Floating
Floating on the surface of the water is enjoyed immensely by all good swimmers. This feat may seem quite simple, but it is not very easily accomplished. There are many persons who are fairly good swimmers, and yet are unable to float properly. The best of swimmers have often attained this feat only after long and persistent practise. It is possible to learn to float without being able to swim, but in that case only by persons not subject to the least nervousness. As a means of securing rest during exercises in the water, floating gives an ideal position. Without the ability to float one lacks the absolute self-confidence in the water so necessary in order to perform numerous aquatic feats.
As a rule, women learn to float more quickly than men, because their bones are lighter. Oftentimes women are able to float the first time they enter the water. Strange as it may seem, while this accomplishment is a very difficult matter for some men to master, with women it is almost natural. Nothing is more enjoyable to a good swimmer than floating. Especially is this true while bathing at the seashore, when the sea is often rough and the breakers high.
The positions for floating or for swimming on the back is practically the same, the only difference being that in floating the body lies perfectly motionless, while in swimming on the back the limbs are constantly in motion. There is no position more comfortable to a swimmer than floating; it is the position of rest, and no bed is so soft as the ocean. To be able to lie perfectly at ease with only the toes and the lower part of the feet peeping above the water is one of many pretty accomplishments in swimming. Yet it requires considerable practise to become perfect in the art.
After the novice has mastered the back stroke, it is essential that he should learn how to float in different positions. Begin then by extending the arms above the head, thumbs locked, and back hollowed; then bend slowly backward until the back of the hands and head rest in the water, when, by giving the feet a slight push forward, the legs will rise slowly to the surface. Keep the mouth open and breathe deeply, as the more air injected into the lungs the higher the body will float. The head, being the heaviest part of the body in the water, should therefore be kept well back. Should the legs show a tendency to sink, extend the straightened out arms under the surface in line with the body above the head; this will counterbalance the legs.
Another method is to draw the heels up close to the body, spreading the knees wide apart so that the heels will touch each other. Should the body roll from side to side, spread the arms until the body is steadied; sometimes a slight stroke from the side which is rolling is sufficient to maintain the balance. As women float much easier than men on account of the smallness of their bones, stout persons are more buoyant in floating than slim ones. Floating in fresh water is more difficult than in salt water. Few male swimmers can float in fresh water at all.
To regain the feet in floating seems to be a difficult thing for beginners, and yet it can be done with comparative ease and little splashing if the arms are brought in front, using the hands as a scoop while pulling the body forward from the waist up. By bringing the body and the head forward until immersed, the legs will be forced to the bottom. One thing beginners should always remember is to keep the lungs well inflated and the head well back in the water; in fact, everything should be kept under water with the exception of the mouth and the nose.
Another important thing to remember in floating is to keep the body limp, and breathe naturally and regularly.