Walker's manly exercises / Containing rowing, sailing, riding, driving, racing, hunting, shooting, and other manly sports

by Donald Walker

UPRIGHT SWIMMING.

Bernardi’s System.

The principal reasons given by Bernardi for recommending the upright position in swimming are—its conformity to the accustomed movement of the limbs; the freedom it gives to the hands and arms, by which any impediment may be removed, or any offered aid readily laid hold of; vision all around; a much greater facility of breathing; and lastly, that much less of the body is exposed to the risk of being laid hold of by persons struggling in the water.

The less we alter our method of advancing in the water from what is habitual to us on shore, the more easy do we find a continued exercise of it. The most important consequence of this is, that, though a person swimming in an upright posture advances more slowly, he is able to continue his course much longer; and certainly nothing can be more beneficial to a swimmer than whatever tends to husband his strength, and to enable him to remain long in the water with safety.

Bernardi’s primary object is to enable the pupil to float in an upright posture, and to feel confidence in the buoyancy of his body. He accordingly supports the pupil under the shoulders until he floats tranquilly with the head and part of the neck above the surface, the arms being stretched out horizontally under water. From time to time, the supporting arm is removed, but again restored, so as never to suffer the head to sink, which would disturb the growing confidence, and give rise to efforts destructive of the success of the lesson. In this early stage, the unsteadiness of the body is the chief difficulty to be overcome.

The head is the great regulator of our movements in water. Its smallest inclination to either side instantly operates on the whole body; and, if not corrected, throws it into a horizontal posture. The pupil must, therefore, restore any disturbance of equilibrium by a cautious movement of the head alone in an opposite direction. This first lesson being familiarized by practice, he is taught the use of the legs and arms for balancing the body in the water. One leg being stretched forward, the other backward, and the arms laterally, he soon finds himself steadily sustained, and independent of further aid in floating.

When these first steps have been gained, the sweeping semicircular motion of the arms is shown. This is practised slowly, without motion forwards, until attained with precision. After this, a slight inclination of the body from the upright position occasions its advancing. The motion of striking with the legs is added in the same measured manner; so that the pupil is not perplexed by the acquisition of more than one thing at a time. In this method, the motions of both arms and legs differ from those we have so carefully described, only in so far as they are modified by a more upright position. It is optional, therefore, with the reader, to practise either method. The general principles of both are now before him.

The upright position a little inclined backwards, (which, like every other change of posture, must be done deliberately, by the corresponding movement of the head,) reversing in this case the motion of the arms, and striking the flat part of the foot down and a little forward, gives the motion backward, which is performed with greater ease than when the body is laid horizontally on the back. According to this system, Bernardi says, a swimmer ought at every stroke to urge himself forward a distance equal to the length of his body. A good swimmer ought to make about three miles an hour. A good day’s journey may thus be achieved, if the strength be used with due discretion, and the swimmer be familiar with the various means by which it may be recruited.

Of Bernardi’s successful practice, he says, “Having been appointed to instruct the youths of the Royal Naval Academy of Naples in the art of swimming, a trial of the proficiency of the pupils took place, under the inspection of a number of people assembled on the shore for that purpose, on the tenth day of their instruction. A twelve-oared boat attended the progress of the pupils, from motives of precaution. They swam so far out in the bay, that at length the heads of the young men could with difficulty be discerned with the naked eye; and the Major General of Marine, Forteguerri, for whose inspection the exhibition was intended, expressed serious apprehensions for their safety. Upon their return to the shore, the young men, however, assured him that they felt so little exhausted as to be willing immediately to repeat the exertion.” An official report on the subject has also been drawn up by commission (appointed by the Neapolitan government), after devoting a month to the investigation of Bernardi’s plan; and it states as follows:

“1st. It has been established by the experience of more than a hundred persons of different bodily constitutions, that the human body is lighter than water, and consequently will float by nature; but that the art of swimming must be acquired, to render that privilege useful.