On Wed, 11 Jun 2008 11:15:49 +0100, Stephen wrote:

> On 10 Jun 2008 19:54:54 -0400, Jim Henderson <nos### [at] nospamcom> wrote:
> 
> 
>>Heh, the funniest thing is that I was the fastest swimmer in my normal
>>swimming classes, so I took up speed swimming.  Came in dead last in the
>>only swim meet I ever competed in - and I got sick from the smell of the
>>chlorine all day long (my events were at the end of the day).
> 
> My funniest swimming pool experience was when I was doing a helicopter
> escape course. Now I'm not the best swimmer in the world and I tend to
> float feet down with only the top inch or so of my head a above water.
> When I put on an inflatable life jacket and jumped into the pool. I when
> straight down to the bottom and could not swim up to the surface. There
> I was thinking how embarrassing it would be if I had to put the jacket
> over my head and pop the gas bottle when a couple of the divers hauled
> me up to the surface and dragged me to the dunker (helicopter cabin,
> mock up).

LOL, that's a good one.  In the lifesaving course I took, we had to 
recover from being in a canoe that was overturned while fully clothed.  
Treading water is a bit more difficult because of the additional weight, 
but you can fashion a very good floatation device out of a shirt or a 
pair of pants if the fabric is kept wet.

>>Oh, and I managed to perforate an eardrum during my very brief stint in
>>springboard diving.
> 
> And I managed to pull a muscle in my arm climbing an escape net wearing
> a survival suit that had filled with water. (Cheap gear and too big.) My
> arm still gives me trouble today even after 15 years :(

Ouch.  I do occasionally have trouble with my hearing.  They did a graft 
(so I can honestly say "sorry, I can't hear you - I've got a leg in my 
ear!" - the skin used in the graft came from my left thigh, as I 
recall).  The doctors were fairly amazed, though, that I didn't test with 
any degredation in my hearing.

But my advice regarding perforating an eardrum and then continuing to 
swim:  Don't.  It is without a doubt the single most painful thing that 
has ever happened to me.  I've broken bones (my wrist and my leg, both 
once), but chlorinated water on the auditory nerve far, far outstrips the 
pain of breaking a bone.

Jim

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