On the Trail: An Outdoor Book for Girls

by Lina Beard; Adelia B. Beard

To regain your feet after floating bring your arms in front and pull on the water with scooped hands while raising your body from the hips.

Diving

You will learn to dive merely for the joy of the quick plunge into cool waters, but there are times when to understand diving may mean the saving of your own or some one else's life, and no matter how suddenly or unexpectedly you are cast into the water by accident, you will retain your self-possession and be able to strike out and swim immediately.

One should never dive into unknown water if it can be avoided, but as on the trail all water is likely to be unknown, investigate it well before diving and look out for hidden rocks. Do not dive into shallow water; that is dangerous. If you are to dive from the bank some distance above the water, stand on the edge with your toes reaching over it. Extend your arms, raise them, and duck your head between with your arms, forming an arch above, your ears covered by your arms. Lock your thumbs together to keep your hands from separating when they strike the water. Bend your knees slightly and spring from them, but straighten them immediately so that you will be stretched full length as you enter the water. As soon as your body is in the water curve your back inward, lift your head up, and make a curve through the water to the surface.

Breathing

Breathe through your nose always when swimming as well as when walking. To open your mouth while swimming is usually to swallow a pint or two of water. Exhale your breath as you thrust your hands forward, inhale it as you bring them back. "Blow your hands from you."

Treading Water

In treading water you maintain an upright position as in walking. Some one says: "To tread water is like running up-stairs rapidly." Try running up-stairs and you will get the leg movement. While the water is up to your neck, bend your elbows and bring your hands to the surface, then keep the palms pressing down the water. The principle is the same as in swimming. When you swim you force the water back with your hands and feet and so send your body forward. When you tread water you force the water down with your hands and feet and so send your body, or keep it, up.

It is even possible to stand quite still in deep water when you learn to keep your balance. All you do is to spread out your arms at the sides on a line with your shoulders and keep your head well back. You may go below the surface once or twice until you learn, but you will come up again and the feat is well worth while. What an outdoor girl should strive for is to become thoroughly at home in the water so that she may enter it fearlessly and know what to do when she is there.