I was, as usual, anxiously waiting for my third swimming lesson at De Anza College pool.

Mary began the class by having us watch a short video on beach safety. The video was informative, giving details of rip currents and the basic rules to follow if ever caught in one of them.  The video was followed by a short hands-on demo on handling an unconscious person.  The single biggest issue when a person is unconscious is the tongue sliding back and blocking the airway. The first thing that is done is to hold the chin and tilt the head backwards. This helps keep the tongue from slipping backwards. The other way to keep the person from getting worse, is to extend one arm straight behind the head. The other arm is folded to the opposite shoulder. The leg on the same side is bent at the knee.  The whole body is then turned over towards the side of the straightened arm. The head naturally bends downwards, resting on the straight arm. This also ensure that the airway stays open.

We then followed instructions to do the scissor kick and sculling, needed to tread water.

It was almost an hour before we went into the water. We repeated a lot of the drills we did the last time (beach ball float, somersaults in water, floating on the back and the stomach).  Some of us who could successfully do these drills, spent time helping the other students. I spent some time teaching two students to somersault. While they choked, gulped and got water up their nose, I could not help but notice how hairy they were! Distractions aside, it was very rewarding to see them be successful at the end!

Mary was nice about letting us spend more time in the pool if we wanted to. I continued to practise to float on my stomach, hands along the body and turning in the water alternating between floating on my stomach and on my back. Much like a corkscrew. I was breathing when on my back and turning back on my stomach to move forward. I managed to get across 3/4 of the pool just doing this. I also tried to tread water, sculling and doing the scissor kick. Hector, one of the aides, demonstrated to a few of us. It is hard to say if it is working since we are still in shallow water. It is easy to get the conceptual idea but needs practice to realize it. Lets see how long it takes me to learn this.