DOG PADDLING TO SAFETY | Mark Keasler |
One day several years ago I was at the government dock in Cat Island collecting freight from the weekly mail boat. I realized that day that if a child fell over board in 6 to 8 feet of water there might only be one out of twenty people around who could rescue the child. The statistics for swimmers versus non-swimmers for the Bahamian islands are terrible. Eighty percent of women/girls and over fifty percent of men/boys in the Bahamian population do not know how to swim. The older folks have plenty of scary stories, and graphic descriptions of uncles, brothers, and fathers who lost their lives to the sea. Soon after hearing the statistics on non-swimmers I decided to offer swimming lessons at Fernandez Bay resort where I live and work. I started small and informal with boys from 6 to 13. These were mostly children of staff working at the resort. My wife Donna helped. My goal was not fancy or technical swimming. Keeping the kids afloat was the object. So they were learning how to dog paddle, side kick, or whatever could keep them floating if they fell overboard in deep water. The biggest obstacle was fear! It seems most every kid had some relative who drowned. This caused the parents who don't swim to forbid the kids to even go near deep water. There is no YMCA pool on Cat Island. Soon I went from teaching three or four boys to eight to ten kids. Some were naturals and were dog paddling in a couple of sessions. Others took weeks to even wade out up to their chins. Somewhere in all of this, the Barracuda Swim Team was born. Strangely the youngsters did not want to "graduate." For the final exam, my wife, Donna would drive to the government dock. I would run over in the skiff. Recruits were expected to jump off the seawall into deep water and swim approximately 60 to 80 feet to reach me in the waiting skiff. Donna thought this too harsh and scary but the kid's loved it! Many youngsters kept coming on Saturdays wanting to learn more, snorkeling, free diving, running small boats, Jr. Sea School-boot camp. I was truly enjoying it all, good fun for this old Key Rat. Their enthusiasm pushed me to be creative so that eventually the kids were learning greater challenges, such as swimming in current, or clearing ears for free diving. Enthusiasm is contagious and has its rewards. The resort guests were encouraged to donate the hand me down wetsuits of their own kids and these proved invaluable. The swim classes have now been going on for more than six years with a truly wonderful and unexpected benefit - the "Barracuda" graduates are teaching younger brothers and sisters to swim. Perhaps it's time to start a sailing school!
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