Swimming Skills Assessment

[Trace Malinowski]

During a DEMA meeting at Beneath the Sea, I had the pleasure of being in a focus group with Pierre-Yves Cousteau, the youngest son of Jacques Cousteau. In discussing the diving industry as we approach the year 2020, diver training was universally thought to have poor standards and poor quality at both diver and instructor levels. Pierre remarked that his father would have disapproved of how complicated learning to dive has become and how he perhaps would have seen the buoyancy compensator as being taught inappropriately as a way of circumventing important swimming and freediving skills.

I'm going to discuss the buoyancy compensator in detail in another thread. However, I would like to know where divers in ScubaBoard assess their swimming abilities since swimming is a prerequisite for scuba training. Please answer the poll as honestly as you can. To that end, I'm going to attempt to provide a way of gauging swimming capabilities. Choose the answer that best matches your ability.

Special instructions for instructors and DM's: Assess your abilities in relation to the world of swimming, not passing scuba swimming standards for any level of diver or dive pro training.

Thank you.

 

[Rhone Man]

I come from a family of competitive swimmers. I think it is helpful in terms of comfort in the water, but overall I tend to think of it as overrated as a diving attribute. It is sort of like extrapolating racing stock cars competitively to maneuvering a fork-lift truck.

 

[Diver0001]

Pierre remarked that his father would have disapproved of how complicated learning to dive has become and how he perhaps would have seen the buoyancy compensator as being taught inappropriately as a way of circumventing important swimming and freediving skills.

This is going to sound like swearing in the church but I've seen a lot of Cousteau video and there is a *lot* of diving going on in those videos that would make the modern diver curl their toes.

Maybe in his day, freediving/swimming skills *were* more important than they are today but diving was different and divers were different than they are now. To project that mindset onto the population of contemporary scuba divers and judge them for not being like the old timers were is a bit of unfair judgment and perhaps a bit of romanticizing a bygone age.

(ie. what we have here is a bit of revisionist history....by modern standards a lot of the diving in the old days was alarmingly bad as can be seen on the video. It makes sense then, that in THAT context, being a good swimmer was going to save your butt some day....)

I think any question with regards to what level of swimming skill is needed today has to take into account the intended activities of the divers who are learning, the gear and "infrastructure" available to them etc etc. To take one element of diving "skill" out of context and making sweeping judgments about the diving population based on a comparison to some irrelevant context from the distant past and without accounting for 40 or 50 years of development is a little .... well ... ridiculous, really.

The strawman you're setting up here can be compared to saying that everyone who drives a car and doesn't wear his "driving goggles" is a bad driver because driving goggles were required safety equipment in some bygone age....

R..

 

[50Fathom]

The strawman you're setting up here can be compared to saying that everyone who drives a car and doesn't wear his "driving goggles" is a bad driver because driving goggles were required safety equipment in some bygone age....

R..

I would equate it more to driving a standard-transmission car. You used to NEED to know how to do it, but now, not so much. It's a skill still needed in some cases today, but technology has, in most cases, rendered it obsolete, except for true enthusiasts, or drivers who are serious about their skills.

And even then, there are people who can operate a manual transmission, but then there are those who can heel-toe and double-clutch, and beyond that, there are those who can utilize those skills effectively on a track.

Over to diving, there are plenty of "automatic transmission, just stick it in D and go" divers, but at least the older training model or style would have taught them how to "drive a stickshift" as it were, even if they promptly went out and bought an automatic, never to set foot in a manual-transmission car again.

And yes, I think any driver who cannot operate a standard-shift automobile with at least a modicum of ability IS a bad driver. It's indicative of a lack of caring about driving skills, car control and situational awareness.

 

[ajduplessis]

I agree that the majority of divers today do not have the fitness or swimming skills they should have for diving. Fitness and a healthy body weight are two areas that I believe help minimise diving injuries. I also improve comfort levels in water and reduce breathing rates and air consumption. This healthy state will also serve you well in your later years and give you a better quality life.

I believe that daily swimming should form part of every diver’s lifestyle and habits. I am not a free diver, but will start soon as I believe these skills and a better understanding of how your mind and body work, will only improve you as a scuba diver.

 

[tstormdiver]

I would say I fall somewhere towards the top. I was taught to swim as a baby, before I could walk. Mom & dad also made sure as kids my siblings & I went through more advanced swim lessons & we were active in competitive swimming for 5-6 summer seasons. During those years, we belonged to a swim club that was just around the corner from the house, we would spend our entire summers there. As an adult, I have continued to swim, as I can, but will not swim laps ( I got so burned out with the competitive swimming, I can't stand to stare at the bottom of a pool. It drives me crazy!). I learned going through my full cave course that I am not particualrly given to panic in most situations, I just work through the problems & abort the dive if needed.

A couple little sayings I learned from my cave instructor, that I try to pass along to my OW students: "The only emergency is when you take that last breath of air, all the rest is only an inconvenience" & "Air is time; time is air". I also remind them that the closest air supply is right there on their backs.

 

[Insta-Gator]

I'm very comfortable in the water and would not have a mental problem with having to swim for a while to get to shore. However, I've never been able to master the Australian Crawl (or whatever the typical freestyle stroke is called.) I supposed I'm just not that coordinated, but I always end up with water in my mouth after a short time. So, I swim with my face up, do the side stroke, breast stroke, back stroke, whatever it takes to get me from point A to point B. No hurry, no panic.
But getting back to Diver0001's comments, we've all learned how to optimize technology to accomplish what our minds and bodies will not or can not do. I won't go into naming a bunch of activities, but just take a moment to think about the technology you use in your daily life. Without the advancement of technology the SCUBA industry would be dead or relegated to the commercial and/or fool-hearty diver. Could/should we all be better skilled in the water? Yes. Should it be a concern or inhibitor to someone beginning the SCUBA adventure? NO.

 

[fresh_fish]

I never really learned how to swim, per-se, just kinda learned to fudge it as I went along. I am a slow swimmer, but if you put me in a pool for an hour, tell me I can't touch the side or the bottom, and make at least x number of laps, I can do it. No one said you have to be fast, you just have to be able to travel (to get to shore) and keep your head above the surface. I'm good at that!

I do try to work on my swimming skills as a dive comes near, if only for the fitness. If the "swimming muscles" are out of shape, I'll be a floater.

 

[Trace Malinowski]

This is going to sound like swearing in the church but I've seen a lot of Cousteau video and there is a *lot* of diving going on in those videos that would make the modern diver curl their toes.

Maybe in his day, freediving/swimming skills *were* more important than they are today but diving was different and divers were different than they are now. To project that mindset onto the population of contemporary scuba divers and judge them for not being like the old timers were is a bit of unfair judgment and perhaps a bit of romanticizing a bygone age.

(ie. what we have here is a bit of revisionist history....by modern standards a lot of the diving in the old days was alarmingly bad as can be seen on the video. It makes sense then, that in THAT context, being a good swimmer was going to save your butt some day....)

I think any question with regards to what level of swimming skill is needed today has to take into account the intended activities of the divers who are learning, the gear and "infrastructure" available to them etc etc. To take one element of diving "skill" out of context and making sweeping judgments about the diving population based on a comparison to some irrelevant context from the distant past and without accounting for 40 or 50 years of development is a little .... well ... ridiculous, really.

The strawman you're setting up here can be compared to saying that everyone who drives a car and doesn't wear his "driving goggles" is a bad driver because driving goggles were required safety equipment in some bygone age....

R..

Diver0001,

I'm going to bet that the poll results will show that most divers are quite comfortable with their swimming abilities whatever their level of training, experience or enthusiasm as swimmers.

I've recently attended several industry meetings in which divers are not being given enough credit for their abilities and motivation.

 

[BabyDuck]

i call bullsh!t - you weren't there at bts because i didn't see you!

i'm a totally nontrained very comfy swimmer - grew up on the water swimming every day, and chubby enough to float forever. i'd like to have some actual instruction someday & maybe improve my nonexistant technique.