At the pool we practiced skills including things like:

• submerged victims in deep water
• manual in-line stabilizations
• backboarding – shallow and deep rescues
• escapes (how to get away when a save doesn’t go as planned)

I’m a floater.  It’s good to be a floater when you are swimming.  However, I don’t make a great victim.  It’s hard for me to play a submersed victim.  I also have a hard time going under long and deep enough to rescue a submerged victim.  On Wednesday, we’ll be practicing during my swim lesson.

I thought the backboarding skills were particularly interesting.  It’s really amazing how much you have to work together as a team for different types of rescues.  It was also good to be a victim and get a feel for laying on the board, getting strapped in and lifted out.  Some pools in the area hardly ever have a backboard rescue.  But, at least one local pool does about 3 a week during the summer.  All of the skills are taken quite seriously.  I have a totally new appreciation for lif guards after just two of my classes.

We concluded our class by swimming 300 yards.  All in all, we were in and out of the pool for over 3.5 hours.  It was a busy and tiring day.

Next week we are off and then on the 25th, we’ll be covering victim care.  I haven’t been current in First Aid and CPR for a few years, so it will be good to review all of the skills.