You may not have read my Sunday post on the Aubrey/Maturin series, but Jack Aubrey, the captain in the series, is an avid swimmer... but is put off from his pastime after a local guide dives into local waters and is immediately eaten by sharks (this in the Suez).
The great thing about the series is that is really roams around the world -- right now, I'm in Polynesian waters with the good captain. The danger mainly comes from fellow humans here, and not other aquatic animals.
I was a summer lifeguard from 1970 until 1975 at both pools and lakes. I had the Red Cross Life Safety and Water Safety Instructor credentials. I was young and strong and was a competitive swimmer.
I have never had to rescue a white person (ever) but I have rescued many black people of all ages. It is a commonplace among lifeguards that black people have a higher specific gravity than white people and that this is unrelated to body type. Yes, this makes no biological sense but it is a common observation. I think that one reason so few black people know how to swim is this condition: they tend to sink while whites tend to float. I would be interested to see if the actuarial data supports this hypothesis.
I will look up the stats by demographics for drowning deaths in a future post, but one of the biggest issues is whether you go swimming or not. I grew up in Georgia and the Carolinas, before I moved to New York as an adult, so I have a history.
As a little kid, I was in Savannah, Georgia and we often went to Tybee Beach. I never swam in the ocean (who the hell swims in the ocean?!) -- there were jellyfish and all sorts of scary things in there! The point of the beach was building sandcastles! Swimming was at the pool at the YMCA!
As an adult, I went to the Virgin Islands and finally swam in the "ocean", but that's very different from what I saw in Savannah.
I may turn this into my next podcast episode... I have a whole history re: drowning, which is why I have a little bit of sensitivity around this topic... though I love being on the water, and even in the water.
I was a lifeguard in Fairfax County at a few swimming pool and a large public lake (a black lagoon with zero visibility). I taught young black people how to swim (they sank). The lake was patronized by many blacks whom I had to watch like a hawk because the young men would wade in over their head and disappear. I had to dive in and search the area where they disappeared. I rescued maybe five or six large men this way.
Fairfax County in Virginia? I'm familiar w/ that area -- I went to school in Howard County, Maryland for a few years in addition to my childhood in Georgia & the Carolinas (my dad worked for IBM and we got moved around a bit.)
I always hated swimming in the lakes of the southeast for the low visibility and slimy bottoms. There were always a few schoolkid drowning deaths each year from just messing about in the lakes. You wouldn't necessarily notice when a kid went under.
How many people can swim? I much prefer pools to the beach. Sharkphobia I have. You don't have to warm me about rip tides twice!
You may not have read my Sunday post on the Aubrey/Maturin series, but Jack Aubrey, the captain in the series, is an avid swimmer... but is put off from his pastime after a local guide dives into local waters and is immediately eaten by sharks (this in the Suez).
The great thing about the series is that is really roams around the world -- right now, I'm in Polynesian waters with the good captain. The danger mainly comes from fellow humans here, and not other aquatic animals.
I was a summer lifeguard from 1970 until 1975 at both pools and lakes. I had the Red Cross Life Safety and Water Safety Instructor credentials. I was young and strong and was a competitive swimmer.
I have never had to rescue a white person (ever) but I have rescued many black people of all ages. It is a commonplace among lifeguards that black people have a higher specific gravity than white people and that this is unrelated to body type. Yes, this makes no biological sense but it is a common observation. I think that one reason so few black people know how to swim is this condition: they tend to sink while whites tend to float. I would be interested to see if the actuarial data supports this hypothesis.
What location was this?
I will look up the stats by demographics for drowning deaths in a future post, but one of the biggest issues is whether you go swimming or not. I grew up in Georgia and the Carolinas, before I moved to New York as an adult, so I have a history.
As a little kid, I was in Savannah, Georgia and we often went to Tybee Beach. I never swam in the ocean (who the hell swims in the ocean?!) -- there were jellyfish and all sorts of scary things in there! The point of the beach was building sandcastles! Swimming was at the pool at the YMCA!
As an adult, I went to the Virgin Islands and finally swam in the "ocean", but that's very different from what I saw in Savannah.
I may turn this into my next podcast episode... I have a whole history re: drowning, which is why I have a little bit of sensitivity around this topic... though I love being on the water, and even in the water.
I was a lifeguard in Fairfax County at a few swimming pool and a large public lake (a black lagoon with zero visibility). I taught young black people how to swim (they sank). The lake was patronized by many blacks whom I had to watch like a hawk because the young men would wade in over their head and disappear. I had to dive in and search the area where they disappeared. I rescued maybe five or six large men this way.
Fairfax County in Virginia? I'm familiar w/ that area -- I went to school in Howard County, Maryland for a few years in addition to my childhood in Georgia & the Carolinas (my dad worked for IBM and we got moved around a bit.)
I always hated swimming in the lakes of the southeast for the low visibility and slimy bottoms. There were always a few schoolkid drowning deaths each year from just messing about in the lakes. You wouldn't necessarily notice when a kid went under.
Southern lakes: water moccasins and copperheads.