Am I an Oddity? I sink!

[doomey!]

Whenever I go swimming when instructed to float, I sink.

This has always been the case much to the frustaration and bamboozlement of swimming coaches.

Aparantly floating is a natural ability for humans, am I a unique being? Or is there a reason why I do not float, ie too many meaty pies?

Thanks In Advance.
Doomey

[WaldoMcFroog]

Certainly not the pies - fat floats! Perhaps you do something like exhale and then hold your breath? The air in your lungs greatly aids your boyancy.

Alternatively, are your bones made of adamantium, like X-men's Wolverine? That'd be a disadvantage, I imagine...

[Loosehead]

The inescapable conclusion is that: You're dense!

As above fat people float, so you have a high body density, often given as the same reason why the negroid body type are hardly ever top swimmers, ie too much energy spent "not sinking" as opposed to forward propulsion. The same reason they are great athletes.

[heathfield]

Doomey, you are not alone - a friend of mine has the same problem. He's so skinny that he could take a shower in a shot-gun barrel and not get the sides wet!

[doomey!]

I am not dense, I just resemble that remark.

[stoo_pid]

You're not alone doomey. I sink too. I can swim & tread water & so on, but soon as I stop moving, I'm under. I'm no porker but I'm certainly not skinny either. Maybe we're just heavy-boned!

[boobesque]

when i was young i could star float for ages but now i can float for a few seconds before i feel my feet go down with the rest of me following.

good job giving yourself a star rating

[doomey!]

I thought my answer was a five star answer!! ;)

[foulecamp]

is it the same for salt and fresh? I float in salt water, in fresh I go down like the Titanic - and yes, I'm overweight.

[AGENT X]

in my case I am 5'2 and weigh 250, very solid lots of muscle and fat. I sink and after realising this i investigated further and when i was put in water and did the body fat test I had a much greater amount of muscle than anyone had expected and learned that It is almost impossible for me to float/tread water because nature just made me negativly bouant.

[BillyBB]

I always used to sink but now I seem to have some bouyancy around the middle.

Try kebabs for every meal with lots of chocolate snacks in between and no exercise for the fast track to floating.

[coffeeman]

Everyone has a centre of gravity that we use on land..but we also have a centre of bouyancy that we use in water....

when these points are in a vertical line you will float

as long as there is air in your lungs and the water is deep enough your body will stop sinking...but this may mean you will be floating underwater in a deep enough pool...

in rather large fat people the distance betweeen centre of gravity and centre of bouyancy is short...hence they find floating quite easy..

[doomey!]

So in short, I should go on a burger king only diet?

[Bert]

Coffeeman, I quite like your idea of "floating underwater" - isn't that what most people call sinking, or, in the case of non-aquatic life-forms, drowning? Doomey will only "float underwater" if his density is exactly 1 gram per cc. If he's denser he will sink, if he is less dense he will "float", i.e some part of his body will be above the surface of the water. If he can just arrange for that part to include his nose or his mouth, he will not drown.

[heavy hubby]

my husband has the same problem. i never believed that he really could not swim until i "swam" with him last night. we tried comparing our floating vs. sinking rate and he sunk like a rock while i would float much longer. neither of us are overweight. he just must be very dense. he tried swimming and he was doing everything right, except that he sunk! i guess that some people just aren't made to float!

[doomey!]

I wouldnt let your husband catch you calling him dense, other wise you might be looking for a new husband... how you doin' ?