
HOW TO LEARN TO SWIM 
Practical Instructions for the Beginner, and Some Useful Hints 
for the Experienced 
BY HROLF WISBY 
(Member U.S. Life-Saving Service) 
HERE are any 
ei number of good 
| swimmers in this 
A country but mighty 
DPA”) few good teachers 
ZES| of swimming. The 
noble sport is 
| either “picked up” 
and learned labori- 
: = ously by the devo- 
tee, or taught by unskilled “professors.” 
The result is that our good swimmers show 
a surprising lack of form in comparison to 
Europe’s best. They get there—but how? 
We are quite particular with the stroke of 
an oarsman, but we have no standard by 
which to judge the stroke of a swimmer. 
The lesson I propose to give here on paper 
is founded not only on American “ get-there”’ 
ideas of efficiency, but also on European 
standards of good form, which is synony- 
mous with the very best permanent result. 
You can learn to swim in a day. If you 
are particularly well adapted for the sport 
you may learn it in a single lesson. Take 
no advice from the self-styled ‘‘masters”’ 
of swimming at so-much per lesson, who 
infest the summer resorts and the seashore. 
Most of them know how to swim themselves, 
after a fashion, but it is a hard task to find a 
man who really knows how to teach swim- 
ming properly. And those who do know 
claim it does not pay, since there is more 
money in teaching a beginner the round- 
about, laborious way than in putting him 
through his strokes with the proper despatch 
and the most satisfactory results. 
Now, then, let’s forget all about mercen- 
ary teachers and go right in for a swim. I 
am your self-appointed teacher, and as my 
pupil you must now do as I say and do noth- 
ing else. Don’t look down into the water. 
Look ahead and out; that removes timidity. , 

The depth is now well above your waist, 
which means that there’s plenty of water to 
float your body. Some people think a few 
inches of water over the breech will float 
them! Now, straighten your body. That’s 
it. Throw your head well back. Keep it 
there, while I put you in the floating posi- 
tion. Thisisdone. You are floating now— 
why? Because every part of your body, 
head, arms, feet and trunk, is partly sub- 
merged and thus supported by the water. 
To show you what this means we will make 
an experiment. Just try to look at your toes 
and down you’ll go. You come spluttering 
to the surface again. There, now, that’s a 
practical object lesson. Your head weighs 
in the neighborhood of twenty-five pounds; 
it is nearly all bone and to float at all it must 
be submerged to the ears. As soon as you 
looked for your toes you took your head out 
of water; that is, you removed twenty-five 
pounds from the water’s support and shifted 
that extra weight to the rest of your body. 
Hence, you went down. 
Assume the floating posture once more, 
with your head to the shore. Keep the head 
back, remember, and the chin high up. 
Now, sweep your arms out, with the palms 
toward the bottom. Sweeping them in and 
out thus, parallel with the surface, will aid 
you in floating. You only have to turn your 
palms from bottomward to a pressure 
against the water and you willswim. Don’t 
struggle. Do it easily, softly, smoothly, like 
a well-oiled piece of machinery. Your 
stroke is damnably bad and ragged, but 
this is a point where you need encourage- 
ment rather than criticism, so just keep on 
and try to better yourself gradually. Now 
stop. Throw your arms behind your head, 
put up your chin and your chest, and float 
as before. You aye resting now. 
The leg movements are next in order. 
