Can you swim in real life?

[Tonkyhonk]

thank you all for your inputs! they are all very interesting!

so far 16 hearthlings can swim!

(i havent counted you, shubla, as your posts didn't claim your ability. if you want to be counted, please say so.)

as for surviving the real situation, we all know swimming for fun and swimming for survival is different, your health condition, weather, currents, what you have around (like life jackets, boats, some floaters, whatever), where you are, or who is around, all the little things change the odds you have. so, this is more about whether you would take a risk and jump into water hoping for survival or not (and i think you would likely try if you think you can swim rather than staying in the ship praying for the rescue team coming). even if you can swim very well, you cant swim on forever (like, in the middle of the ocean), you may not be able to find any floaters you could take a rest with, and sharks may come and get you! so thats that.

some (supposedly) experienced korean divers lost their lives while trying to rescue the victims at South Korean ferry wreck a while ago too, being able to swim well does not necessary grant you survival anyways. this time around, however, it is said that the most of the 14 survivors tried to swim and got rescued. those who were banging from inside the ship (i read there were 2 of them) didnt make it unfortunately. (the tragedy part is that many of them may not have had the chance even to get out of the ship at all, though.)
EDITED sorry i was misinformed, there were two rescued from the ship in the air pocket. (loftar, please make "strikethrough" thing!)

[Finigini]

I've been swimming since I was very young since I took swimming lessons and then joined the swim team. Would I be able to survive a sinking ship? I remember hearing that escaping a ship that is sinking is difficult because as the ship sinks the water pulls you down from the suction. That's likely just a myth.

[martenx]

Yea, I can swim.
I can save peaple who are drowning too!

I learned it at some swimming school in the netherlands.

[MagicManICT]

i think its a thing that african americans (stereotypically) cant swim as it isn't part of the culture when growing up.

Urban myth (probably could be held for those in urban areas with limited access to pools). Would have to dig around on Google to get some numbers (factual ones).

Learned to swim early, don't remember ages, and passed Red Cross water safety and swimming up to the lifeguard training. The summer program my brothers and I were enrolled in (us poor kids) did swimming programs in the summer, and lessons were an option that almost everyone participated in. I quit before the lifeguard as I didn't have the interest (was too busy with everything else in the summer such as baseball, music, and staying out of trouble at the local arcade).

bigger question would be my overweight, out-of-shape self able to keep myself breathing for the time it would take to get to shore. I've swam in an incoming tide, and damn that shit is hard.

@Tonkyhonk: just another part of the loss of focus on physical fitness in the USA, but I think liability issues and maintenance costs are as much an issue with pools in schools as any other issues.

[GrapefruitV]

Count me in for swimmers.
Learnt how to when I was ~8, before that I was really concerened about that, thought something is wrong with me if I am SO OLD and still can't swim, that was really embarrassing for me for some reason.
Number of victims in such stories always was surprising to me, even though rationally I understand such factors as cold, panic, physics, things floating around and all that, but my mind just can't accept healthy adult people drowning in the middle of the summer when a ferry goes down in a not so big river.

[spawningmink]

duh! count me in aswell! learned when i was a child

[Tonkyhonk]

sorry i was misinformed and was misinforming those of you who havent been following the news in detail, there were two rescued from the ship in the air pocket.

(loftar, please make "strikethrough" thing!)

now 21 hearthlings can swim

@Tonkyhonk: just another part of the loss of focus on physical fitness in the USA, but I think liability issues and maintenance costs are as much an issue with pools in schools as any other issues.

yeah i guess. our schools are never perfect, but the easier part is that we just leave the pool when out of season (which becomes horribly dirty and nobody would care to jump in) and make students clean the pool before the season. (those who helped cleaning get to swim first!)

when a ferry goes down in a not so big river.

actually, yantze river is pretty big, famous for "three kingdoms", its the longest river in asia and famous for its rapid current. but i still cant believe the captain actually didnt anchor the ship in the horrible weather when other ships did.

now on a second note, people in my country may be more accustomed to water because of our "bathing" culture (often naughty kids get yelled at for trying to swim in a public bath tub or hot spring. i myself did practice putting my face in water for long in bath. and some rich houses have a big bath tub that a little kid could attempt flutter kicking in the tub.)

[painhertz]

if you are over the age of 10 and can't swim there may well be some issues going on..... That being said, despite almost drowning at age 6 I've been swimming since like, 8? of course now my fat ass would probably just float. HAHAHAHA SELF DEPRECATING HUMOR? GET IT?

[TeckXKnight]

The fastest crawl stroke swimmer on my team was actually very overweight. Don't underestimate what some body fat will do for you in the water. =)

[MagicManICT]

The fastest crawl stroke swimmer on my team was actually very overweight. Don't underestimate what some body fat will do for you in the water. =)

I'm willing to bet the competition wasn't Michael Phelps.