Marching on the Water
Until one sees the swimmer march on the water its title is somewhat misleading. It is not a difficult method of progression through the water, after one catches on to the idea. Place yourself in a floating position, with the arms folded across the breast or the hands crossed back of the head, with the fingers locked. Then by bending the knees and drawing up the legs slowly, one after the other, keeping the toes pointed straight out in the upward movement, so as to have as little resistance as possible against the water. Straighten out the limb, turning the toes upward toward the knee, making a downward stroke with the leg, bringing the calf against the water with pressure enough to draw the body along. The upward, or negative movement, as we said before, must be slowly executed, while the downward, or positive movement, should be performed with some force against the water, the locomotion, feet foremost, the alternate action being the same as in walking. As it is not possible to get much power from the positive movements, marching on the water is therefore not a rapid means of gliding along.
Swimming on the Back
Swimming on the back is one of the simplest of the natatorial exercises, and one of the easiest methods to learn, besides being absolutely necessary in life-saving, as well as useful as a means of resting after swimming a long while on the breast or side. The movements of the legs are very much the same as in the breast stroke, except that the knees are kept farther apart. The best way to learn to swim on the back is to place yourself in the water on the back, the same as you would when floating. This position can be easily attained by holding the arms straight down close to the sides, the hands pointing toward the feet, and by giving a few sculling movements with the hands, you will at once get into a good floating position. Now slowly open the legs apart, while at the same time extending the arms beyond the head and bring the legs together with a vigorous kick, holding the arms beyond the head for an instant until all the momentum from the kick is expended. At the second movement the arms are brought back to their former position, describing an arc and catching the water with the palms of the hands somewhat like an oar, which helps to send the swimmer ahead, repeating the movements as before.
When tired, swimming on the back is useful as a means of resting the muscles used in the other strokes.
Long-Distance Endurance Swimming
American swimmers have made some wonderful strides in long-distance swimming and tests of endurance in the past few years, until now our records over distance and time immersions stand out prominently among the world’s greatest watermen.
Over the very long and tiresome routes our swimmers use various strokes, some of them relying on the breast stroke, others using the over-arm side stroke, but most of them stick to the double-over-arm stroke (sometimes called the Trudgeon), the latter method affording an opportunity for putting more continuous power to the stroke, which makes for greater speed; besides, this method makes the swimmer breathe regularly and with precision on each stroke and is useful in both rough and smooth water.
Space will not admit of recounting the numerous performances made by the various distance swimmers of this country, but all the leading record authorities and writers on swimming have agreed on Charles B. Durborow of Riverton, N. J., the big Philadelphia bank clerk, as the foremost long-distance and greatest mileage swimmer in the world.