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Comment by angstrom | Hacker News Reader

I could spot the person fairly easily, but that's either luck or because I can't swim, so I was looking for the person doing what I would be doing.

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Please learn to swim. It's never too late. Plus, it's fun. Plus, it's classy. Plus, you won't be caught "in over your head" (sorry) in situations like this. Humans are meant to learn to swim IMHO. The instinctive response is just a "stub" that is expected to be built upon, similar to language ability and crawling->walking and other human things. (Humans don't naturally walk unless they are taught to, did you know that? Source: Sadly, a handful of humans were raised by other animals over the years, and none of them walked naturally when discovered.)

When I went to Cornell, learning to swim was a mandatory requirement. If you didn't pass the "swim 2 laps" swim test they gave you right off the bat, your first assigned P.E. class would be a swim class. (Apparently, one of the large Cornell donors stipulated this as part of his donation. Possibly, someone in their immediate family had died due to lack of being able to swim.)

You say you don't look good in a bathing suit? Swimming will teach you not to care. Hell, if you're heavy, staying close to the water surface is actually easier. And you can get great exercise WITHOUT putting the stress on your joints that pretty much every other exercise will do to you if you're heavy. (Note: I'm a bit overweight, so I get it. I get it.)

Did I mention it's fun? If you're an adult, you will feel like a kid again.

You say you don't live near a coast? Well, when you go on vacation and are near a beach, you can actually go into the water fearlessly! And surely, there's a pool of some sort nearby.

Don't be afraid. Don't care what others think. Please consider it.

How does one learn to swim with small feet? I tried to learn how to swim multiple times when I was a youth (grade school, middle school, high school). I could never grasp it and would always end up flailing my legs or slowly sinking. It was quite traumatic :)

Flippers. Flippers magnify your kick strength, you have NO IDEA by how much (like literally it must be 10x or more). They're inexpensive, and there's no shame in having them. They're easy to put on and take off.

I also scuba dive, and flippers are a necessity in that circumstance. There is a MASSIVE difference in propulsion with flippers. Since you can encounter currents in open water scuba diving, they're a lifesaver. (Scuba is super cool too, btw. But that's like... super advanced swimming. Baby steps.)

Also, arm strength. I actually think most of my propulsion when swimming comes from my arms, not my legs (I'm not saying this is the most efficient... it's just what I do... I never said I was a PERFECT swimmer, lol). Hold your fingers together in like a shallow "cup" shape, push front to back, then either lift them out of the water back to the front OR do what I do when I breast stroke and just point your fingers forward and push them through the water back in front of you in as "waterdynamic" a shape as you can figure out. And then reform the cup with your fingers/hands and push yourself through the water again.

> (Scuba is super cool too, btw. But that's like... super advanced swimming. Baby steps.)

I've met more than one scuba diver who were weak swimmers but avid divers. To your previous point, flippers turn a weak swimmer into > an olympian.

Additional comment:

I did some googling and found these fins designed specifically for pool lap swimming: https://myswimpro.com/blog/2018/03/01/8-benefits-of-swimming...

They're smaller than your traditional "scuba" style fins but probably still WAY more effective than your feet alone.

They look fun! Wow, now I want to swim again. So fun. lol

Experiment! Google! Have fun! Ignore haters! Let go of your negative experiences!

You don't really need your feet to swim. In my personal experience when swimming most propulsion comes from my hands, not my feet. Once you can tread water with just your arms you'll have plenty of time to figure out how to swim with your feet without having to worry about sinking.

I've found the same (I think most of my propulsion is from my hands) but I always assumed I was doing it less efficiently (but didn't care)

Are you talking about small feet now? In general, I don’t really think foot size is all that important for swimming. Especially if you’re kicking.

People that can swim can do so without using their feet or legs.

There are paralympic swimmers with no arms or legs who can swim a length faster than me, and I'm a competent swimmer. I wouldn't worry about your foot size.

I parsed that on first read as "no (arms or legs)" instead of "(no arms) || (no legs)" and was very surprised!

I did the same thing..

Found the programmer :)

Your first read was correct, there's a guy with no limbs and he's surprisingly fast!

Larger feet are a genetic advantage for swimming but are in no way required.

Like most other sports there is a body type that is advantaged in swimming.

- Tall overall height (max speed is limited by length at water line just like boats)

- Lower than usual ratio for torso length to leg length

- Large feet

- Long arms (positive ape index)

- Large hands

Michael Phelps is a perfect example of this.

Then you still need to think, to avoid getting caught in tough water with a muscle cramp, or getting caught by seaward currents during tides, etc, etc. So, yes, it's good to know how to swim, so that you can survive immediately after getting into water, but it doesn't automatically make you bulletproof safe in water :)

Thank you for this. Swimming is a basic human activity and everyone should know how to swim, at least to a "I won't drown at a pool party" level. It's like not knowing how to ride a bike.. it's really not that hard to learn, and there are no good excuses for an adult to not know how to.

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