Jersey deputy David Warr overcomes decades-long fear of deep water

David Warr, 61, a deputy for St Helier South in Jersey, has begun to overcome a five-decade fear of deep water after jumping off a slipway and entering the sea during lessons with swim teacher Sally Minty-Gravett. Warr says the fear began when he was 11, at a school swimming lesson when he realised “with horror” his feet could not feel the bottom and his teacher shouted, “just swim”.

He recalls panicking and thinking, “She’s going to let me die,” and then refusing to go out of his depth for fifty years, even when his sons were small. After a holiday in Norway and a ride on a zip wire that sparked a desire to confront what he felt was an inadequacy, Warr asked his sons’ former teacher, Minty-Gravett, for lessons.

She had repeatedly swum the Channel. In early sessions he practised floating but still feared deep water; when she asked him to jump she said: “David, why are you so worried about being out of your depth? You should maybe lie on a couch with someone and discuss it.” Her guidance included: “David, the sea is not trying to kill you.

Let the water support you … It’s holding you, it’s embracing you.” Warr has since swum out to a boat accompanied by Minty-Gravett and completed lengths of the local pool, and says he has found “a new connection” with his island home, seeing the shoreline and small-boat fishers from a different perspective.

Key Topics

Culture, David Warr, Jersey, St Helier South, Sally Minty-gravett, Swimming Lessons