Basic Swimming Skills

[Hank49]

Encapsulated the essence of this thread, well said. Just don't forget about that swim againt the current and those nice long shore dives where you have to swim forever..........

True, true...But in the spirit of this board, plan your dive and don't get in a situation like that until you're prepared for it. Hank

 

[freediver]

The recurring theme would be comfort in the water. A strong "surface" swimmer would not necessarily result in one comfortable at 40 feet nor would a weak surface swimmer result in one panicking at 40 feet. I am also a lifegaurd instructor as well as a scuba instructor who has seen both sides of this. The water skills should be to evaluate current water comfort and continued conditioning in the water should always be stressed.
chuck

 

[jaycanwk]

The recurring theme would be comfort in the water. A strong "surface" swimmer would not necessarily result in one comfortable at 40 feet nor would a weak surface swimmer result in one panicking at 40 feet. I am also a lifegaurd instructor as well as a scuba instructor who has seen both sides of this. The water skills should be to evaluate current water comfort and continued conditioning in the water should always be stressed.
chuck

I agree that that is what it boils down to is comfort and i'm not saying you need perfect olympic swimming strokes to dive, but good propulsion skills do lead to overall efficiency of movement in the water which helps alot with skills like dawning equipment underwater which requires a little bit of acrobatics so to speak, and yes, anyone can get better with practice. I do think though that the people who's level of swimming skills basically consists of wading in and splashing around a bit on a hot day are the people who, having had a tuff time with basic OW course, are the ones that don't dive again after certification, or if they do continue diving don't really ever totally enjoy ther dive cause they are always have issues of some sort like getting tired cause of inefficiant kicking or worse yet are more likely to panic when an emergency of some sort happens. I guess I just think it is a bit of a shame that some people prematurly give up on such an enjoyable sport and had they been a bit more prepared before signing up they would have had an easier time learning the skills and therefore want to continue.

 

[dweeb]

If the swimming bar were raised you might turn out better divers although not necesarily so IMHO. You probably would turn out fewer divers and thats not good for the business of diving and in business its all about the flow of money. The bigger the flow the better.

It's always so nice when these sort of questions come up to know that someone will use the ethical creed of the tobacco industry as a model.

 

[AtomicWalrus]

It's always so nice when these sort of questions come up to know that someone will use the ethical creed of the tobacco industry as a model.

It's always nice to have you come up with some asinine sneer, too. The idea that increasing cash flow is good for business is a central tenet of capitalism, the economic system that has created more wealth than any other system in the history of civilization. You'll have a hard time finding an alternative system these days - I think you'd be stuck with North Korea, in fact. Grow up.

 

[sealkie]

I don`t think avid swimmers necessarily make better divers

I had one lady who swam even day - clearly and very acomplished swimmer

It took me 3 hour long lessons to get her to completly submerge - I think it took a total of 14 hours of private pool lessons and 8 open water dives to get her thro the basic cert

On the other had I`ve had students breeze thro the entire class who could barley
swim 2 strokes - they have had to learn to swim to complete the cert

Often people can do the underwater swim but yet are unable to complete the 10 min tred or swim

Scuba makes people nervous for many reasons

 

[scubamax]

I don`t think avid swimmers necessarily make better divers


Often people can do the underwater swim but yet are unable to complete the 10 min tred or swim

Scuba makes people nervous for many reasons

Indeed, I know a somewhat well-known swimmer (he has published books on swimming instruction) who is as comfortable on the surface of the water as anyone in the world, but cannot ever get comfortable with scuba diving, because he just does not like the feeling of beiing so deep below the surface with all the gear, weight, etc! And this guy specializes in teaching non-swimmers and aqua-phobics to be able to get comfortable in the water and turns out many accomplished swimmers a year!

Scubamax

 

[freediver]

The problem I have seen is that a swimmer, esp. a very good swimmer is used to holding there breath underwater or at least exhaling, so breathing underwater is very unnatural to someone who does the opposite for an hr a day/3-5 days a week. Although the good swimmer does not necessarily panic 30 feet down, they feel the sensation of breathing underwater awkward enough not to pursue diving.
Personally, I would like to see more snorkeling/freediving skills added.

 

[String]

Side note to this thread, although not directly swimming i think the physical fitness standards of divers needs to be increased. Australian coroner verdict was lack of fitness directly caused some fatalities, ive seen some divers here bright red and sweating just walking 100m to a boat, seen some unable to get on the boat without help etc.

We dont want moronic GI3 clones alone allowed to dive but something should be done to increase the bottom line fitness requirements imho.

 

[mech]

I never really swam before my OW cert.
I would hop in a pool to cool off then get out or just get wet enough to get pulled up to begin either skiing or wake boarding.
To swim for fun never entered my mind.
I now do shore dives mainly and kicking out a decent distance is something I can do better than most.
Not all non swimmers are uncomftorble underwater.
My kids are the same way.