Drownings in the area (Boston: transport, health, rating)

[bostongymjunkie]

From the people who brought you the outdoor mask mandate.

[msRB311]

Well it's too bad because these drowning might ruin it for others trying to find a place to cool off for a swim. Not that I don't feel awful for the people who drowned and their families. Horrifying.

[lvmensch]

Well two anecdotes.

In the second half of my life I was almost free of drowning concerns. I have been known to nap in the pool. In fact my only concern was banging my head on the pool edge.

My two older daughters learned to swim in The Natatorium in downtown Rochester NY. In the middle of the Rochester winter. We discovered by chance that the Natatorium was basically unused in the evening during the winter. Still open until 9:00 but virtually no customers. So me and my two toddlers took advantage and had a wonderful winter. A couple of nice ladies worked there and would see to the changing of clothes and such. And then the whole pool staff helped in getting the two to swim. And after a couple of months the toddlers were not great swimmers but they would be very difficult to drown. Both could come off the dive and reach the shallow water with no trouble.

The other was my second wife after the passing on of the first. She was originally a Saskatchewan farm girl and could not swim a stroke. We checked around and a neighbor led us to a wonderful swim instructor...she actually held the best time for men and women in swimming the English Channel when she was 13. And she never stopped swimming long distances. She would accompany us to Santa Catalina where we would moor in a west end harbor.

There it happened. Sweet wife jumped off our boat and swam to a good friends boat 30 yards away.

A few times after that the swimming instructor and I would do coastal swims. Relatively cold water so I would wear a wet suit but she would have on nothing but a skimpy one piece suit. And that would lure many of the brave but not too smart. We would do a half mile or so down the coast nd then back. It was pretty safe as either of us could tow a couple of people to shore and if we double up we could haul a person in big trouble.

So with a little training drowning is unlikely.

[lrfox]

Kind of ridiculous to straight ban swimming (even just “open water” swimming). Free lessons are great, but restricting swimming seems like overkill.

[msRB311]

Yes. The drownings have increased but plenty of people are swimming responsibly.

[timberline742]

Originally Posted by lrfox

Kind of ridiculous to straight ban swimming (even just “open water” swimming). Free lessons are great, but restricting swimming seems like overkill.

The distance swimming community is enraged by this right now. My feed is full of it.

There was also a decision by a swimming world body to ban caps designed for women of color from the Olympics that has people up in arms.

[CaseyB]

There is currently a petition up at Change.org about Walden. They are looking for 5,000 signatures, already have half that.

[BostonMike7]

I signed.

[justyouraveragetenant]

I sometimes swim at Walden . I'm curious. How big of an area is sectioned off for swimming. They had a kid section where most people avoided it's to small and crowded to swim. Did they extend the swimming section or did they keep the same area with ropes? I did not need to learn to swim I did it naturally I wonder how many are like me. How many other swimming areas are restricted. No one will go to Walden if there is no room to swim.

I signed the petition.

[justyouraveragetenant]

Ya it looks like you can't swim at all at Walden the roped off area is too crowded and small.

Webster, 70, says the Walden ban effectively restricts swimming entirely, since the small areas roped off for swimming and monitored by lifeguards are crowded with people splashing and bathing.

That's from a article I read and lots of people are pissed.https://www.wbur.org/news/2021/07/03...swimmers-react