools either don't have immediate access to pools (most importantly at the primary level) and even the ones that do cut funding for aquatic programs, never had them anyway, or, don't have qualified people to teach kids in the water, OR even teach them water safety. USA swimming does have initiatives and funding to help struggling programs, but at times it can be difficult to get the programs organized (and staffed) and even more difficult to find qualified people to teach/run them as i said above. city rec departments can sometimes do a decent job getting free or reduced programming established and running, but then it can be difficult to keep kids interested in something such as swimming when they have so many other things pulling them (or peer pressuring) them out of a learn to swim program. and i don't necessarily mean pressure, but kids want to do things that their friends are doing.

with all this said, it is interesting to note that some of the country's best swimmers also surf! Natalie Coughlin, Aaron Piersol, Ryan Lochte, and Dave Walters (a 757er) to name a few! Even more interesting is that each one of these swimmers held or hold National and/or World records!