How strong a swimmer do you need to be to dive

[D Powell]

I know this probably sounds like a stupid question however friends of mine that have dived have said you dont need to be a strong swimmer at all.

I would of thought if you are going to spend between 1/2 an hour and an hour underwater at any one time this wouldnt be the case.

I dont start my PADI for a month so please forgive my rather daft question. :fro:

 

[TSandM]

I suppose it might depend on why you dive. People who hunt might need to swim fast for some periods of time, but those of us who are underwater tourists are FAR better off hardly swimming at all . . . just moving the fins enough to keep a steady, gentle motion, or to hover and watch.

Long swims occur on the surface (but one tries to avoid them) or diving against current (which one tries to avoid as well).

I think anybody who gets in water over their head is well served by whatever swimming skills they can have. I am not a strong swimmer at all, and I can imagine that getting me into trouble if I were incautious with regards to the water conditions where I was intending to dive.

 

[Dive-aholic]

TSandM provides a good practical response. Most diving doesn't require you to swim much at all. An occasional fin kick will move you along just fine. However, conditions may warrant more swimming than that. But swimming underwater while breathing is much different than swimming on the surface, which, BTW, you may have to do to get to your dive site from shore or to the boat at the end of the dive if you surface away from it. You don't have to be an olympic swimmer.

The technical response to get certified as a PADI OW diver is 200 meters without stopping to rest or 300 meters with mask, snorkel, fins, again without stopping, and a 10 minute float in water too deep to stand in. These aren't difficult skills to complete, but you must complete them during the confined water portion of your course.

 

[dbulmer]

DPowell,

Being a strong swimmer won't do you any harm ! As other posters have stated underwater you'll generally take it easy but one thing I would suggest is that your general fitness needs to be ok. In the UK you'll be carrying your own tank to the boat or from a carpark to a quarry. On boat dives you'll typically go down a shotline (basically a line down from the boat to a wreck - in UK conditions it's the most reliable way to get to the wreck) and sometimes because of weather/sea conditions you might enter the water a little distance from the shotline so you'll need to get there.

That said the hardest part is usually getting out of the drink and climbing onto a ladder to re-enter the boat or getting back onto a RIB (RIB=Rigid Inflatable Boat) or shlepping your gear back to the car park.

(Tip: the smart divers go on boats with lifts )

 

[cummings66]

IMO swimming on the surface and under it are two totally different things. I am a pretty good swimmer and I suspect the only thing I've gained from that is a slightly better than newbie SAC rate which is about .48 right now. Being a swimmer helps a bit after you learn to dive because you can use it to stay in shape.

Swimming with fins is harder on the leg muscles and I would suggest that you hop in the water right now with fins, mask and snorkel and go to town with it. This will help condition your leg muscles to using the fins and help you get your breathing under control.

The answer as to why you don't need to be a good swimmer to be a certified diver is because of how you have to do that surface swim. It's not a timed event nor is it scored, you can use whatever stroke you want to complete it or even combinations of them. I had hurt my shoulder and could not do the crawl stroke or any stroke that required my arms to assist in anything other than a token manner, so I did the swimming test on my back and finished nearly last when I had to do mine. The underwater swim did hurt me somewhat and it was a good thing it was the last swim test. So at the time I was a poor swimmer due to injury and I did fine.

Being a swimmer is of benefit to diving and if you can't swim well it doesn't cost much to go to the local Y and get a few lessons. You can start out in diving as a poor swimmer, but diving and swimming are fun activities when you're absolutely confident of your abilities and I would encourage anybody who's so so to get additional instruction. When I go on diving vacations I swim like a fiend the first day before diving, and then I float and play with my almost 3 year old daughter the rest of the days. That to me is as fun as diving is and adds to the enjoyment. Few do the same from what I've observed, but I love the water no matter where in it I am.

 

[Paco]

I think I read it here on scubaboard somewhere that someone once compared swimming to diving as one would compare running a marathon to a stroll through an art museum. On the surface you go fast and work at it; under water you just hang and look at stuff. This said, swimming skills are still important at the surface and for emergency situations.

 

[jonnythan]

You don't have to be a strong swimmer.

What do you have to be is very comfortable in water, particularly bobbing around with your head under.

 

[jonnythan]

BTW, here is what it looks like underwater (if you're good) (you need Quicktime):

http://www.divetekadventures.com/Videos/Videofrogkick1.htm

As you can see, this isn't very akin to swimming at all.

 

[wreckchick]

As far as I've been able to tell, the number one indicator of success in certification and enjoyment in scuba diving is comfort in the water. Does that mean you have to be able to swim the English Channel? No. The better a swimmer a person is, the more likely he/she is to be at ease in the water and the better the chances of enjoying diving.

Rachel

 

[chip104]

Hi D Powell, welcome to SB!

I agree with cummings. Get your fins and go to town with them. IMO it is nice to have good finning skills (but not neccessary) when scuba diving.

Other than that, I also don't think it is neccessary to have strong swimming skills. But I am glad that I had prior knowledge in using fins before I took the OW course (You'll also be able to practice your finning in class, but having prior knowledge helped me concentrate on other skills such as my buoyancy).

Have fun with your OW course!