[Donnafrflorida]

He is back stroking in the video. And someone is timing his laps. .....
. Regarding the pond, he should have been able to swim enough to go maybe 20 to 30 feet til his feet hit land.
Hell He could bounce up , grab air, get his bearing. And maybe 5 to 7 strokes away was shallow enuf for him to stand. The whole thing. STINKS.

[AnAmericanMother]

He is trying to swim the overarm backstroke - sinks - then switches to elementary backstroke - and sinks again.

All of this with flippers on.

I went back and looked at a video of my daughter and I doing the preparatory 400-yard swim for the BSA Lifeguard course. Both of us vary our strokes considerably, but with any speed stroke most of the upper body is clear of the water during forward motion.

With his heavily muscled build he's a natural sinker to boot. He can't bounce up and grab air because he can't even keep his upper body on top of the water when he's swimming.

I think you underestimate the panic effect of a sudden spill into the water on a very, very marginal swimmer who's buoyancy-negative and used to swimming with flippers on.