[Turtle]

___In earlier times, I taught swimming. Numbers guy that I am, I once tried to calculate the number of people I taught to swim and came up with between 5 and 10 thousand.
___ Ben Franklin wrote one of the earliest works on the topic in the United States of America & by his and other accounts he taught himself to swim by sheer reason.
___I invite you to vote the poll as well as post your own experience with learning to swim.

[InfiniteNow]

The lifeguard took me out to the end of the dock at the pond near my home and asked "Can you swim?" I promptly replied, "No."

It was then that they pushed/threw me into the water and, after swallowing a few gallons of the pond, I swam back to the dock.

In their defense, they had another lifeguard in a row boat right beside us, and they did help me climb up. Been swimming ever since.

[Tarantism]

hehe i dont even remember learning how...i just can. strange, yes.

[infamous]

Living near The Lake of the Ozarks as a youth and spending much of my time hunting and fishing, I suppose it came rather natural for me to learn how to swim. I don't really even remember how young I was when my father taught me the basic technique of floating on my back. It wasn't too long after that that I learned how to swim..................those were the days.

[jkellmd]

I was just discussing this with a friend while visiting a derserted beach on Vieques island. Swimming is one of the most primal experiences available to humans. My friend and I theorize that any prolonged exposure to the classical elements brings profound peace to humans. Staring into a fire, visiting the beach (water), and being on an elevated spot (air) tend to produce profound peace - in us, at least.

I haven't figured out a perfect analogy for the earth element, and invite your opinions.

[bpjg2fat]

I took swimming lessons as a wee one.

[insight]

Yes, i did swim in pools, channels and rivers since my childhood. but i never swam for 3 or 4 years. I think i still remember it

[CraigD]

I have no memory of a time that I could not swim. My parents tell me I could head-up dog-paddle around the age or 3, and that I learned it after occasionally slipping off of my mom’s back, who was in the habit of swimming recreationally and to and from boats, sandbars, and nearby islands with me clinging there. Her mom did the same with her, and many people in their community (the Branford, CT, USA, area) report similar experiences.

Very primate-ish.

[Buffy]

Growing up a Valley Girl, there was rarely a weekend not spent at the beach. Even took up surfing cuz it was a great way to pick up guys (less competition out on the water girls! and then there's that weird effect it seems to have on them when you're taking off your wetsuit....).

In LA, there's also a pool in every backyard, so you don't really have a choice but to learn how to swim...

Knarly wave dude!
Buffy

[GAHD]

I learned swimming when I was 5-7. There was a weird belt system that we all had to go through starting at yellow, moving through orange, red, green, maroon, blue and 'ending' in white. There were additional CPR and lifeguard classes that you could take afterwards too(I didn't).

It's kinda funny that I learned to swim in a concrete rectangle, the beaches are only a few hours drive away but we never really left the city once we moved here.