How strong of a swimmer are you?

How strong of a swimmer are you?

  • I can best a Navy SEAL in a triathalon

    Votes: 8 6.3%
  • I swim confidently without fins or flotation

    Votes: 106 83.5%
  • I need my fins to survive

    Votes: 12 9.4%
  • I paid off my instructor to avoid that part of my diver certification!

    Votes: 1 0.8%

  • Total voters
    127
  • Poll closed .

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I'm definitely not a strong swimmer, but I'm comfortable in the water, so that means I'm relaxed, and that means I can swim for a long time without getting tired...

I disagree with your assessment. IMHO you are the definition of a strong swimmer, as far as divers are concerned. The point is not to win against Mother Nature, it is to work with her and keep from killing yourself.
 
NO ONE should ever try to swim against a current, which is why some swimming skills are necessary should one find themselves in a position that having the skills or not could determine if they live or die. I was on a boat one time and one of my fins went overboard before the first dive. Last week, another diver lost a fin and did his dives using one fin. You can't depend on the boat always finding you when they are supposed to. Accidents happen, which is why they are called "accidents." As I mentioned on the swimming thread, I don't think one needs to be a marathon swimmer to become a diver, but if you were left at sea, do you posess enough skills to stay above water until you are saved? Or in the event you're in a situation where you may not be found easily, do you have enough comfort to be creative in trying to get back to shore without exhausting yourself or panicing?
 
I'm a average swimming IMHO which is one reason I boat dive only. I pay for the boat to come get me,have ALL the safety equipment on my kit,and plan my dive so that I surface near/under the boat or within sight. If I have to swim to the boat then adjustments will be made or I take my business elsewhere.

"Living life without a hard bottom"
KT

NO ONE should ever try to swim against a current, which is why some swimming skills are necessary should one find themselves in a position that having the skills or not could determine if they live or die. I was on a boat one time and one of my fins went overboard before the first dive. Last week, another diver lost a fin and did his dives using one fin. You can't depend on the boat always finding you when they are supposed to. Accidents happen, which is why they are called "accidents." I don't think one needs to be a marathon swimmer to become a diver, but if you were left at sea, do you posess enough skills to stay above water until you are saved? Or in the event you're in a situation where you may not be found easily, do you have enough comfort to be creative in trying to get back to shore without exhausting yourself or panicing?
 
I can swim well - BUT - I am a "sinker".

I am so thick, and heavy boned that I float with my head almost totally immersed. I am like some sharks, if I stop swimming I drown. So a little artificial bouyancy is essential for me to be "comfortable". Fins and a 1mil neoprene skin, is the minimum for me to truly enjoy being being in water for more than 10 minutes or so.
 
I can swim well - BUT - I am a "sinker".

I am so thick, and heavy boned that I float with my head almost totally immersed. I am like some sharks, if I stop swimming I drown. So a little artificial bouyancy is essential for me to be "comfortable". Fins and a 1mil neoprene skin, is the minimum for me to truly enjoy being being in water for more than 10 minutes or so.

Same here, and I was on the H.S. Swim Team 40+ years ago. There are some who argue that once you get going swimming your personal buoyancy doesn't matter. I disagree. Logic says some part of your energy while swimming HAS to go to propping yourself up if you are a "sinker".
 
I'd kinda wonder how many "comfortable" or better swimmers here, at least those aged over a bit beyond their 20's, have gone to a pool recently and tried to actually swim 250 yards without stopping. I've got a friend "I was a competitive swimmer when young and I hit the pool every few days still" who can swim a boat length or two with fins and gear against a mild current and be noticeably winded. Had a guy in his mid-50s, been a boater/surfer/uncertified diver for years say the OW swim test would be a breeze... got to the 25 yard mark without gear and asked for the mask and snorkel... realized he needed to do the longer snorkel test.

Recently my wife (who was a competive swimmer 35 years ago) has taken to ocean swimming for fitness and can do 2 miles without swim aids relatively easy (in calm conditions), I decided to join her... I'm using fins. I can do the two miles with fins and no wetsuit/bouyancy (first time out or two not so easy), but I decided to add pool swimming before ditching the fins and found it's an entirely different thing. I'm building back up to where I feel I really should be considering my job. Doing the crawlstroke without stopping or gear/swim aids in a freshwater pool was a real eye-opener. By the way, it's a nice weight control and cardio workout as well. I've got customers that are in their late 60s/early 70's that litterally swim a mile a day in a pool for excercise that I suspect can outswim most 30-35 year olds (or yonger) that don't swim regularly.
 
It's amazing to me how many divers have very basic (if any) swimming skills, even after they're certified.

So are you a strong swimmer, or can you just swim well enough with fins to get back to the boat?

You don´t have to be a Johnny Weismuller to be a diver..I don´t even swim as a recreation or exercise. Think it´s pretty boring to swim 30-40 lenghts in the pool..
The only exercise I use to do is running...
But I have to admit that I´m pretty worthless withouth my fins...
 
I think everyone should know how to swim, and am amazed at how many do not.

That said, I don't think swimming skills, as such, are used much in scuba, aside from a couple of the basic kicks. We don't use our arms for propulsion, and most of our education is in how to get down and up safely, not so much how to move horizontally. We tend to "swim" (meaning fin) very slowly, conserving air. In an adverse current, I try not to swim, but pull-and-glide along the bottom or the wreck, or the non-coral features of rocks.

BUT if things go wrong? We divers spend a lot of time on the water, and you may not have your gear on when an accident happens and you have to swim for it. Or you fall off a dock? Or you have to jump in and rescue someone? I also agree that knowing how to swim makes you more confident in the water generally.

Also, if you are not strong at just finning, and don't exercise those muscles when you're not diving, you may come to regret it on some dive when you just *have* to buck a head current to get to that line, or that distressed diver.

Anyway, at 62 I still get into the pool once a week for 1000 yards, and can do 250 yards comfortably in about 6 minutes on mixed strokes, 5 min if freestyle and I push it. I definitely need goggles/mask though so I can keep my head down. A mile takes me about 44 min on those rare occasions I do one.

Important thing is, do some of those laps with just a kickboard (no fins), those are your real diving muscles, keep them fit and they may save the rest of you some day.
 
I'd kinda wonder how many "comfortable" or better swimmers here, at least those aged over a bit beyond their 20's, have gone to a pool recently and tried to actually swim 250 yards without stopping. I've got a friend "I was a competitive swimmer when young and I hit the pool every few days still" who can swim a boat length or two with fins and gear against a mild current and be noticeably winded. Had a guy in his mid-50s, been a boater/surfer/uncertified diver for years say the OW swim test would be a breeze... got to the 25 yard mark without gear and asked for the mask and snorkel... realized he needed to do the longer snorkel test.

Recently my wife (who was a competive swimmer 35 years ago) has taken to ocean swimming for fitness and can do 2 miles without swim aids relatively easy (in calm conditions), I decided to join her... I'm using fins. I can do the two miles with fins and no wetsuit/bouyancy (first time out or two not so easy), but I decided to add pool swimming before ditching the fins and found it's an entirely different thing. I'm building back up to where I feel I really should be considering my job. Doing the crawlstroke without stopping or gear/swim aids in a freshwater pool was a real eye-opener. By the way, it's a nice weight control and cardio workout as well. I've got customers that are in their late 60s/early 70's that litterally swim a mile a day in a pool for excercise that I suspect can outswim most 30-35 year olds (or yonger) that don't swim regularly.

A great example of swimming being a true sport, and the difference between with and without fins. With fins, that is NOT swimming! That's a piece of cake. My older brother (68) still wins medals in his age group at recreational swim events. Their competition is 2 miles in the ocean. He also has done laps for the last 30 years. The only real way to improve one's swimming and swim times is to regularly do laps. Other exercise helps minimally.
 
I suck at swimming but I float really well, so my chances of drowning at the surface (especially if I am in a wetsuit are very, very slim).

I wish I were a stronger swimmer but it really doesn't affect my diving at all...

When I dive in open water, I personally am not in ANY hurry to go anywhere... you won't see me dashing all over the place, I will probably just settle down in one small area for an hour or so and become one with the reef.

I took a vacation to the keys in the spring and we left sight of the anchor line only once on the six dives we did (wreck of the City of Washington).

We got back on the boat and one diver would say "I saw a lobster!" and we would smile, because we saw 20 lobsters.... one would say they saw a moray, and I could show pictures of the 12 morays we saw, simply because we stopped and looked instead of dashing around all over the place.

To each their own.
 

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