Didn't pass swim test

[Potapko]

It's been posted on here but why don't you try the snorkel and fin swim? Twice as far but 10X easier with fins. Didn't the instructor suggest that?

 

[Walter]

It's been posted on here but why don't you try the snorkel and fin swim? Twice as far but 10X easier with fins. Didn't the instructor suggest that?

It's 1½ times as far, not twice. People can do that who can't swim a lick. OTOH, did she say it was a PADI course? If it's not, that option isn't available, besides, she'll be safer if she can swim.

GUE requires a 300 yd (standards are going up to 400 yard, which is what our class had to do) swim in 14 minutes for DIR-F.

That's not an OW class.

 

[Supernal]

It's a NAUI class and I could use any stroke, take as long as I needed, to cross the pool 8x (4x there and back). My main problem was that I was flailing away and hardly moving, so I got exhausted really quickly. Thanks for all the advice and support. I'll keep up with the swimming lessons and try again in the spring.

thanks,
Rhonda

 

[espenskogen]

When I was a lifeguard in the Army, I taught a black friend of mine how to swim. That guy swam like a friggin' BRICK. After he learned how to lie on top of the water and relax, without getting all tense, he realized that the water would support him and that he could be in control. Shoot... From then on, that fella was like a FISH!

Do you recon he'd be swimming (or learning) substantially differently if he was any other colour? Yellow? White?

E

 

[Heffey]

It's a NAUI class and I could use any stroke, take as long as I needed, to cross the pool 8x (4x there and back). My main problem was that I was flailing away and hardly moving, so I got exhausted really quickly. Thanks for all the advice and support. I'll keep up with the swimming lessons and try again in the spring.

thanks,
Rhonda

Rhonda,

Glad to hear that you are working through this bump in the road.

Remember, the tougher the challenge, the sweeter the victory.

I also did the NAUI course work and pool sessions and then did my OW dives with PADI. There were a few training differences and skill requirement differences that caught me a bit off guard. PM me if you are interested in the details.

Good luck,
Jeffrey

 

[joeabroad]

Dear Rhonda,

After diving for a couple of years I am finally taking a swimming class right now--I think it will the best thing for my diving I ever did.

I passed my OW swimming test but can't say I enjoyed it. It was SSI--I seem to remember that it was only 100 yards, any combination of strokes. Could that be right? After reading about NAUI and GUE requirements, I wonder how they could ever have let me in the ocean.

 

[liberato]

Do you recon he'd be swimming (or learning) substantially differently if he was any other colour?

Well, yes.

 

[Fish_Whisperer]

Do you recon he'd be swimming (or learning) substantially differently if he was any other colour? Yellow? White?

E

Actually, yes. It's a medical fact that black people have a higher density of muscle, and that equates to them being far less buoyant than their Caucasian, Asian, or Hispanic counterparts. Don't even start with the racist crap. I served with soldiers from all over the world, of every color and combination, and patched up those soldiers. We all bleed the same color. It's a non-issue. *shrug*

 

[bruinfan]

How you train affects how you improve. I can run for miles and miles, but put me in the pool, and I'm winded after 50 m. I don't swim alot, so the energy demand on my muscles for swimming requires more O2 more quickly, so you get winded faster, muscles burn, etc. If you swim to work out, you'll swimming will improve.

The other factor is the relaxation everyone is talking about. Less is more, as with many things. If you flail and hyperventilate, you use more O2 and take in less O2. Slow strokes, deep breaths, you become more streamlined and efficient.

And one last thing... Use the wall to your advantage. Push off the wall and try to get as far as possible without taking a single stroke. Practice pushing off the wall. Maybe do some squat type exercises. If you test in a small pool, this advice is golden. I tested in a 50 ft pool, maybe, had to do 16 laps (8 back and forth), and i was able to push off at least 15 ft.

 

[H2Andy]

Part of the problem is that my swimming technique is very poor

technique, technique, technique!

get the technique down, and you'll do fine. you can do it eyebrow

back when i smoked two packs a day and lived off coffee and cereal, i could
beat my very fit cousin (Ed) racing kayaks any day.

he couldn't figure it out.

technique, technique, technique