knowing what i know now, i doubt while we swim that our lives are guarded very much at all.

tonight at class we did "entries" which is basically jumping in the water. back in the day, the entries were a dive or a fireman's jump. the dive has been replaced with a sort of modified cannonball (what??) and the fireman's jump with the stride entry. the biggest overall change is that a lifeguard is always equipped with this foam floatie thing. so you have to hold it, and jump in with it, and swim with it, and why? because lifeguards can't swim??

the stride entry you are not supposed to let your head go under the water. in the fireman's jump, you stride into the water in a similar manner, but you have to push down with your arms to keep your head above water. i guess it's safer to have that floatie thing, but jeez, are we a nation of marshmallows?


the instructor tonight mentioned that when doing a rescue on a forward-facing drownder, the procedure is to circle around and approach from behind. right, so you are circling around with your floatie and the drownder just stays facing the same way? yes, i am sure that will happen. drownders are known for being sensible and staying put. JEEZ. back in the day, we approached, did a feet first surface dive, swam underwater to the drownder, and used our sheer strength to turn them and "walk" up their body arm over arm. it's not a quick procedure and takes both strength and lung capacity. we were not marshmallows.