thank you so much ! <| sep |> I took mandatory swimming lessons at school and I still cant swim . If someone is deathly afraid of large bodies of water , no amount of swimming lessons will help . Its not a matter of learning a new skill its a psycological fear . Unfortunately most swimming instructors are just thatswimming instructors ! They are not equipped to with the adequate training to teach people how to get over their psycological fears . At 29 I still dont know how to swim , but I LOVE going to the beach . I don ' t go into the water pass my knees and I never ever go on boats or yachts . Its such a deep fear that , for me , the scariest part of flying is looking out the window and seeing only water beneath . I hate driving on bridges simple because I know whats underneath . So the inability to swim for many isnt that they weren ' t taught . A lot of it lies in crippling fear that most of us cant seem to get over . May his soul rest in peace .