I would consider myself a pretty good swimmer, I have been swimming since I could walk. It is hard to swim with clothes on, and especially when the water must have been freezing.
yes, Kate can swim as at the opening scene of the movie we see Kate in a swimming competition, Charlotte only said that chrlotte couldnt swim to get to be with Joe! and Kate likes collecting rocks, that is why she was walking across the river and fell in, she was looking for rocks. the water might have been to strong for her to swim. and plus her foot was caught in the weeds in the water.
When I was a lifeguard in highschool, we had to learn how to rescue with clothes on. It's not easy to be in the water with winter clothes on (especially bringing up someone at the bottom of a 10 foot deep pool).
You can be the best swimmer in the world, but when you are under the influence of alcohol, you can be the worse swimmer in the world.
Ginger
"Arguing on the internet is like running in the Special Olympics"
Kate had on a heavy sweater coat and had her pockets full of rocks, add in the drinking, slipping and gosh knows what else she would have gotten stuck on (branches on sweaters is a bad combo).
A 5 year old!!!! girl, drunk for the first time in her life (too soon by the way) with a huge coat filled with rocks. It's dark, it's cold, the current is strong and then you get stuck. It really doesn't matter if you are an olympic swimming champion or a waterloving young girl like Kate. She must have been terrified and starting to panic.