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Here is a question for you for an FP I'm composing
Can you swim?
Do you swim regularly?
Are you a strong swimmer?
Would you have any difficulty in swimming 5km in open water with waves?
Obviously there is a theme here
Thanks, Paul
Yes, But too old for that shit.
No, see above.
Meh, but see # two answer
yes, but way too old for that shit.
Umm what is the theme..
Everybody has to believe in something and I believe in Fly fishing and Fly tying and believe I will.
As in the army I have never had a bad day fly fishing, some damn uncomfortable days but never a bad one.
Paul to build up stamina try the Canadian Infantry trick of swimming with weapons and 80lb rucksack and yes I have done it and yes I survived, the first bit of panic is like your first snorkel or dive !!
Ohh yes wearing that damn helmet, not the Kevlar ones from today the stupid metal one!!!
Everybody has to believe in something and I believe in Fly fishing and Fly tying and believe I will.
As in the army I have never had a bad day fly fishing, some damn uncomfortable days but never a bad one.
1. Yes, i can swim.
2. No, i don't swim regularly at all.
3. No, i'm definitely not a strong swimmer.
5. Yes, 5km sounds like a lot.
6. Yes, i had lessons from a professional coach when i was a teenager. I was never any good though.
I'm looking forward to your FP Paul, sounds interesting!
1. Yes, I can swim.
2. Not since I moved to the South Island (about 9 years ago) but before that I swam a lot. I used to live on an island then :-)
3. My fitness isn't what it was and swimming uses muscles you don't seem to use a lot otherwise. However I'm confident of my swimming abilities and could swim out of pretty much any situation I'm likely to find myself in.
4. Due to fitness I couldn't swim it steadily but I think I could keep myself going for that far with floating rests. I used to swim quite long distances in the sea, up to 1 km or so. Could have swum further but it was too boring :-).
5. I've never done competitive swimming, but I was taught to swim by a professional instructor when I was a kid. Lots of NZ kids were. We also used to learn to swim at school although that was usually taught by our teacher, sometimes the PE teacher. We did swimming lessons pretty much right through school, in the warmer months. At my high school we had an outdoor pool but it was also right by the sea so we often swam in the sea too.
On a somewhat related note, it seems much less common for kids to be taught to swim now. A lot of schools don't have pools anymore because of the cost and also problems with supervision. It's a real shame because learning to swim has always been such a big part of growing up in NZ. Not something everyone looked forward too :-), but at least most people learnt to swim. I believe in recent years the number of drownings has increased because fewer people are learning to swim in school.
Yes I learned to swim at school too Jo, but not very well and I hated everything about it. About the age of 8 I was rescued from the sea by a life guard (not Pam Anderson, but a bloke, so that was a bit of a balls up). I don't think I was going to drown but I certainly wasn't getting any closer to shore! I only learned to swim properly as an adult.
Which reminds me I'd like to do a life saving course this year. I think that would be a useful skill to have.
