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Comment by sandworm101 | Hacker News Reader

Top 25% doesn't sound all that great given how many are totally incapable of running a mile in any time. I once looked up my swimming pace for a typical workout (15min x 5km). That's well within the top 0.1%. Navy SEALs dont swim that well. But given that probably less than 1% of the general population swim any laps regularly, it isnt saying much.

Fyi, if you want to feel good about your swimming, lookup the youtube vids of the navy seals swimming standards. I know 12yo kids who could pass them. Their pace wouldnt even qualify for the 'fast' lane at my local lap pool (50m/minute).

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SEAL operators aren't selected for pure speed - they want the guy who is capable of swimming 20 miles after being awake for 48 hours, if that were to be necessary. There's a (high) baseline level of fitness, but more than that it's about insane willpower, esprit de corps, and ability to handle stressful situations.

Most of those who I know, who are in SF units can do a mile in under 6 minutes.

Ive had this discuss with drill a instructor. He asked, barring hypothermia, how far a competative swimmer could go before drowning. My estimate is something like 100km. Swimming slowly, say 0.5m/second, is easier than walking for such people. They would be dead of dehydration before they drown.

Your statement about 12 yo kids is an understatement - while I'm plodding along doing 50m every 45 sec (admittedly over a distance), the 12 year olds from my local club are leaving me standing. They're probably aiming towards 50m in around 30 sec.

I'm sure the special forces guys are much bigger and heavier than that and as another commenter said, speed will not be their top priority.

50m in under 30, and 100m under 60, are a sort of baselines for when swimming gets serious.

In the SEALs defense, such speeds are horribly inefficient for even the best swimmers. Water gets very thick, with each second below those times requiring a redoubling of efforts. Seals care mote about distance and survival than speed.

Wow! That seems like a pretty slow swimming pace to anyone who has swam in a competitive settings. It is shocking that that pace is top 0.1% of swimmers.

But your observation seems accurate, not many people swim.

45s/lap for 5km, the swimming version of a half marathon, isnt slow.

If you have ever swam in a competitive setting (a swimming race), then you are aware that 45s/lap IS, in fact, a very slow pace.

7 year old me would destroy 30 year old me in the pool.

15 min x 5km

I'm a reasonable swimmer but this really confused me. I assume you meant 15 min x 5 because 15 x 5 KM would be insane.

1km in 15minutes, five times in a row. My freestyle cruising pace is 45s/lap. In reality, my routine is slower than that due to drills, kicking, and other strokes. But on occassion i do 5 or 10 km of freestyle just to time myself.

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