Revelations while describing diving to others.

[Dirty-Dog]

I have two kids. My 19 yo daugther swims like a fish and did already 5 "discover scuba" dives. I'm pushing her to take the OWD course, but now she is busy with the university. My 15 yo son, also swims like a fish, but the first time he did a "discover scuba" dive he couldn't clear ears and he disliked the experience. I've been trying to convince him to try again with no success. He is now in that part of youth that make them guys with very bad temper and everything that thier parents do or do not do is wrong.

This one is easy... just find a semi-plausible reason why he's not allowed to dive. Preferably one that is mildly insulting to his hormone inflated teen ego. He'll be in the water in no time.

 

[aquaregia]

I have some shirts made by the local chamber as a fundraiser. Whenever I wear them, I like to tell people that after ten chamber rides they give you a free shirt.

 

[nolatom]

Lots of kids can't swim, and they don't learn it from their non-swimming parents. The results can be tragic, especially in African-American families where the can't-swim rate for kids is in the 60-70% range:

The Louisiana Drowning: Why Many Blacks Can

We lost 1800 people in Katrina, almost all by drowning. How many of them couldn't swim, but might have survived if they had?

You have to teach your kids to swim. None of the excuses are any good.

 

[Akimbo]

I find the most entertaining questions come shortly after sharks, "oxygen" tanks, and depth. You can watch the light bulb go on and that sheepish look develop… what if you have to pee?

 

[sambolino44]

A lot of the people I talk to say that they would be afraid to dive and you always get the shark issue. Thank you "Jaws".

I remember people being amazed that I was happy to go swimming in the ocean right after watching that movie (when it first came out, back in the stone age). I have always found it hard to believe how many people seem to have a problem separating fantasy from reality. Not only that, but they are amazed at someone who can.

 

[Akimbo]

Lots of kids can't swim, and they don't learn it from their non-swimming parents. The results can be tragic, especially in African-American families where the can't-swim rate for kids is in the 60-70% range:

The Louisiana Drowning: Why Many Blacks Can
...

This article points out an unfortunate statistic but misses the most important factor in their analysis. The answer is in anthropometric charts. Color added:

ANTHROPOMETRY AND BIOMECHANICS

3.2.3.2 Inter-Individual Variation Design Considerations

{A}

The two major factors of inter-individual variations are sex and race. The following general rules apply to the anthropometric variations due to sex and race:

a. Sex Variations - Female measurements average about 92% of comparable male measurements (within race). Average female weight is about 75% of male weight.

b. Racial Variations - Blacks and Whites are very similar in terms of height and weight measurements. The average torso measurement of Whites is longer than Blacks and limbs are shorter. Asians are generally shorter and lighter than Whites and Blacks. Most of this stature difference is in leg length. Asian facial dimensions may be larger in proportion to height.

Because of these variations, the extremes of the world population size range is represented in this document by the large (95th percentile) White or Black American male and the small (5th percentile) Asian Japanese female. …

The heaviest bones are in the limbs. The specific gravity of all soft body tissues are pretty close to the weight of water. Buoyancy of the human body is primarily a determined by the balance between the weight of bones and the displacement of gas filled cavities. Individuals with a large bone mass and without a proportionally large lung capacity will be less buoyant than those with those proportions inverted.

Negatively buoyant individuals, regardless of race, gender, or BMI, must expend more energy to remain on or return to the surface to breath. Because they must work harder, it is more difficult to develop swimming skills, requires more endurance, and initially tends to be between uncomfortable and terrifying.

Granted, these average physical characteristics may have influenced cultural development alluded to in the article. But swimming students and instructors need to recognize such a critical physical constraint to overcome it.

See: http://www.scubaboard.com/forums/ne...g-diving/385542-i-need-float.html#post5927967

I had the opportunity to work with sailors who failed their mandatory swimming test. Once shown how, the neutrally buoyant individuals got over their fear and quickly passed. The poor guys that sank like rocks had to work many times harder and become much more efficient swimmers to get to the same point. It was like learning to swim with a weightbelt.

 

[DazedAndConfuzed]

but with the proliferation of morbid obesity, the merely obese that was thin enough to be washed out of their window or door should still have been able to survive by floating like a raft. Maybe the high number of pear shaped people caused them to float butt up, thus drowning them.

 

[Thalassamania]

The funniest comment I ever heard was "have you ever ridden a seahorse?"

The correct answer is, "sure, whenever I play water polo."

 

[beautybelow]

This one is easy... just find a semi-plausible reason why he's not allowed to dive. Preferably one that is mildly insulting to his hormone inflated teen ego. He'll be in the water in no time.

After, of course, having his ears checked to see if he can really clear. Not equalizing would certainly qualify as an experience worthy of disliking.

 

[kwinter]

If you've ever been on a shallow reef dive with a mix of divers and snorkelers, you will see the old truism. Upon seeing a shark, the divers head for the shark while the snorkelers make a beeline for the boat.