Treading water for 10 minutes - how hard can it be?

[RJP]

you can't teach someone who already knows everything.

all my life I have tried to convince floaters that I don't float and have received the same statements time and again, that I must be doing something wrong or not relaxing, etc.

I simply do not float.

You've missed my point. My point was that even if you are negative, it's not that hard to tread water, and that there seems to actually be an inverse relationship between "treading effort" and "treading efficiency."

 

[lowviz]

Gawd, I have to agree with RJP.

Way back in my 'learn to swim, YMCA days' I saw a true sinker walking on the bottom of the pool. A highly informed young 'chippie', KB, said no worries. You fight like a daemon for every inch of body you want above the surface.

Why fight it? Relax, head back, arms out, gentle sculling, just go with the nose and mouth.

Check with Jim Lapenta on this, I almost fell asleep in his rescue course during the mandatory 10 min survival float...

 

[g1138]

~there seems to actually be an inverse relationship between "treading effort" and "treading efficiency."

Bingo, flailing and quick movements are a sure way to sink below your noggin.

 

[eelnoraa]

To the sinkers, when you say you are negative, do you 1) sink to the bottom of the pool? Or 2) just can't flow with any body part above water? Remeber, this is when holding full breath and motionless.

If you are 1) is truely negative. If you are 2), chances are you are barely fully submerged, but you are at the surface. You are actually positive or neutral in this case.

I asked this because I used to be a life guard and swiming lesson assistance in an Asian country. 99% of the people I came across belongs to 2). Very rarely, I see 1), but I have seen some.

I am 2) myself in flesh water. When I exhaul, about half way, I start to sink. In salt water, I don't sink even full exhaul, but I still can't float with my head out of water.

Many people think they are sinking because they can NOT float with their heads out of water. But in fact, in order to be able to stick your head out of water and breath, you need to be significantly positive. Just a observation from my early career.

As for treading water for 10 minutes, I think it is tougher mentally than physically. 10 minutes is a long time if you don't have any distraction. Being able to, say watch TV, talking to someone .. take your mind out of it, make the whole thing easier.

 

[Slmason.72]

I go straight to the bottom, even with a full breath if I am not moving. That doesn't mean I can't tread water for 10 min... Relaxed on my back and sculling with my hands, I can stay up with no problem.

 

[nimoh]

It seems to me that the average person is barely positive, i.e. when floating motionless with full lungs, their face is just out of the water, while most of their head is submerged. It seems reasonable that a large number of people would be just under the positive buoyancy threshhold, and some even very negative.

Why would anyone make an assumption that with respect to buoyancy, all human bodies are the same when there are so many other variations in size and shape?

 

[jonnythan]

To the sinkers, when you say you are negative, do you 1) sink to the bottom of the pool? Or 2) just can't flow with any body part above water? Remeber, this is when holding full breath and motionless.

Sink to the bottom.

 

[socaljohn]

there seems to actually be an inverse relationship between "treading effort" and "treading efficiency."

You are quite right here about less effort-more efficiency... The most effortless tread is the "egg-beater" kick which I learned playing water polo in high school. You don't even use your hands. It was unnatural and hard to learn but has become automatic for me when in a pool or ocean without fins. (I need to try it with fins though I imagine it will increase the effort to do it) I imagine I can tread water for hrs if I needed to. I often wondered why this is not taught in every swim class, though it could be amount of practice it takes to become automatic. Here is a how-to-How to Swim : How to Do an Eggbeater Kick - YouTube

 

[nimoh]

You are quite right here about less effort-more efficiency... The most effortless tread is the "egg-beater" kick which I learned playing water polo in high school. You don't even use your hands. It was unnatural and hard to learn but has become automatic for me when in a pool or ocean without fins. (I need to try it with fins though I imagine it will increase the effort to do it) I imagine I can tread water for hrs if I needed to. I often wondered why this is not taught in every swim class, though it could be amount of practice it takes to become automatic. Here is a how-to-How to Swim : How to Do an Eggbeater Kick - YouTube

I couldn't agree more...even with the part about playing water polo in high school, since I did too

 

[Rich Keller]

Most people are either neutral or positively buoyant, there are a few that are naturally negative but that is rare. With a lung full of air a neutral person will be buoyant and empty you are negative. If you only exhale half of your lung capacity and then inhale again as you float upright you face will remain out of the water without you doing anything else. This can be done with your hands and feet tied, you do not have to move a mussel to stay a float for hours. The mistake most people make is trying to keep their approximately 14 lb head out of the water when it is only your face that needs to remain above the surface. This is a survival swimming technique that will allow you to stay afloat for as long as you can remain awake. This was taught as part of OW courses before BCDs were invented but I do not think it is a part of any scuba course today. This was also part of the OW course so you could get yourself weighted properly without a BCD.