Loose-fitting swim trunks (boardshorts) act like parachutes under water. If you jump into a pool, the water forces its way into the fabric, creating drag that can pull the shorts down. The "Pocket Problem":
: Diving into fast-moving rivers or being hit by large ocean waves can easily strip away swimwear if it is not secured tightly. My Swimming Trunks Have Been Sucked Off
Later, dried on the picnic blanket with a borrowed shirt tied around my hips, I thought about vulnerability as an environmental condition. We imagine vulnerability as a state to be avoided — a weakness to engineer around — but sometimes it arrives as a simple misalignment: a gust, an elastic, the sea. These are banal forces that reveal how thinly we separate the private from the public. The trick isn’t to armor against every gust; it’s to learn how to inhabit the world when the armor gives way. Later, dried on the picnic blanket with a
made it to the bottom, your swimming trunks are still midway through their own solo journey. The trick isn’t to armor against every gust;
In many modern pools, safety regulations regarding suction entrapment have improved dramatically. Anti-entrapment drain covers—large, raised domes that make it difficult to create a complete seal—are now standard in most public facilities. These devices were designed to prevent the tragic drowning of children, but they have the happy side effect of saving the dignity of grown men in oversized shorts.