A lesson in Lifesaving

Writers: Jelena, Paula
Date Posted: 10th April 2012

Characters: Milga, Naton
Description: Naton teaches Milga and the other Junior Apprentices about rescue swimming.
Location: Dolphin Hall
Date: month 7, day 2 of Turn 6

Naton opened the door for his class and smiled at the apprentices in
greeting as they filed into the classroom. When they had all gone in
to find their seats, the Senior Journeyman closed the door and walked
through the classroom like he always did at the start of class. After
chatting with a few randomly selected apprentices, he returned to the
front of the classroom. "Alright, guys, I want to start, get out your
notebooks," he then declared and gave them another short moment to
collect their writing equipment. When everyone was ready, Naton gave
out a last warning to a couple of chatterboxes in the back and finally
he could begin.

"Alright everyone, today is your very first class in rescue swimming.
This is very important matter and I am sure more than a few of you
have noticed it is the most recognisable task in our craft. I have met
more then a few people outside our craft who seemed to think sea
rescues are our sole responsibility. As we all know, that isn't true,
but even so, it remains one of the basic skills any dolphineer should
master and I am proud to be introducing you into what has become my
own speciality. Now, before I start, has anyone of you ever witnessed
a rescue at sea?"

Milga lifted her hand rather hesitantly. She didn't like to bring
attention to her. But she had seen one, near her homehold.

"Yes, Milga?" Naton said, giving her his most encouraging smile. He
knew she had trouble opening up and he would be sure to congratulate
her later, privately, about this little victory.

"There was a shipwreck near our island, during a storm few Turns ago.
Dad and other men went to help the seacrafters with local pod," she
told them in rather curt fashion.

"Very good," Naton nodded seriously. "Did you actually witness the
rescue, or hear about it afterwards?"

"Mostly heard of it. Women folk and children were supposed to stay
indoors safe," Milga replies. Although she had sneaked out to watch
from the cliff. They rain had been so heavy and the distance great
that she hadn't really seen anything.

"That is good to hear," Naton said seriously. "Because as exciting as
it may sound to any of you, a rescue operation is very serious
business and any storm can be deadly. Do you know anything about the
way they went about the rescue, Milga?"

"They went to the site with small boats and tried to pull up as many
seacrafters from the sea as they could. Dolphins located them and
guided them to the boats," Milga told him.

"Perfect, I want everyone to keep that example in mind, we will come
back to that later." Naton said as he let his gaze wander over the
apprentices faces. As he saw a young man leaning in to talk to his
neighbour, he quickly cut in.

"Petrak, if I tell you the 8 steps of a rescue are talk, throw, reach,
wade, row, swim, tow and carry, can you tell me what you think the
first step, talk, entails?"

"Umh, asking if he's all right?" the apprentice was obviously just
shooting into the dark.

"Almost right!" Naton said with a grin, walking a little further into
the classroom. "Only, it is meant in a more general sense. Talk stands
for directing the victim in rescueing himself. While you might feel
inclined to jump in the water right away, you need to try to avoid
that as long as you can. Who can tell me why?"

Milga found herself lifting her hand again. This time she wasn't only
one, a whole lot of hands shot up.

"Good!" Naton said approvingly as he saw all the raised hands. "Let's
pick someone I haven't heard yet.. Ratchel?"

"In their panic, they can pull you under the water too, and then you
both drown," she replied.

"Exactly. Plus, even for an experiences swimmer, the situation that
endangered the person you are trying to save can be treacherous. So it
is best for all involved to stay out of the water as long as possible.
Now, keeping that in mind, Milga, can you tell me what the next step,
throw, would be?"

"Throw a floater or a rope for the person on water, " she replied.

"Exactly," Naton said with a pleased smile. "The next step, reach,
means you reach out to the person to pull them into safety, either
from your boat or the shore of a river, or such. Wade is more useful
when rescuing someone from the currents of a river, meaning you wade
in to the water only as far as you need to. When wading isn't enough,
or you are deep at sea, you row, meaning you take your craft further
into the water. If that isn't possible, you swim to your victim. When
you reach them you either tow your victim into safety, or if this
isn't possible, like when your victim is a small child, you carry
them." Naton used the board behind him to note down the eight steps.
"Who's got a question about this?"

"What are the dolphins doing during all this?" one of the boy's asked.
Milga thought it was a stupid question. Dolphins weren't always available.

"Good question," Naton said with a grin. "The dolphins are assisting
wherever they can. As you noticed, this lesson wasn't just about deep
sea rescue, though, and there are occasions in which you have to
operate without dolphins' aid. Now dolphins can simplify these steps,
but you have to remember not every victim will be in a state where
they can accept a dolphin's help. That is where we come in and where
we have to keep these steps in mind, for our own safety. Does that
answer your question?"

There was nods all around the class.

"Perfect," Naton nodded. "Now, for your assignment for this class, I
want each of you to think of a good example of a rescue operation, you
can use Milga's example if you can not think of one yourself, and I
want you to describe which consecutive steps of rescue swimming you
would go through. Describe which ones would and wouldn't apply and
why. You can turn in your essay in this class next week." With that
message, Naton dismissed the class, feeling like he may have actually
learned the kids something.

Milga groaned inwards. She hated essays. She wasn't best at writing
and reading, and turning her thoughts into words on the hide was a
struggle.

Last updated on the April 30th 2012

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A lesson in Lifesaving