What robertphillips5 describes is something I was trying to think of a way to describe. When I was little, my big brother was in the CAP (civil air patrol).... I was too young to really understand what that is - sort of a jr air force thing????
Anyway, among the things he brought home to show his little sisters was this method of "drownproofing". It's a good thing to know - from what I recall, it's less exhausting than "treading" water, and is meant to sustain a person in the water for hours (like in the case that you are waiting for a search plane to find you).
You asked how often we've had to swim against a strong current at the surface.... In fact, I often find myself needing to swim into strong currents at the surface.
In boat diving, generally you swim on the surface (against the current) to the anchorline and hand-over-hand down the line... Some boats attach lines from the stern to the bow to allow you to pull yourself to the anchor line but this swings the diver right up against the hull (which is usually bouncing and rolling), makes me question this practice..... so I use the boat as a visual reference, with the line in reach if necessary and swim it. (esp if I'm also carrying a camera).
You'd be surprised how long it takes to swim even a short distance against a current.
Anyway, among the things he brought home to show his little sisters was this method of "drownproofing". It's a good thing to know - from what I recall, it's less exhausting than "treading" water, and is meant to sustain a person in the water for hours (like in the case that you are waiting for a search plane to find you).
You asked how often we've had to swim against a strong current at the surface.... In fact, I often find myself needing to swim into strong currents at the surface.
In boat diving, generally you swim on the surface (against the current) to the anchorline and hand-over-hand down the line... Some boats attach lines from the stern to the bow to allow you to pull yourself to the anchor line but this swings the diver right up against the hull (which is usually bouncing and rolling), makes me question this practice..... so I use the boat as a visual reference, with the line in reach if necessary and swim it. (esp if I'm also carrying a camera).
You'd be surprised how long it takes to swim even a short distance against a current.
