Chapter 10 ON AND IN THE WATER

Boats Safe and Unsafe. Canoeing. Rowing. Poling. Raft-Making. Swimming. Fishing

Safe and Unsafe Boats

One seldom goes on the long trail, or into camp, without encountering water, and boats of some kind must be used, generally rowboats or canoes. The safest boat on placid water is the heavy, flat-bottomed rowboat with oars secured to the oar-locks. In my younger days we owned such a boat, and no one felt in the least anxious when I would put off for hours alone on the lake at our camp in Pike County, Pa.; especially as the creaking turn of the oar-locks could easily be heard at camp loudly proclaiming that I still lived, while I enjoyed the luxury of solitary adventure. But a tub of this kind is not adapted to all waters and all purposes, and the safest boat on any water is the one best adapted to it and to the purpose for which the boat is used.

Round-bottomed boats tip easily and should, therefore, not be used when learning to row, though they are safe enough in the hands of those accustomed to their management. The best of oarsmen, however, cannot prevent her boat from capsizing if her passenger does not know how to enter or leave it, or to sit still when aboard.

A rowboat is a safer craft than a canoe.

Stepping in and out of a Boat

To step on the gunwale (the edge of the boat) will naturally tip it and most likely turn it over. One should always step directly into the middle in order to keep the boat evenly balanced, and in getting out, step from the middle. Stepping on the side or the gunwale of a boat shows the ignorance of a tenderfoot. There are rowboats that are neither round-bottomed nor flat but are shaped like the boat in photograph, page 206. These are safer than the round-bottomed, but are more easily capsized than the flat-bottomed boats.

Canoes and Canoeing

If you are to own a canoe select it carefully; consult catalogues of reliable dealers, and, if possible, have an experienced and good canoeist help you choose it. The pretty canoe made of wood will answer in calm waters and wear well with careful usage, but sportsmen prefer the canvas-covered canoe, declaring it the best boat for cruising, as it is light, easy to manage, will stand rough usage, and will also carry greater loads. The best make has a frame of hardwood with cedar ribs and planking; spruce gunwales and brass bang-plates to protect the ends. This canoe is covered with strong canvas, treated with some kind of filler, and then painted and varnished. There are usually two cane seats, one at the stern, the other near the bow. These are built in. Canoes vary in the shape of the bow, some being higher than others. The high bow prevents the shipping of too much water, but will also offer resistance to the wind and so impede the progress of the boat. A medium high bow is the best.

One firm of camp-outfitters advertises a canoe called the Sponson, the name being taken from the air-chambers built along the outside rail, which are called sponsons. It is claimed that these air-chambers make it next to impossible to upset the canoe, and that even when filled with water it will support a heavy weight. Sponsons can also be purchased separately and can be adjusted to any sized canoe.

Keep your body steady.

For a novice the sponsons would seem a good thing, as they not only insure safety but, in doing away with the fear of an upset, make learning to paddle easier. Then there are the guide canoes made especially for hunting and fishing. They are strong, flat-bottomed, will carry a heavy load, are easy to paddle or pole, and will stand rough water. These canoes are good for general use on the trail.

The prices of a good canoe range from twenty-eight dollars to forty dollars. One may go higher, of course, but the essentials of the canoe will be no better. A lower price means, as a rule, not so good a boat.

Paddles

Girls and women generally require shorter paddles than men, as they do not have the same reach of arm, and you can take your choice of lengths. For the stern the paddle should be longer than for the bow. Paddles are made of red oak, maple, ash, spruce, and cherry. Some authorities prefer spruce for ordinary usage, but in rough water and in shooting rapids a harder wood is best. The weak part of a paddle is where the blade joins the handle, and this part should not be too slender. If you use spruce paddles keep them smooth by trimming away all roughness and keep them well shellacked, else they may become water-soaked. Paddles range in price from one dollar and fifty cents to three dollars.

Canoeing on placid waters.

Accessories

A strong, healthy girl will no more need cushions and canoe-chairs than a boy, but a back rest is not always to be despised. It is well to have a large sponge aboard for bailing and for cleaning.

At a portage or "carry," the canoe is carried overland on the shoulders, and though some guides scorn to use a carrier, others are glad of them. There are several styles, one being the neck-yoke carrier, another the pneumatic canoe-yoke. The pneumatic yoke, when not inflated with air, can be rolled into a bundle three by six inches, and when inflated it can also be used for a canoe-seat, a camp-seat, and even for a pillow. Its weight is two pounds and the catalogue price is three dollars and twenty-five cents.

Care of the Canoe

Even the strongest canoe should be well cared for. To leave it in the water for any length of time, when not in use, is to run the risk of damage and loss. A sudden storm will batter it against shore, send it adrift, or fill and sink it. A canoe should always be lifted, not dragged, ashore, and it should be turned upside down on the bank with a support in the middle so that it will not be strained by resting only on the ends.

Getting in the Canoe

Never allow any one to get into your canoe or to sit on it when it is out of the water. That is harder on it than many days of actual use. When you are to get aboard your canoe, bring it up broadside to the shore and put one foot exactly in the middle, then carefully place the other beside it and sit down quickly, but with care to keep your balance. If there is no one to hold the canoe for you, use your paddle to steady yourself by pushing it down to the bottom on the side away from shore. This will keep the canoe from slipping away from under you while you are stepping in. One of the first things to learn in canoeing is to preserve your balance; even a slight lurch to one side or the other must be avoided. Make every necessary movement cautiously and do not look backward unless absolutely necessary. Never attempt to change places with any one while in the canoe. If the change must be made, land and change there.

Bring your canoe up broadside to the shore.

Upset

Should there be an upset keep hold of your paddle, it will help to keep you afloat, then if you can reach your craft and hold to it without trying to climb upon it you can keep your head above water until help arrives or until you can tread water to shore. If you can swim you are comparatively safe, and a girl who goes often on the trail should, by all means, be a swimmer.

Paddling

How to use the paddle and a flat-bottomed rowboat.

Some expert canoeists strongly advise kneeling in the bottom of the canoe while paddling, for at least part of the time, but the usual method is to sit on the seats provided at bow and stern, or sit on the bottom. The kneeling paddler has her canoe in better control, and becomes more one with it than one who sits. In shooting rapids and in rough weather kneeling is the safest when one knows how to paddle in that position. It is a good thing to learn both methods.

When you paddle close one hand firmly on the end of the paddle and the other around the handle a short distance above the blade. Then, keeping your body steady, dip your paddle into the water slightly in front of you and sweep it backward and downward toward the stern, keeping it close to the canoe. You face the bow in a canoe, remember, and reach forward for your stroke. At the finish of a stroke turn the paddle edgewise and slide it out of the water. For the next stroke bring the blade forward, swinging it horizontally with the blade parallel to the water, and slide it edgewise into the water again in front of you. Fig. 34 shows the beginning of a stroke, Fig. 35 while the stroke is in progress, and Fig. 36 the ending. During the stroke bring your upper hand forward across your face or breast, and with the lower draw the blade through the water.

It is well to begin as bow paddler, for your duty there, in smooth water, is to watch for obstructions such as hidden rocks and submerged logs or snags, while the paddler at the stern must steer the canoe and keep it in a straight course.

At the beginning learn to paddle as well from one side as from the other. To be able to change sides is very restful and sometimes a quick change will prevent an accident. Like many other things, the knack of paddling will come with experience and will then require no more thought than keeping your balance on a bicycle and steering it.

Loading a Canoe

A top-heavy canoe is decidedly dangerous, that is why it is safest to sit or kneel on the bottom, and in loading your camp stuff bear the fact well in mind. Pack the load as low in the canoe as possible with the heaviest things at the bottom, but use common sense and do not put things that should be kept dry underneath where any water that is shipped will settle and soak them. Think again and put cooking utensils and lunch provender where you can reach them without unloading the canoe. The packing should be done in such a way as to cause the canoe to tip neither at one end or at the other, and certainly not to one side.

Rowing

A rowboat is a safer craft than a canoe, and rowing is not a difficult feat, but there is a difference between the rowing of a heavy flat-bottomed boat and rowing a light skiff or round-bottomed rowboat. In rowing properly one's body does most of the work and the strain comes more on the muscles of the back than on those of the arms.

In paddling you face the bow of the canoe; in rowing you are turned around and face the stern of your boat. In paddling you reach forward and draw your paddle back; in rowing you lean back and pull your oars forward. When beginning a stroke grasp the handles of your oars firmly near the ends, lean forward with arms outstretched and elbows straight, the oars slanting backward, and, by bearing down on the handles of the oars, lift the blades above the water. Then drop them in edgewise and pull, straightening your body, bending your elbows, and bringing your hands together one above the other. As you finish the stroke bear down on your oars to lift the blades out of the water again, turn your wrists to bring the flat of the blades almost parallel with the water but with the back edge lifted a little; then bend forward and, sweeping the oars backward, turning the edge down, plunge them in the water for another pull. Turning the wrists at the beginning of a stroke feathers the oar, the forward edge of which is sometimes allowed to skim lightly over the surface of the water as the oar is carried backward. In steering with the oars you pull hardest on the oar on the side opposite to the direction you wish to take. A little practise and all this comes easy enough.

The thing for a beginner to avoid is "catching a crab." That is, dipping the oars so lightly in the water as not to give sufficient hold, which will cause them, when pulled forward, to fly up and send the rower sprawling on her back. In dipping too deeply there is danger of losing an oar by the suction of the water. Experience will teach the proper depth for the stroke.

On some of the Adirondack lakes the round-bottomed rowboats are used almost exclusively, but the boat with a narrow, flat bottom is safer and is both light and easy to row. A cedar rowboat is the most desirable. The oars should be light for ordinary rowing yet strong enough to prevent their snapping above the blade in rough water.

Rafts

You can never tell just what will happen when you go on the long trail, that is one of its charms, nor do you know what you will be called upon to do. The girl best versed in the ways of the water as well as of the woods is surest of safety, and can be most helpful to her party. Possibly you may never be called upon to build a raft, and again an emergency may arise when a raft will not only be convenient but absolutely necessary. When such an emergency does come it is not likely that you will have anything besides the roughest of building material and no tools besides your small axe or hatchet. But with your axe you can chop off limbs of sufficient size for the raft from fallen trees, and with ropes made of the inner bark of trees you can bind your small logs together in such a way as to hold them firmly. Do not use green wood, it will not float like the dry. Logs about twelve inches in diameter are the best, but half that size will make a good raft. Six feet by twelve is a fair size. The smaller the logs the larger the raft must be in order to carry any weight, for it must cover a wider surface of water than is necessary for one made of large logs. One good-sized log will carry your weight easily, but a small one will sink beneath you.

If you have two long, strong ropes you can use them for binding the logs together; if not you must make the ropes from fibre of some kind. Daniel C. Beard in his book, "Boat-Building and Boating," tells of making a very strong rope of the inner bark of a chestnut-tree which had been killed by fire. The fibre torn off in long strips must be twisted by two persons, or one end may be tied to a branch while you twist the other. When two are twisting one person takes one end, the other takes the other end, and, standing as far apart as possible, each twists the fibre between her fingers, turning it in opposite directions until when held slack it will double on itself and make a double twist. The ends are then brought together and the rope kept from snarling until it is bent at the middle and allowed to double twist evenly all the way to the end. The fibre rope will be a little less than half the length of the original strands, and it should be about the size of heavy clothes-line rope. The short lengths of rope must be tied together to make two long ropes. Use the square knot in tying to make sure that it will not slip. When the knot is wet it will be quite secure.

The raft of logs.

Primitive Weaving Method

Primitive weaving in raft building.

For tying the logs together use the primitive weaving method. Lay three lengths of rope on the ground, one for the middle and one each for the ends of the logs. Roll one log along the ropes until it rests across the middle of each rope, then turn each rope over the log, forming a bight as in Fig. 37. Bring the lower rope over the upper (Fig. 38) to form a loop, and turn it back over the log (Fig. 39). This leaves the log with three loops of rope around it, one end of each rope lying on the ground, the other end turned back over the log. Now roll another log over the lower ropes up close to the first log (Fig. 40). Bring down the upper ropes over the second log (Fig. 41), cross the lower ropes over the upper ones and turn them back (Fig. 42). Draw the ropes tight and push the logs as closely together as possible; unless your logs are straight there will be wide spaces between. Roll the third log over the lower ropes and make the weaving loop as with the other two, always crossing the lower rope over the upper (Fig. 43). Continue weaving in new logs until the raft is the required width, then tie the ends of the ropes around the last log. Remember to keep the ropes on the ground always in a straight line without slanting them, otherwise the sides of your raft will not be at right angles to the ends, and it will be a crazily built affair, cranky and difficult to manage.

Chop notches on the outside logs where the ropes are to pass over them, and they will keep the rope from slipping out of place (Fig. 44). Cut two, more slender, logs for the ends of the raft and lash them on across the others as in Fig. 45. The end logs should extend a little beyond each side of the raft. Fasten a rope with a strong slip knot to one end of the cross log and wrap it over the log and under the first lengthwise log, then over and under again to form a cross on top. When the rope is under the second time bring it up between the second and third log, then down between the third and fourth log, and so on to the end, when you must make a secure fastening. These cross logs give additional strength, keep the raft in shape, and prevent its shipping too much water.

If you will make a miniature raft, following these directions carefully, when the time comes for you to build a full-sized one you will be quite familiar with the method of construction and will know exactly how to go about it.

For the little raft use small, straight branches about twelve inches long. Twist your slender rope of fibre if you can get it, of string if you cannot, and weave it around the sticks just as you would weave the rope around the logs, finishing off with the two end sticks for the end logs.

Poling

If you have a raft you must know how to pole it, and at times it is necessary to pole other kinds of craft. Select a straight pole of strong, green wood eight feet or more in length. The length of the pole will depend upon the depth of the water, for it must be long enough to reach bottom. Trim off all the small branches and make it as smooth as possible.

When the water is deep and calm a pole may sometimes be used as a paddle to send the raft along, but its real purpose is to push from the bottom. In poling you must necessarily stand near the edge of the raft and must therefore be careful not to lean too far over the water lest you lose your balance and fall in.

Poling is a primitive, go-as-you-please method of propelling a craft and is almost free from rules except those suggested by the common sense of the poler. Like the early pioneers, you simply do the best you can under the circumstances and are alert to take advantage of every element in your favor. Where there is a current you pole for it and then allow your raft to float with it, provided it goes in the direction you wish to take and is not too swift. In this case you use your pole for steering, which may sometimes be done from the stern, making a rudder of the pole, at others from the side, and at times reaching down to the river bed. If the current runs the wrong way be careful to keep out of it as much as possible.

Shallow water near the shore is usually the most quiet and the safest for a raft. Here you can generally pole your raft up-stream when the water is deep enough to float it and is not obstructed by rocks, logs, or snags. A raft is not safe where there is a swift current, and there should always be strong arms to manage it.

Swimming

Learn to be at home in the water.

If you will realize that your body is buoyant, not a dead weight in the water, and that swimming should come as naturally to you as to the wild creatures, it may help you to gain the confidence so essential in learning to swim. If you are not afraid of the water you will not struggle while in it, and the air in your lungs will keep you afloat while you learn to make the movements that will carry you along. You will not sink if you are quite calm and move only your hands under water with a slight paddling movement. Keep in mind that every inch above water but adds so much to the weight to sink you lower. To throw up your arms is the surest way of going straight to the bottom. Do not be afraid to allow the water to come up and partially cover your chin.

All sorts of contrivances have been invented to keep a person afloat while learning to swim, but they all tend to take from, rather than to give confidence, for it is natural to depend entirely upon them and to feel helpless when they are taken away. According to my own experience the best method is to have a friend place a hand under your chin while her feet are touching bottom and to walk with you while you learn to make the swimming movements. This will keep your head above water and give you a sense of security, and you will then strike out confidently. The support rendered is so slight you learn to manage your own weight in the water almost immediately, while you have the feeling that some one upholds you, and the friendly hand may be withdrawn at intervals to allow you to try entirely alone.

You see that after all it is the feeling of being supported more than the actual support that counts, and if you can convince yourself that you need no support you won't need it. It is best to start by swimming toward land instead of away from it. To know that you are not going beyond your depth but are gaining the shore is a great help in conquering fear.

Movements in Swimming

If you are learning alone, begin in quiet, shallow water only deep enough to float you; waist-high is sufficiently deep. Assume the first position for swimming by throwing your body forward with arms extended and palms of hands together, at the same time lifting your feet from the bottom with a spring. This should bring your body out perfectly straight in the water, feet together and arms ready for the first movement.

Now separate your hands, turn them palm outward, and swing your arms around in a half-circle until they extend straight out from the sides, pushing the water back with your hands. In the second movement bend your elbows and bring them down with palms of hands together under your chin, and at the same time draw your legs up under your body with knees and feet still held close together. The third movement is to send your arms shooting straight ahead, while your legs, separating, describe a half-circle and your feet pushing against the water force you forward and then come together again in the first position.

This is a point to be remembered: always thrust your hands forward, to open the way, and your feet back, to push yourself through it, at the same time. It is like a wire spring being freed at both ends at once, each end springing away from the middle. When you push the spring together, that is, when in taking the second movement you draw in your hands and feet, do it slowly; then take the third movement-letting the spring out-quickly, thrusting out your hands in front and your feet at the back with a sudden movement, pushing your feet strongly against the water and stretching yourself out as far as you can reach.

Floating

Some people can float who cannot swim. Others can swim but are not able to float. That is, they think they are not and do not seem willing to try, but it is quite necessary every one should know how to rest in the water, and learning to float is very essential.

The hand of a friend will help you in this as in learning to swim, but for floating it is held under the back of your head instead of under your chin. Lie on your back with legs straight before you, feet together, arms close at your sides, and head thrown back; trust the water to bear you up and all that is necessary to keep you afloat is a rotary motion of your hands under water. After a time all movement may be given up and you will lie easily and quietly as on a bed. It is said that it is easier for women and girls to float than for men, because their bones are lighter, and some learn to float the first time they enter the water; all of which is very encouraging to girls. Breathe deeply but naturally while floating, for the more air there is in your lungs the more buoyant will be your body and the higher it will float. If your body is inclined to roll from side to side spread out your arms under water until you steady yourself. If your feet persist in sinking extend your arms above your head under water and this will maintain the balance.

Do not try to lift your head, but keep it well back in the water. If your nose and mouth are out that is all that is necessary. Let your muscles relax and lie limply.

To regain your feet after floating bring your arms in front and pull on the water with scooped hands while raising your body from the hips.

Diving

You will learn to dive merely for the joy of the quick plunge into cool waters, but there are times when to understand diving may mean the saving of your own or some one else's life, and no matter how suddenly or unexpectedly you are cast into the water by accident, you will retain your self-possession and be able to strike out and swim immediately.

One should never dive into unknown water if it can be avoided, but as on the trail all water is likely to be unknown, investigate it well before diving and look out for hidden rocks. Do not dive into shallow water; that is dangerous. If you are to dive from the bank some distance above the water, stand on the edge with your toes reaching over it. Extend your arms, raise them, and duck your head between with your arms, forming an arch above, your ears covered by your arms. Lock your thumbs together to keep your hands from separating when they strike the water. Bend your knees slightly and spring from them, but straighten them immediately so that you will be stretched full length as you enter the water. As soon as your body is in the water curve your back inward, lift your head up, and make a curve through the water to the surface.

Breathing

Breathe through your nose always when swimming as well as when walking. To open your mouth while swimming is usually to swallow a pint or two of water. Exhale your breath as you thrust your hands forward, inhale it as you bring them back. "Blow your hands from you."

Treading Water

In treading water you maintain an upright position as in walking. Some one says: "To tread water is like running up-stairs rapidly." Try running up-stairs and you will get the leg movement. While the water is up to your neck, bend your elbows and bring your hands to the surface, then keep the palms pressing down the water. The principle is the same as in swimming. When you swim you force the water back with your hands and feet and so send your body forward. When you tread water you force the water down with your hands and feet and so send your body, or keep it, up.

It is even possible to stand quite still in deep water when you learn to keep your balance. All you do is to spread out your arms at the sides on a line with your shoulders and keep your head well back. You may go below the surface once or twice until you learn, but you will come up again and the feat is well worth while. What an outdoor girl should strive for is to become thoroughly at home in the water so that she may enter it fearlessly and know what to do when she is there.

For dinner.

Fishing

Just here would seem to be the place to talk of fishing, but I am not going to try to tell you how to fish; that would take a volume, there are so many kinds of fish and so many ways of fishing. One way is to cut a slender pole, tie a fish-line on the small end, tie a fish-hook to the end of the line, bait it with an angleworm, stand on the bank, drop the hook and bait into the water, and await results. Another way is to put together a delicate, quivering fishing-rod, carefully select a "fly," adjust it, stand on the bank, or in a boat, and "cast" the fly far out on the water with a dexterous turn of the wrist. You may catch fish in either way, but in some cases the pole and angleworm is the surest.

The veteran.

A visitor stood on the bank of our Pike County lake and skilfully sent his fly skimming over the water while the boy of the family, catching perch with his home-cut pole and angleworms, was told to watch and learn. He did watch politely for a while, then turned again to his own affairs. Once more some one said: "Look at Mr. J., boy, and learn to cast a fly." But the boy, placidly fishing, returned: "I'd rather know how to catch fish." It was true the boy had caught the fish and the skilful angler had not. All of which goes to prove that if it is fish you want, just any kind of fish and not the excitement of the sport, a pole like the boy's will probably be equal to all requirements. But there are black bass in the lake, and had one of them been in that particular part of it, no doubt the fly would have tempted him, and the experience and skill of Mr. J. supplemented by his long, flexible rod, his reel and landing net, would have done the rest, while the boy had little chance of such a bite and almost none of landing a game fish like the bass.

If you want to fish, and every girl on the trail should know how, take it up in a common-sense way and learn from an experienced person. Own a good, serviceable rod and fishing tackle and let it be your business to know why they are good. Make up your mind to long, patient, trying waits, to early and late excursions, and to some disappointments. Take a fisherman's luck cheerfully and carry the thing through like a true sportsman. There is one thing to remember which sportsmen sometimes forget in the excitement of the game and that is not to catch more fish than you have use for. One need not be cruel even to cold-blooded fish, nor need one selfishly grab all one can get merely for the sake of the getting and without a thought for those who are to come after. We have all heard of good fishing places which have been "fished out," and that could not be if the fishermen had taken only as many as they could use. This rule holds good all through the wild: Take what you need, it is yours, but all the rest belongs to others.

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