Where did you learn to swim?

[cr8crshr]

YMCA and the Big Lake, Lake Michigan. Swam long distances at Boy Scout Camp, Wabaningo in Michigan. Swam competitively in High School, Breast Stroke event. Swam in both the Atlantic and Pacific but prefer Pacific over Atlantic. Also swam at community pool when we lived in Ohio. Now I don't swim so much any more. I was one of the most qualified with swimming ability in USAF Water Survival School. So much so they had to order me out of the water because I was having a blast and acing the training...cr8crshr/Bill

 

[Dakar Timm]

My dad used to take us as far north into Canada as the roads would . We camped and ate fish,corned beef hash and Spam for weeks at a time . Learned to swim in the cold clear water by standing ona submerged rock and jumping off into deeper water . I still dive and swim any chance I can get

 

[patrick66]

Where did you learn to swim?

I'm gonna be a smartass here and say "in the water"!

OK, so it was in the local pool, which was maybe a mile walk away when I was a kid. Five years old or so. I do not like to swim, as it takes days to get water out from my ears, and it jacks up my equilibrium like nothing else!

That was what stopped me from signing up for the Navy, was the fact that having the ability to swim is pretty much mandatory. I can swim, but not great, and I was afraid I'd fail in Navy boot camp. Flying airplanes sounded like a better deal to me.

 

[Budnicks]

Fresh water IIRC

I'm not 100% sure that was the 1st or not
I think I may have learned in the doughboy pool
at my grammas house 1st, maybe 4-ish
I don't remember earlier than that
I don't really remember it much, at all
my older sisters tell me, they would drag me around in the water
on floaters or a vest, since I was a baby

But my 1st memory of actual swimming (sort of traumatic)
my dad threw me in (thanks dad)
it was only like 4'6" deep-ish
not sure what he was thinking, probably sink or swim maybe
not 100% sure what I did,
that 1st time was swimming without someone holding me
more like unsuccessful drowning...
I obviously survived & swam to the edge...
I was a fish from then on...
I do have 2 older sisters too, that were swimming too...

we always had boats too
we were really around water a lot
had a pool almost my whole life growing up
we'd do family trips to Pismo Beach or Santa Cruz a lot too
(before it was trashed/overrun)
I loved the ocean

until I moved to East of the Sonora area
(my neighbor has a nice pool)

------------------------------------------------------------

One good memory
I went there in a group, a swim club
to a huge place called Cowell Park
Huge facility, Olympic size public/municipal pool & park
in Concord Calif. off Cowell Rd.

I was diving off springboards at 5-6 y/o at Cowell Park
I think the 1st time off the 5 meters or 10 meters platform
was like 8 y/o
that was the earliest they'd even let me attempt it
my oldest sister (she was only 12) had to accompany me
the 1st few times
after that I was fearless

use to love surfing too, until I got too big for my board

 

[69a100]

I'm gonna be a smartass here and say "in the water"!

NO, not at all. You are the one being honest and truthful, that's to complicated for others!
It's like people ask will me where I'm from, I tell them, "My Mothers Womb", does that make me a liar or a smart-***??

 

[1967coronet]

Middle Coon river and several farm ponds.

 

[Hemi 354]

About the age of 8, I was sent to the YMCA for a weeklong activity. One of those activities was at the pool --and I was terrified. The instructor asked for a volunteer to demonstrate something.....NO takers, so he picked me. That was NOT my best day. The NAVY was OUT after that point. Later in the Air Force, I was buddying up with an older S/Sgt. from the Nav shop. Come to find out, he was a WSI (Water Safety Instructor) as well. He coached me, prodded, taught me the basics --- and finally got me into the pool on a regular basis at the base. Once I overcame most of my fear and could swim good, he had me doing things I would never have dreamed of. In the deep end of the pool, he blindfolded me and tied my hands behind my back, and IN I went. My task was to keep from drowning for at least 10 minutes. I learned how to bob up and down in the water. When coming back up from the bottom and my head broke the surface of the water, you had to throw you head back and grab a breath of air. Luckily, I listened and did as instructed.

My training from my friend resulted in me becoming a Sr. Life Guard at the various bases I was stationed.

 

[Brandy]

About the age of 8, I was sent to the YMCA for a weeklong activity. One of those activities was at the pool --and I was terrified. The instructor asked for a volunteer to demonstrate something.....NO takers, so he picked me. That was NOT my best day. The NAVY was OUT after that point. Later in the Air Force, I was buddying up with an older S/Sgt. from the Nav shop. Come to find out, he was a WSI (Water Safety Instructor) as well. He coached me, prodded, taught me the basics --- and finally got me into the pool on a regular basis at the base. Once I overcame most of my fear and could swim good, he had me doing things I would never have dreamed of. In the deep end of the pool, he blindfolded me and tied my hands behind my back, and IN I went. My task was to keep from drowning for at least 10 minutes. I learned how to bob up and down in the water. When coming back up from the bottom and my head broke the surface of the water, you had to throw you head back and grab a breath of air. Luckily, I listened and did as instructed.

My training from my friend resulted in me becoming a Sr. Life Guard at the various bases I was stationed.

Been there, done that. SERE School. Also Roll Over training for Hummer safety where you get into a shell on a pivot and they roll you and your crew upside down and simulate a firefight outside. Got to get out and get to gettin!...tons o fun...

 

[Hikin Mike]

Learned to swim at Holiday Hills, the local pool in Plum Borough, PA. I swam for their swim team for 10 years.

 

[64BEL]

My Dad taught me to swim in Thompson's Lake in Thacher State Park in upstate New York in the '60s.