"When David Warr was 11 he thought he was dying. At his school swimming lesson, he jumped in and swam then realised with horror that his feet couldn't feel the bottom. He recalls his teacher, standing on the side of the pool, shouting at him to just swim and his own immobilising fear. I thought, I can't. I don't know what to do.' I started to panic hard. I thought, She's going to let me die.'"
"Warr runs a tea and coffee business and also works as a politician; he's a deputy for the St Helier South district. He doesn't go on holiday often, but last year he and his wife visited Norway and stayed in a hotel on a lake. The water was murky and dark. There were no shallows. Warr's wife swam; he dipped in a toe. I thought, I'm not going in there. I don't trust myself.'"
"They met at the bottom of a slipway. Warr put on goggles and a hat. All the gear, and no idea. In the first lesson, he practised floating. After a few sessions, he became more confident, but he still couldn't go out of his depth. When Minty-Gravett asked him to jump off the slipway into the deep, it was the most fearful moment Here I come you can kill me now, kind of thing, he s"
At age 11 David Warr nearly drowned during a school swimming lesson when his feet could not feel the pool bottom and panic set in. For five decades he avoided deep water, wading only and watching his sons swim. As an adult he sought to overcome that inadequacy after a zip-wire experience and a nervous dip in a murky Norwegian lake. He arranged lessons with Sally Minty-Gravett, an experienced Channel swimmer, and practised floating and basic skills while wearing goggles and a hat. Progress was gradual and confronting the jump into deep water remained intensely fearful.
Read at www.theguardian.com
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