Healthful Sports for Boys Part 5

We have learned from the South Sea Islanders how to build and manage a catamaran. This consists of two canoes or long thin boats, placed parallel and joined together by wooden strips, which also answer for a deck. This craft can be rowed or driven by a sail, placed well forward. Its great advantage is its stiffness, for it cannot be upset in an ordinary sea.

The dingey, shaped like the bottom of a flatiron, with a blunt stern and a sharp nose, is the boat with which the boy in the country first makes acquaintance. It is propelled by two oars, usually fastened to the sides by pivot row-locks. This is a handy boat for getting about in, but it is quite impossible to learn the art of rowing from such a mechanical contrivance.

ROWING

Properly done, there is no single exercise that develops the arms, chest, back and leg muscles as does rowing. Whether your boat is a dingey or an expensive rowing sh.e.l.l, always enter it, if the purpose is pleasure and exercise, with the determination to get the best out of it.

Be sure that your oars are of the right length, so as to avoid the contact of the ends. Have the row-locks so arranged that the oars will turn or move in any direction without creaking or strain. The braces for the feet should be movable, so as to accommodate any length of leg, and the seat should not be too high.

There are many styles of rowing, none of which may be discussed here.

It is well at the start to learn how to "feather" your oars, whether you are handling one or two. This consists in bringing the edge of the blade parallel with the water--a splendid exercise for the wrists-- then turning the blade as it reaches the water, and with all the strength of every muscle drawing the oars steadily, never jerkily, till the stroke is finished. The one purpose is to keep up a uniform speed, and this can be done only by a uniform stroke. Endurance, rather than mere brute strength, is the thing to be kept in mind in rowing, as in everything else requiring effort. Always have in reserve a stock of endurance to be used should occasion require. Never start out with a dash, even if you are in a hurry, but strike a gait that you can keep up without making severe demands on that most essential of all the organs--the heart.

THE CANOE

The canoe, as you know, is managed by a single paddle, though I have seen, up in some of the Adirondack lakes, canoes that were driven by oars. But, excepting in name and shape, these were not canoes; they were long, narrow boats.

The Indian, and the white man who would learn the fine art of canoeing, sits in the bottom of the canoe and close to the stern end, though in fact a canoe is all stern and all bow, sailing equally well no matter which end is in front. The Indian does not paddle on one side and then on the other. He uses, as a rule, the left hand side. He grasps the blade right hand at the top, left hand a foot or more down, and then reaching the paddle forward, he digs it into the water with a strong, firm grip, keeping it perpendicular and drawing it aft. When the paddle is abreast his erect body, he suddenly turns the blade so as to bring the flat against the body of the canoe. This acts at once as a lee board and a rudder. With these graceful movements the canoe is managed from one side, and can be made to go as straight as a bullet to a bull's-eye. Unlike the dingey or flat bottom boat, the canoe is easily upset. Therefore the paddler and his pa.s.sengers, if he have any, must sit on the bottom. Never rise unless you are alongside a float or dock. The boy or the man who "rocks the boat for fun" is either idiotic or insane; in either case he is unfit to care for precious human lives. Now, the ordinary boat will stand a little of such fooling, but the canoe refuses to be rocked. At the first insult of that kind it very properly dumps out its occupants.

THE CANVAS CANOE

The lightness of the birch bark canoe is not the least of its advantages; but as birch bark is not available in the settled parts of our country, a subst.i.tute was desired, a subst.i.tute quite as light and of a material that would not be seriously injured by dents. This was found in a canvas cover over a light wicker, collapsible frame.

A frame can be made of bamboo, rattan, willow or light strong pieces of pliant wood such as spruce or hickory. The pieces can be joined with screws or wire, never nails. The length as to breadth to insure safety should be as eight to one, though many canoes are narrower.

With tools and material, both of which are easily obtained, any boy, with patience and some skill, can construct a frame to his own liking.

The frame must be covered with a light, strong canvas, cut and sewed to make a good fit.

When this is done, paint the canvas inside and out, taking care to paint under the frame, which can be removed if necessary. A second and even a third coat of paint may be needed. Canvas covers should be made for the aft and front decks, under which a small tent or camping appliances can be carried.

In a canoe of this kind, fourteen feet long and eighteen inches wide, three young American students made a voyage from the head-waters of the Rhine to Holland and the North Sea. They made the canoe in Paris, and carried it in a bundle to Switzerland. This vessel held a complete camping outfit and provisions.

CHAPTER VIII

IF YOU CAN'T SWIM, LEARN AT ONCE--HELPS TO LEARNERS--CONFIDENCE IS THE THING

Every animal, except man, can swim naturally on finding itself in the water for the first time, for it takes a position nearly the same as if it were on land and walking.

The physical structure of man, the lord of creation, is not so favorably adapted for his making his way through the water, his head being much heavier in proportion to its size than his trunk, while he has to make an entirely new departure, in abandoning his customary erect position, and has to adopt movements of the limbs to which he has not previously been accustomed. Still, the specific gravity of the human body, particularly when the cavity of the chest is filled with air, is lighter than that of water, in proportion to the obesity of the individual, stout people being able to float more easily than those of spare build. There are thousands and thousands of boys in this vast country who have never seen big rivers, like the Ohio and Mississippi, or beheld the broad ocean, with its white, sandy beach and small, quiet bays, or the great blue lakes, and whose only chance to swim is in the deep holes of some small stream, a mill-pond or small lake.

Beginners are just as liable to meet with serious accidents in such places as in the large rivers or the salt sea. For it must be remembered it is not the width of the water, but its depth, that troubles a beginner.

HOW TO LEARN

Beyond the practice that makes for perfection, the only other thing necessary for swimming is _confidence_. Every man, woman, and child-- even if never in the water before--could keep afloat if he, she or it had the required confidence, but as they have not this confidence, the question is: "How can it be acquired?"

There is an old saying, "Familiarity breeds contempt." While, like many other home-made proverbs, this is only partly true, there can be no doubt but that familiarity makes for confidence. The new recruit may be as strong and brave as the veteran soldier, but the lack of experience makes him nervous and unreliable under a fire which the older soldier faces without a visible tremor of eye or hand.

It is difficult to get confidence if you begin by getting "awfully scared." Every boy, and every girl too, should know how to swim, and both are more than eager to learn. Now, the boy who can swim, and who is properly proud of the fact, will, if he stops to think, recall a time not very far distant when he lacked confidence and could not keep himself afloat for a second. And he may recall how frightened he was when some foolishly thoughtless friend or heartless bully tried to duck him, or to push him beyond his depth.

BE KIND

The first hard fight I ever had was with a big boy--it is the conflict I look back at with the most pleasure--who was holding a smaller boy under the water. We fought quite naked, and--well, I licked the bully, and never after that did he try to frighten small boys in that swimming hole.

Boys will be boys, but even then each should have in him much of the man he hopes one day to be. Therefore I say, be a protector, a guide, philosopher and friend of the younger boys, and if you know more than they do of anything, and they want to learn, teach them in a cheery, manly fas.h.i.+on, if you have the time. Avoid conflicts, but if you must have one, see to it that the bully will not be eager for another such meeting.

GOOD ADVICE

Before saying more, let me give you another bit of good advice. Never enter into water the depth of which you are not familiar with, unless you can swim, and in any event do not venture far into strange water unless you are accompanied by a companion as skillful as yourself.

Big boys, as a rule, are glad to help the smaller ones, and in this way they teach by a.s.suring confidence and showing by example how the thing can be done.

Planks, floats, bladders and other artificial contrivances are advised by some, but after swimming for years in nearly all the waters of the world, I cannot endorse such doubtful a.s.sistance. As one cannot actually swim when supported in this way, it is far better to start in without them.

There must be a beginning, and it should be made in the easiest and most sensible way.

A GOOD WAY

With your back to the sh.o.r.e and the water almost up to the armpits, bend your knees till the water nearly reaches the chin. Then gradually throw your bead back as far as it will go, until the base of the skull is immersed and the water covers your ears. Now stretch your arms backwards behind your head, at their fullest extent, the palms uppermost and slightly hollowed. Take a full breath, and swelling out the chest, give a little push off the bottom with both feet. Keep your mouth shut, as, perhaps for an instant only, the water will ripple on your face as the head takes its position, and then you will find your legs, which must be stiffened and separated. In this position you will float for a second, moving the while towards the sh.o.r.e. Then the water will dash over your nose and mouth, but, before it chokes, regain your feet and after a good long breath, try it again.

FRANKLIN'S WAY

Another capital dodge is that recommended by Dr. Franklin, in which the buoyant power of water is still more strikingly exemplified.

Procure an egg or lump of chalk of an easily handled shape, and, when the water is up to your chest, face the sh.o.r.e and let the egg drop in front of you. Now take breath, shut your mouth, but not your eyes, which you can open and shut as easily in the water as out, duck under, and try to pick up the egg. You will find that while your legs rise from the bottom you will have to struggle with your arms to get down far enough to reach the "egg," owing to the great resistance offered by the water, and two or three attempts may be necessary to accomplish your object. You can come up at any moment by depressing the feet, and, as you face the sh.o.r.e, your struggles are working you into shallower water, so that the experiment is a safe one enough.

You have now gained confidence, which is half the battle, and the next thing to be done is to try to move on the surface of that element which you have proved capable of sustaining you when motionless.

It is certainly easier to float when the body is moving through the water than when it is stationary, on much the same principle which sustains the oyster sh.e.l.l that skips along the surface of the sea, until, the impetus given it by the thrower being exhausted, it sinks to the bottom. In like manner the pace acquired in swimming helps to sustain the body.

If you can keep afloat while you count five, or long enough to inhale the breath once, the battle is won; and while you may not be qualified to enter for the long distance champions.h.i.+p, you can modestly call yourself "a swimmer."

Books give us valuable information about how to do many things, but when it comes to swimming, all the book can do is to advise, and if the author gives us his own experience, as I am trying to do here, it must be of great help.

CONFIDENCE

I have said that in learning to swim confidence is the great essential, but while still sticking unchangeably to that, I will add that perseverance is a good second. Never get discouraged. Stick to it. Repeat over and over again either of the two exercises before given. Each time you will find them easier. Then suddenly, and before you know it, you will be keeping yourself afloat. What if it is only for a few seconds and you have not moved a foot? Don't give up. "If at first you don't succeed, try, try again!" That's a motto you should heed, particularly in learning to swim.

There are a great many strokes in swimming, but pay no attention to these at the start.

STROKES

When I was a boy, and I presume it is so still, there was a stroke known as "dog fas.h.i.+on." As a matter of fact, it might as well be called the fas.h.i.+on of any other animal, for all quadrupeds swim exactly as they walk, that is by moving the feet alternately forward; and this is the very way one is inclined to try it at the start.

If you can go dog fas.h.i.+on with some confidence, it will be well to learn the "breast stroke," which, though not the fastest, is perhaps the most general, as it is the most graceful, among non-professionals.

But first a word as to the management of the legs.