fandomhigh | Entries tagged with swimming

"We're almost finished with our swimming unit," Anakin began, "which is good because the weather outside isn't exactly swimming weather."

"Everything's swimming weather if you're not a wimp," Steve muttered.

Anakin stared at him.

"...and you have the correct gear," Steve amended belatedly.

"Hypothermia is no one's friend," Anakin said, "though that's more Dr. Blake's area of expertise."

"It does lead us to our class topic today, though," Steve said with an enthusiastic smile, "the gear that keeps you from dying when you're dropped into a cold ocean from a helicopter in the middle of the night."

Anakin went back to staring at him.

"It's a real thing," Steve said, frowning.

"Hopefully nothing you'll need here, but it's better to be prepared," Anakin acknowledged. "Gear up."

They'd notice all the wetsuits were ugly holiday sweaters annnnny second now.

sith_happened

Swimming in December! It was a thing! At least your teachers ~~had overruled McGarrett's instinct to break out the wetsuits~~ had chosen sanity, and you were meeting in the indoor pool still.

"Welcome, everyone. I'm glad you could tear yourselves away from Yule Log television," Anakin said, "and we're very grateful today isn't polar bear related because we would've just let them have the pool."

Steve look less convinced about that. "We could've shared."

"We are not sharing with polar bears."

"They give people soda, I don't think they eat us," Steve countered.

"We cannot afford another hike in the insurance premium!"

"That is the oldest thing I've ever heard you say."

Having left Anakin speechless, Steve continued alone. "Today we'll work on our endurance. Pick the stroke you feel strongest in and see how many laps down and back you can get. If you start feeling tired, tread water, regain your strength, and go again."

sith_happened

Anakin and Steve were in front of the swimming pool again, glad to see everyone in their proper shapes and sizes, assuming no one had become an animal over the weekend.

"Hello," Anakin said with a smile. "We're back to the tactical floating noodles."

Steve nodded in approval. "Today we will continue to work on your arms for the butterfly stroke. It should look less like you're trying to avoid drowning and more like something you mean to be doing," he added. "Down the length of the pool and back. Focus on precision, not speed. If your shoulders are screaming at you, you're doing it right."

sith_happened

"Welcome back," Anakin said. "Hopefully your weekends were fun. My older son came for a visit."

Steve tilted his head. "How many kids do you have?"

"Four," Anakin said. "Two run the galaxy back home."

"That tracks," Steve said dryly. "Anyway, time to swim. Today we're going to try to learn the butterfly. I realize this requires a level of coordination you might be ready for yet, especially given the variety of swimming attire and how it might catch on things,"--sorry, Lydia--"but you have to be bad at something to get better at it, right? Grab a pool noodle and hop into the pool. You're going to ride it like it's a sad, noodle-y pony."

Anakin stared at him.

"The Navy teaches it differently," Steve said hastily, "but this is okay, too. We'd call it a personal flotation device to sound more official."

"But it's still a pool noodle."

"Yes, sir, it is."

Anakin sighed. "Right. After you mount your noodle horses, you're going to work on your arm motions to propel you around. Try not to propel yourself into another student."

grenadesandohana

"I hope everyone enjoyed their trip," Steve said with a grin as the class arrived at the pool. "Some of us had to stay back and continue working for a living. The dean tells me you got to go snorkeling. Why don't we talk a little about the differences you felt swimming in salt water versus fresh, then we'll do some laps."

Steve loved making people do laps.

Anakin nodded. "I promised you extra credit if you snorkeled ~~however handwavily~~, so see me after class and I'll mark it down."

sith_happened

"Welcome back," Anakin said with a smile. "Commander McGarrett is allowed to swim again, so that will add to our class's productivity significantly."

Steve smiled and nodded. "We'll work on the backstroke today, since you did so well with floating last week."

sith_happened

Steve was back in the water, his shoulder in a much more low-key brace. Anakin was busy corralling the pool noodles and looked up as everyone arrived.

"Since I'm still only about 80 percent," Steve began, "it's an excellent day to show how even not-great swimmers can help someone who's flailing. Today, we're going to work on floating on your back."

Thrilling, right?

"Everyone in the water," Anakin said, nodding.

sith_happened

McGarrett was still benched, sitting on the side of the pool and looking even worse than he had last week, with a black eye and his shoulder in a different, more constrictive, sling.

"Bad Parents Weekend?" Anakin asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Went home and arrested a rogue MI-6 agent," Steve explained. "He didn't go quietly."

"You should've stayed here," Anakin said. "There was pie. Anyway," he said, turning to the class, "time to get back in the water, this time without the flippers. We'll work on the arms part of the freestyle today."

"Well, some of us will," Steve said with a wry look at his sling. "Okay, even though it looks easy, there are four parts to the stroke: entry, catch, pull, and release." He used his non-slinged arm to demonstrate. "You enter at shoulder height--keep it long and low to the water. Yo don't want to waste energy making huge windmill motions--" He stopped and looked at Henry and Lydia. "Do you have windmills?"

And now they were derailed!

sith_happened

"Welcome back," Anakin said with a wave, "and without any animals we'd have to figure out how to teach swimming to."

Steve, his left arm in a sling, shot Anakin a puzzled look.

"There was a weekend thing," Anakin explained. "What happened to you?"

"I dislocated my shoulder," Steve said with a light frown, "so I can't swim this week. It did remind me about something you should all learn about, though," he added, pointing to the pile of flippers next to him. "Flippers! Now that you have pretty decent kicks, flippers help you add power to your legs and take some pressure off of your arms for propulsion. Put some on, grab a kickboard, and get ready for some laps."

Or one lap, depending on how tired you get!

sith_happened

Everyone would probably be thrilled to be back in the pool today. Well, at least happy not to be dealing with squishy mud and fish?

"Today we'll begin to work on treading water," Anakin said, "and floating. It's a good thing to know if you accidentally end up in the water and are not confident enough in your swimming to move from the spot you've landed."

Steve nodded. "It's very important to learn how to control your initial panicked reaction," he said. "Treading water, especially in something like a pool where you aren't working against tides or currents, should be something you can do almost indefinitely."

Some of them weren't also Navy SEALS, Steve.

"You keep your head and chin above water," he said, getting into the correct position. "Don't work to keep your chest up--it's just wasting energy--and move your legs like an eggbeater."

He looked at Lydia and Henry. "Do you know what an eggbeater is?"

Anakin, still on the side of the pool, demonstrated with his legs as they stayed out of the water. "Kick the water downward with your heel," he said. "Like riding an underwater bicycle."

Steve nodded. "We'll hold you up with pool noodles until you get the legs right, then we'll add the arms," he said. "And remember to relax. Tensing up just makes everything harder."

sith_happened

"It's beautiful outside," Anakin said from his spot in the park where he'd definitely ~~if handwavily~~ told his class to meet, "and the water in the pond is still warm, so we'll be swimming there today."

Sorry, Lydia, there were definitely fish in here, and probably also flamingo poop.

Steve nodded, pulling his shirt off to step into the pond. "This body of water isn't large enough to have any nasty currents to worry about, so today is just about getting acclimated to water that isn't chlorinated and contained by concrete. It's clean, fresh water, but the feel under your feet isn't quite as steady. Walk in as far as you're comfortable, then sink down so you can blow bubbles. We'll go from there."

sith_happened

The swimming class was meeting in the basement pool of the dorms (Anakin had provided rather elaborate directions for those, like him, who had forgotten it existed), and their two instructors were waiting for them by the side of the pool with their legs dangling into the water.

"Hello, everyone," Anakin said with a casual wave. "We're here to learn to swim. I'm sorry if the chlorine is burning your eyes, but we had to give the pool a thorough cleaning after relocating the squid."

That was a normal thing to mention, right? He gestured to the dark-haired man to his left. "This is Commander Steve McGarrett, who you might recognize from his work at the Trooper Station. He's also a Navy SEAL."

"Retired, now," Steve said with a slightly tight smile. "And I'm not actually anything like a seal, the animal. SEAL stands for Sea, Air and Land, and we're the United States Navy's premiere special operators. Among our skills is, well, swimming. I'm here to assure you that no one will actually drown."

Steve dropped down into the water with a small splash. "The first thing to do is to get comfortable in the water," he said, "so everyone hop into the shallow end. Your feet will be on the bottom of the pool, so there's nothing to be afraid of." He sent Anakin a slightly puzzled look. "Especially now that the squid is relocated."

"Introduce yourselves as you jump in," Anakin added, sliding into the water.

betterthanaplan

"SCUBA diving," Duke said. "Stands for 'self-contained underwater breathing apparatus'. Basically, you strap an oxygen tank to your back, hook it to your breathing holes with a tube, and get to explore down deep without worrying about holding your breath. Good times."

He went over some basic skills and demonstrated the proper way to use the regulator with a human-type mouth.

"We're not going super deep today, so you don't have to worry about things like decompression sickness or anything. So strap yourselves in and let's go see what animal awaiiiiioh holy shit."

The moose was striding across the beach right for him. He jumped out of the way as it tossed its antlers and trotted right into the water.

". . . Right, so. Moose swim. I knew that. I guess we're SCUBA diving with the moose today."

betterthanaplan

"I'm just saying," Duke was saying as the students started to arrive. "It's definitely not your kind of weather out here. If you all want to skedaddle, I totally understand. No hard feelings at all."

The walruses hanging out on the beach with the kayaks for today's class looked profoundly unbothered.

". . . Okay. It's up to you. It'd be nice if you at least got in the water, though. So I don't have to worry that you're stuck."

The largest walrus grunted and honked and rolled onto his back.

". . . Cool." Duke turned to the students. "So today we're kayaking. With these guys. Or you can just kind of lay out on the sand, which is my plan."

His back was not going to be into waving a paddle around.

okteiviakom

After her brief, abrupt visit with Rey on Sunday, Octavia had been keeping it together... reasonably well. If reasonable covered all the texts she'd sent - tried to send - as well as the way she'd called every number she had or could find aboard the Rouge for anyone in Haven, yesterday. She hadn't gotten any of them, of course. Not even their voicemails. Not Gloria, not Claire.

Definitely not Duke.

She'd handled it, though. Somewhat.

But showing up here before Duke's class was supposed to start was still nothing but a last-ditch effort to force herself to hope he was about to turn up. He hadn't said anything about planning to miss his class, right? So... Technically there was a chance she might come here and find him giving her a sheepish smile about how his phone had fallen in the ocean on the way home, or something.

But the minutes ticked by, the students gathered, and there was no Duke. So Octavia steeled herself, got up, and took his place. Just to give herself something to do that wasn't screaming or violence.

"Duke's not here." Yeah, they could see that. "But those things are." She pointed towards the open water. There were animals there, yes. Their shape was close to that of a manatee, only they were huge, the biggest among them closer to 30 feet long. They seemed to be pretty content to swim around and eat kelp and snort at each other, though, thankfully.

Especially because Octavia pointed at a pile of inner tubes on the shore, next. "And we have these. So that's what we're doing." Her voice dropped to an even drier rasp. "Ask if you have questions."

Yes, they were tubing amongst an extinct species today. Enjoy.

betterthanaplan

Duke looked at the equipment provided for today's class. He looked up at the sky.

"Why do these things always happen to me?"

There was no answer forthcoming.

"Right," he said when the students gathered for class. He had a fairly permanent case of facepalm going on. "Today we're going to learn to swim using a monofin." The equipment provided was rather more than just the fins. Duke side-eyed it again and heaved a deep sigh. "Aka . . . mermaid swimming."

God dammit.

"Please don't mind the giant fucking crabs under the water. They probably won't bother you. As far as I can tell, they're too busy with those bongos to worry much about us."

betterthanaplan

"Surfing," Duke said. The waves were back to normal this week. Which meant they existed, not that they were anything to really write home about. "We've got some nice beginner surf going on here, so lets give it a try. If you're not a beginner . . . well, there are sea turtles out here, too. Maybe they can show us a few tricks.

"There are boards here for everyone. Pick one out, and we'll get started."

betterthanaplan

"Right, so." Duke was actually here for his class this week. Sorry, Lord High Master of All Fishes, your reign ~~of terror~~ has ended. "I was thinking of doing some surfing this week, but there are . . . no waves." He looked down at the water gently lapping at the shoreline. "Literally none. I blame our new candy colored neighbors. And that damned music —"

He shook his head.

"Anyway. There's no waves, but there's apparently a lot going on underneath the water right now, so I thought maybe we could do a class on one of my favorite ways to spend time in the water: free diving.

"Now, technically the term 'free diving' refers to any sort of underwater activity that doesn't use supplemental oxygen. So we're talking traditional fishing methods, snorkeling, underwater basket-weaving. . . . All of that counts as free diving. I'm going to teach you how I do it, though, which involves no extra equipment in the water but you, your own ability to hold your breath — and some kind of water-appropriate clothing, since this is a class and all. And we're all super excited to have our own clothing back."

Duke himself was wearing a simple short-sleeved wetsuit today. That he had not picked off a tree, thank you very much.

"Now, like most things in the world, free diving takes practice. Most — air breathing, land-based — people are not going to be able to immediately dive in and be able to hold their breaths for ages. And they probably shouldn't try. No one is allowed to pass out because they thought they could hold it just a liiiiiittle bit longer, today. But there are some techniques I can show you right now to increase the amount of time you can stay under the water."

Duke walked them through the process of a breathe up and recovery breathing for before and after their dives.

"Alright. There are some floats set up out there in case you get tired and need a break, and I'll be swimming around, keeping an eye on everyone to make sure you don't get into trouble. Now get out there, have some fun, and . . . see what you can find!"

thishouseishaunted

Mae was actually pretty excited for her classes this session, and thus showed up to the docks for swimming a little bit early. She hung around, kicking her feet, and watched her fellow students arrive.

Then classtime started, and there was no sign of the teacher.

Several minutes went by, and still no teacher.

She was just about to mention the fifteen minute rule sacred to lazy students everywhere when she had another idea instead.

She hopped up on a pilon and waved her hands in the air. "ATTENTION SWIMMING WITH THE FISHES CLASS! I am your substitute teacher Mae Borowski! You may call me Lord High Master of All Fishes! Our scheduled teacher has been eaten by a manta ray or possibly kidnapped by giant crab monsters, so I'm taking over." She pointed to a pile of snorkeling equipment. "Today we're going snorkeling. With . . . whatever the hell happens to be in the water right now. Probably manta rays and giant crab monsters. I don't know. Stick a mask and fins on and go find out."

That was all you had to do as a teacher, right?

"Oh! You should probably try not to drown. Thanks!"

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Entries tagged with swimming

How Not to Drown, Monday, December 8

How Not to Drown, Monday, December 1 Period 3

Try Not To Drown, Monday, November 24

How Not to Drown, Monday, November 10, Period 3

How Not to Drown, Monday, October 27, Period 3

How Not to Drown, Monday, October 13, Period 3

How Not to Drown, Monday, October 6, Period 3

How Not to Drown, Monday, September 29, Period 3

How Not to Drown, Monday, September 22, Period 3

How Not to Drown, Monday, September 15, Period 3

How Not to Drown, Monday, September 8, Period 3

How Not to Drown, Monday, September 1, Period 3

Swimming With the Fishes, Tuesday, period 1

Swimming With the Fishes, Tuesday, period 1

Swimming With the Fishes, Tuesday, period 1

Swimming With the Fishes, Tuesday, period 1

Swimming With the Fishes, Tuesday, period 1

Swimming With the Fishes, Tuesday, period 1

Swimming With the Fishes, Tuesday, period 1

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