Storm tracker thread

[cqaigy2]

I've been around people that don't understand how much a gallon of water weighs, and the effect of having many gallons of it running into you. More then i'd like to think and have had them thank me for saving their life after getting them off trees etc, and im not exactly fond of water.

Same with vehicles and driving through moving water.

I always wear flotation since i was young as i didn't float well in the water, had to constantly swim to keep mouth and or nose above water. My father was the same, if he stopped swimming, he would slowly sink, at least in fresh water that is. One place i didn't sink was in one of the soap lakes in Eastern Washington, it was a wonderful feeling to be able to stop moving and float, water taste pretty bad though.

 

[MossRoad]

I never swam in salt water until we went to Hawaii about 8 years ago. How can anyone drown in salt water? I had trouble diving down. I kept popping back up!

In swim class, our teachers would make us relax with our arms straight out to our sides and feet straight down. Generally, men would float right about eye level, their mouth and nose covered in water, while generally, women would float right about upper lip level, their nose being out of the water.

I've never, ever, met a person that would sink in just a swimsuit. If they tuck into a ball and bring their knees up to their chest and hold them with their arms and don't move, they all come back up to the top with just their back bobbing at the surface. Every last one of them that swore they couldn't float and I did this exercise with, they all came back up once they overcame the panic.

That being said, just because I haven't met anyone that doesn't float doesn't mean they don't exist.

I was a pretty skinny kid with about zero body fat when I was lifeguarding and even I'd float. I'd sometimes put a few rocks in my pockets when I'd skin dive just to make myself more neutral.